Originally Posted by
Werkin
The issue I'm encountering with the short reach bar trend is no place to put the heal of the hand, without scrunching up or overlapping the first index finger knuckle. The lateral bends are too close to the hoods. The template in the photos above demonstrate the issue well. A narrower palm may not have the same problem with available space. I had to turn the hood straight ahead to force a change in hand/wrist angle, it's not the best solution, but it'll do till I find a different bar. One of the things I prefer about the Nitto Noodle bar is the rearward sweep of the top bar; the bend can start & end earlier, leaving a short straight ahead section transitioning to the rear of the hoods.
You took the words right out of my mouth! I just got a Specialized Roubaix which comes with Specialized Expert Alloy Shallow Bend bars. The lateral bend is sharp and shallow and immediately transitions into the sharp down bend. There is no bar sticky out backwards from under the hood, it's already curving sharply toward the stem. So there is no place to put the correct part of my palm. On the hoods my finger collide with the "point." Moving back so my thumb and fingers surround the point, the correct part of my palm rests in a valley between hood and bar, with my weight on the bar on a point toward the wrist from the correct part of the palm, and it's not comfortable.
I didn't know about the Nitto Noodles but searched for a few hours and ended up buying a Orbea Zeus carbon bar on Ebay because it looks like it has a straight section of bar between lateral and down bends:
http://www.orbeaproshop.com/products...=20&product=68
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=140612235132
That straight section is slanted down in the Orbea site picture, but in this pic is is angled up:
http://www.orbea.com/us-us/bicis/mod.../#presentacion
and I will angle it up even more. It may put the flat section at the wrong angle, but it this works for the hoods, I will start hunting in earnest for a bar with this straight section that doesn't, even if I have to give up the flat top bar.