thehammerdog

OK, I luv how a single looks with a Mt bar. I current have a drop with the brake levers..Not a huge fan but was all I had..Is there an advantage to the Mt bar set up?

cc700

mt? you mean MTB, as in Risers?

the advantage is less weight and hipster looks. there's no other advantage.

ianjk

I'd go with a trials bar, uncut with 3 sets of ourys. \



kidding aside. I have to admit that I like the riser bar for tooling around town, but the multiple hand positions of drops + hoods or bullhorns is much better if you plan on some real time in the saddle.

trelhak

Track drops just look the most 'natural' on track bikes...for obvious reasons.

Road drops offer a grand variety of hand-positions, most of which are 'correct' ergonomically-speaking.

A flat bar is nice for leverage and improving an upright body position. (It also has inexplicable appeal among the white-belt-and-ironic-moustache demographic.)

For the life of me, I can't see the value of bullhorns or aerobars beyond being extremely aero in a TT.

cc700

or just various terrain. you're going to hate yourself when you have to get out of the saddle for the third time of the day on risers.

Mr.Joey

Im rarely on the forums. when Im bored at work. Ive noticed alot of flat bar/ riser haters. Hate on the hipsters not the bars. Risers are much more comfortable (FOR ME, and many others) as well as allow much more control than track drops. I cant help but laugh whenever I see kids riding in the drops. Although its completely impractical to me, im not going to say that drops are pointless in urban environments. Haters hate on. . .

cc700

i rode risers for a while and they're more comfortable than an improperly sized bar... but they're less comfortable than a well sized and properly fitted bar/hood combo, especially on a bike that was designed to be used with drops.

no hate... i just don't think 'comfort' can be listed as an advantage when it's 1. so subjective and 2. ergonomically untrue for all conditions and setups. they are NOT comfortable when you're climbing or sprinting... and if you're not doing either enough to warrant the kind of bar that allows for better hand positions during those situations, you don't belong on a fast bike.

trelhak

A lot of stuff is pointless in urban environments:
- Arrospoks
- all-NJS
- gold anodization
- massive gear-inches
- no brakes
- white tires
- loose-ball hubs and bottom brackets.

Strangely enough, if any one of these is present on a bike, most of them are.

ianjk

Bullhorns give the "hood" position of a road bar. If you tend to ride in that position, track drops aren't too comfy.

reedreeder

i hate this place sometimes.

reedreeder

thats a great looking bike, by the way.

trelhak

I'll accept that.

I use my fixed-gear as an off-track trainer, in addition to being my commuter, so I gave it identical ergos to my track bike and force myself into the drops at all times.

(Good thing, then, that my commute is all traffic-free back-roads.)

cc700

be more specific... put some constructive in your criticism

dervish

im a huge fan for drops for racing and bullhorns for street riding
i dont ride w/ risers unless im doin mtb

trelhak

I tried flopping-and-chopping bullhorns and ended up with flat bars.

I predict the next bike-control trend will be putting BMX pegs on a fixie, removing the handlebar entirely, and steering the bike via reaching down and gripping the pegs, which will have Oury-brand grips installed on them.

the front-brake lever, which would be there only because local law require, would be mounted to a fork leg.

oceanfx

I rode risers for a while and I thought it was great until I had to work on a windy day. And then I realized that even when it's calm, I was wasting energy going fast in that posture. And riding in the middle felt ****in weird.

When I had proper road drops, I realized I wasn't using the aero position because it was less powerful and really tiring with a bag. Then I got bullhorns, so I could just ride on the tops or get out of the saddle on the horns. And then I realized one day that I in fact never got out of the saddle on the horns. I would sprint with my hands as close as possible to the flats, because using the horns made me have to arch my back, and that was tiring. If I could have i would have just climbed in the flats, but that was too narrow to get out of the saddle and be stable.

So now I ride a shoulder-width flatbar. A lot of people make fun of me for it, but I'd personally feel a lot stupider riding road drops and only using the top part (as so many people do.) There's no rise, so there's no change from riding in the top of my drops, which was always my favourite hand position. I can ride in the middle if I want to be aero (bending my elbows to get lower if I want.) The difference is I can grab the outside of the bar if I need to be stable out of the saddle, and I'm supported by my arms and not my back.

cc700

hilarious, but that would be balls-hard to steer with. there would be no lever distance from the gyroscopic center of rotational inertia or some junk. seriously, it would be very difficult to steer with.

kringle

That's funny because I applaud it.

thehammerdog

Wholly crap! I luv the on going banter but feel more confused..Actully to be honest this wonderful SS is simply my Weekender getting the coffee & Paper rig..I have a dedicated speedster tri bike and a full carbon bianco 928 as well as a specialized FSRexpert and a tandem..THis was to be a simple set up..I may go with the straight bars and add my super rare old school Paul Luvleveras to the mix...they will work with road calipers..right??

peace out from NJ...AKA the Sopranos home land

cc700

straight bar with ergo bar ends...


number of hand positions with all the simplicity you seek.

deadforkinglast

Road drops. If you set them up correctly (not too far away, not too low), getting down in the drops can be very comfortable. If riding in the drops is uncomfortable, raise your bars a bit so that you can make full use of the multiple hand positions. I had to ride to school today uphill into a pretty major headwind and couldn't have been happier to have the drops. Whenever I tried getting up onto the flats, the wind nearly brought me to a standstill.

I can understand the appeal of risers, but they're not for me. If I got more into doing tricks, I might be into them, but generally, I don't like them on road bikes of any kind.

I cannot understand the appeal of track drops on the street. Most track racers don't even use track drops (except for sprinters).

letsthrowfries

I agree with deadforkinglast, especially in a campus or urban environment, track drops are the most impractical of handlebars. With all the moving obstacles (people & cars) I cannot fathom why people use track drops as bullhorns and riser/straight bars provide better control. I mean, I understand traveling in wind that more aerodynamic positions are advantageous for speed and efficiency but most of the time people aren't sprinting getting back to their apartments or riding around. Out of all the bullhorns I've tried I enjoy syntace stratos with the medium drop. They offer the most comfortable hand positions in my humble opinion.

deadforkinglast

Well, I often sprint to class or to the grocery store, but I've always found that road drops are sufficient for those times and are also comfortable to climb in for long periods of time, which I can't imagine track drops would be good for. I put my friend's B123 (I think...the deep ass ones) track drops onto my bike for about an hour, just to see what it was like, and I was definitely not enjoying them at all. There's almost no flat section on top, the drops are so low that, unless you have LONG arms, they're virtually inaccessible in a street setting, and there's not a comfortable bend to hold onto. They basically have two comfortable positions instead of the four: On the ends of the drops and on the top, with your hands basically next to the stem. Looked good, though.

trelhak

Yes and no. Track drops are singularly impractical for city street riding. On the track, however, practically everyone I ride with has track drops. Perhaps not the super-deep drops you tried, but they are all track-specific bars. (Deda Pista is the most common by a mile, followed by the Nitto bars.)

Track-specific bars are generally many times stiffer than road bars and come in much narrower widths than road bars

HRP

Track drops are sexy as hell, if a bit impractical in an urban environment. They've still got more utility than risers...