Originally Posted by
jimmie65
Does the flaring affect handling and control? I love the looks of the cowchipper and woodchipper, or even the Gary Sweep bars, but wasn't sure how what effect the flare has.
I could move my hand inwards even with the interrupters, but the issue is my wide shoulder and correspondingly wide grip. My pinkies are shoved up against the hoods in a natural grip. I'm 6' tall, 200 pounds at my slimmest (and nowhere near that right now), and find even some 2XLs are snug in the chest and shoulders. And, as noted in my OP, I'm not the most flexible person.
In theory, the additional flare is supposed to increase control when down in the drops. I pretty much only get worried about control when I'm crossing my fingers turning on ice, or trying to keep on a narrow trail with a heavy front load, lol, so I don't tend to worry too much or look for the feeling of control per se. I'm not particularly wide shouldered, so 42's on the cowbell/cowhchipper work great for me....on road handlebars, I'm quite comfortable on 40's even, so opposite ends of the spectrum from you. To me, the flare in the cowchipper would give you a little more room on the tops of your bars, though the tops of the brifters do tend to tip inwards a bit on these types of bars. This bothers some folks that primarily ride the tops of the brifters, and if this were the case, I'd say go cowbell, as they are more traditionally oriented. The cow chipper has a bit of the brifter tipping inwards, more so on the wood chipper. Plus, the wood chipper is an even shallower drop. We have one bike sporting the wood chipper, but I've ridden that one very little. It feels fine to me, what little riding I've done on it.