bokes

I have been meaning to write a little review on my Rohloff Drop Bar:


This has been my favorite solution so far to ride with drop bars and a Rohloff. The handlebars are made up of 3 pieces, the center piece and 2 drop ends. See this pic how they attach:



You basically put an allen wrench thru the little hole in the drop bar end, and turn the quill nut (inside the bar) to tighten the internal quill clamp. It works well, and I like how the ends attach seamlessly, without any external clamps that can get in the way of your hands.

These bars are W I D E ! But i think maybe I have the widest version, and they might offer a narrower size. I really like the wide width when my hands are on the 'top' and 'hood' positions. If you have front panniers, the wide width gives you a lot more leverage to turn. I think this bar's best application is for off-road touring, where it's more difficult to steer with front panniers in dirt or rocky roads.
The bars on the top are not flat, but curve back towards the rider. I think it's a little more of a comfortable position for the hands, and it seems to increase the turning leverage a bit more. I think the distance from the saddle to the brake levers are 1 or 2 cms shorter than on a standard drop bar.

I don't care for the wide width when my hands are in the drops tho. It feels strange at first, like you're holding your arms out wide giving someone a hug. But I got used to it, and now I don't notice it any more. Another negative is that it feels a bit un-aerodynamic with your arms out wide.

For me the positives outweigh the negatives by far. I don't ride with my hands in the drops that often, and that's mostly when I'm going downhill at high speed and usually braking anyway. My hands are on the 'top' and 'hood' positions most of the time, and I love having the shifter really close to my shifter hand.

If you want one of these, they cost 64 Euros plus shipping. They ship to the US. I'm pretty sure they speak English, most businesses there do and are happy to correspond in English, so just email them and ask for the 'Lenker X-ACT Randonneur Vario' handlebar. Or pm me if you're having language problems, I speak German.

www.utopia-velo.com
info@utopia-velo.de

Rick

positron

interesting... can you post a couple more pictures, like front on/ above? Do the drops flare outward at all? I really like the nitto randonneur bars, and I would definitely want something with a flare if possible.

I was not aware of these, thanks for sharing.

edit: also, how wide is W I D E?

bokes

Measuring from 'bar end' (right in front of the brake lever hood) to 'bar end', center to center, is 52cm.
The ends do not flare. I wish they would a little too.
Something just came up and I'll be super busy for a week, but I can take some more pictures for you next week.

jjciiijs

Yes, please post some more shots. This would save my packing problem with drop bars.

I am not having any success on the web posted for the bars. Can't seem to get to them or a photo or how much to USA.

I would like to get them and use bar end shifters with them. Do you think this would work? I ask this because I do not know what makes them " Rohollof" bars. If they are the right dia at hte ends and accept a road stem, great for me if I can figure out how to order.

bokes

jjciiijs,

I call them Rohloff Bars because you can mount mountain bike components on them that normally only fit on flat bars. Most drop bars have a wider diameter than mountain bike bars, so mtn components won't fit. You brought up a good point tho, there's nothing Rohloff specific about them, they could also be called "Shimano Alfine bars" or "Sram iMotion9 bars"...

If you want to use bar end shifters, then you don't need these. I recommend you call up Bike Friday, they can convert a variety of ordinary drop bars into 'splitable' bars, suitable for packing.

jjciiijs

Well, I have checked with Bike Fri and they do not make a bar to use with single bolt quill stem like my Garvin flex stem. And since I want to keep bar end shifters (but have an easy time packing), the bar here that is being described seems like it will do it.

I just am having trouble making meaningfull contact with the distributor. I also need to know if the dia of the bar will accomodate bar end shifters like the Shamino.

positron

Jeff, I would guess (just a guess) that since the rohloff shifter fits on the bars, (meaning at least the center section is 22mm) that the inner diameter of the ends will be too small for barend shifters. I would make sure to get this dimension from the OP, or from the manuf. before ordering.

bokes

Jeff,
first off, according to Sheldon:
23.8 Grip diameter of road bar
22.2 Grip diameter of mountain bar

I think the bar ends will fit because I've got standard road brakes installed on the drops. I don't recall installing any shims for the brake lever's clamps. I never thought about it before, but I guess the bars have a 22.2 diameter on the tops that taper to a wider 23.8 at the drops.
I got called out of town, so I can't confirm this until next week. I don't own any bar end shifters, so all I can do is measure the diameter of the ends. I'll have to get back to you on the clamp diameter, I think it's 25.4