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Flat top road bars or conventional?

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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway
View Poll Results: Flat-top or Conventional road handlebars
Flat top
13
16.67%
Conventional
52
66.67%
I like both
8
10.26%
I'll wait to see what Botto says first for fear of retribution and ridicule
5
6.41%
Voters: 78. You may not vote on this poll

Flat top road bars or conventional?

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Old 09-20-07, 10:23 AM
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Flat top road bars or conventional?

Which do you prefer? and state roughly how much time you spend on the hoods or bar tops when you ride. I'm on the hoods or tops 95% of the time.
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Old 09-20-07, 10:27 AM
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flat top is awesome! great when u want to rest your forearms on the bars...very comfy...also i found them great for climbing
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Old 09-20-07, 11:28 AM
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I have flat tops.

If I have to do it again, I'll get conventional.
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Old 09-20-07, 11:52 AM
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Hoods 90% of the time. Tops only when going up hills or "glass-cranking". Drops when pushing into the wind or going downhill; better aerodynamics and better control respectively.
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Old 09-20-07, 12:04 PM
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Originally Posted by Plow13
flat top is awesome! great when u want to rest your forearms on the bars...very comfy...also i found them great for climbing
??? You can rest your forearms on drop bars, too.


When my speed gets greater than 12 mph or so, I'm in the drops. At first, it was uncomfortable, but now it's more comfortable than riding on the hoods.
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Old 09-20-07, 12:07 PM
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Originally Posted by Dubbayoo
Which do you prefer? and state roughly how much time you spend on the hoods or bar tops when you ride. I'm on the hoods or tops 95% of the time.
flat bars are for : mountain bikers; FG bikes for the city; rec riders; and freds.
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Old 09-20-07, 01:39 PM
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The advantages of conventional bars with the variety of hand positions is obvious. When riding, I probably spend 40% on the hoods, 30% drops, 30% tops.
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Old 09-20-07, 09:08 PM
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Originally Posted by dpr
The advantages of conventional bars with the variety of hand positions is obvious. When riding, I probably spend 40% on the hoods, 30% drops, 30% tops.
+1 I have an older flatbar bike, and even with bar ends there weren't enough hand positions, and of course no good aero position...
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Old 09-20-07, 09:37 PM
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I'm talking about road bars with flat top sections, not mountain bike bars on road bikes, knuckleheads.
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Old 09-20-07, 09:55 PM
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Originally Posted by shakeNbake
I have flat tops.

If I have to do it again, I'll get conventional.
Ditto. I have an aluminum flat bar that came with one of my bikes and they're pretty flexy compared to my ritchey wcs bar. They also look dorky in how they pinch around the 31.8mm clamp.
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Old 09-20-07, 09:55 PM
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Well you titled your post wrong then, knucklehead, and gave everyone the wrong impression...
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Old 09-20-07, 10:10 PM
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hoods 15-20% down in the drops the rest, but i need to lower my bars a bit, i just built the bike very recently, so i dindn't wanna cut the steer tube too short, you can always cut more off, i expect when i lower em i'll be 40% hoods, 60% drops, but then i'm 20 so my back doesn't mind
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Old 09-20-07, 10:11 PM
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I spend roughly 90% of the time in the drops, 8% on the hoods and 2% on the tops. I don't see too many hills. I used to spend a lot more time on the hoods, but I guess I just got comfortable on the drops.
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Old 09-20-07, 10:13 PM
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Originally Posted by Sixtwo
Well you titled your post wrong then, knucklehead, and gave everyone the wrong impression...
1. I did say road bars, not mountain bike
2. Can you ride in the drops on flat mountain bars? cuz I kinda thought that was the giveaway.
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Old 09-20-07, 11:17 PM
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hoods 50%
drops 30%
tops 20%

i try to climb in the drops occaisionally to get a slightly different workout
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Old 09-20-07, 11:40 PM
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Conventional...call me old fashioned, or just call me old

I'm probably on the hoods 75%, drops 20%, tops maybe 5% at most.
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Old 09-21-07, 12:00 AM
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Round handlebars in classic Italian shallow-drop configuration. Ride on tops, hoods, and drops as needed with probably a 10%, 60%, 30% division, respectively.
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Old 09-21-07, 02:18 AM
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Originally Posted by Dubbayoo
I'm talking about road bars with flat top sections, not mountain bike bars on road bikes, knuckleheads.
flat bars are for : mountain bikers; FG bikes for the city; rec riders; and freds.
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Old 09-21-07, 09:05 AM
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Originally Posted by Dubbayoo
Which do you prefer? and state roughly how much time you spend on the hoods or bar tops when you ride. I'm on the hoods or tops 95% of the time.
If you ride on the tops a lot, then there is likely something wrong with your bike fit (stem too long, handlebars too low, etc.). The only people I know that like flat bars are either very casual riders (less than 2 hours/week) or have medical problems (arthritis, bad back, etc.).
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Old 09-21-07, 09:50 AM
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i disagree....i am not a racer or anything but i ride about 10-15 hours a week and i much prefer the flat tops...to me its just soo much more comfy when im on the tops than a round bar.
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