Originally Posted by
rosefarts
In the early 90’s, Scott was all about jumping the shark in terms of handlebar design.
The AT-4 for mountain bikes and the one with a secondary flat area inside the ends of the drops for road were their most iconic.
Its interesting that with all their wild ideas, nothing really stuck and bars today are only slightly refined versions of bars from the 70’s.
Not being a fan of straight bars, it isn’t surprising that I am of the opinion that a lot of folks with straight bars would be better off with a swept bar. Bars in the 45-50 degree range like the Jones H-bar and the V-O Tourist have a lot to recommend them for cities, roads, gravel, and easy trails.
I’ve ridden a fair amount with the AT-2 and a bit more with the curvier version of the AT-4. Again, I eventually didn’t dig braking on the straight section and spending time on the extended parts where hands are far from brakes.
Also the extended parts are basically pointing forward which isn’t quite the natural wrist angle and they end up being rather far forward. I’d prefer low and close to high and forward. That keeps the reaction force from having much of a component that pulls me forward off the saddle when I’m working hard.
I donated all the Scott bars, straight bars and standard drop bars to the local coop I always seem to end up back with the standard touring bar on the MTB and a randonneur bar on the drop bar bike. YMMV.
Otto