antchen

I have a Deda Synapsi and a Deda Newton Shallow. Is there supposed to be a flat transition from the tops to the top of the brake lever/brifter on either handlebar?

Camilo

I have Deda 215 shallow which have the same shape as Newton shallow. It works differently depending on the shifters you're using. For my Shimano Ultegra 9 speed, I think it would be tough to get a perfectly flat transition. It gets flatter the more you rotate the bars - for example, the more the bar ends are pointing down toward the rear hub. Here's some photos of the bars in various configurations.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...&highlight=215

Mine are set up similar to the orange bike in the thread, maybe with the bars rotated with the bar ends just a tiny bit more downward, but with the levers pretty much dead vertical. This works pretty well for my hands in the positions I use most often, on the hoods and on the flat parts of the drops. I can also reach the levers from the drops pretty well.

Next thing I buy is going to be some bars with a different shape but similar drop and reach, just to see if I would like a flatter transition better. For the time being, I'm happy with these - they're a large improvement over my old full size, anatomic bend bars.

HillRider

The only bars I've been able to find that have a flat transition to the brifters while still having the bottom of the drops reasonable level are FSA Wing Pros or RD-200, both Al bars. I don't know if FSA's carbon bars are shaped similarly.

antchen

for some reason i was always under the impression that it there was supposed to be a flat transition to the hoods! is the only requirement that the bars are parallel to the ground, and that the end of the brifter lever lines up with the parallel bars then?

HillRider

Most older bars do not have a flat transition to the hoods unless you angle the bottom of the drops downward significantly. Look at some photos and you will see the hoods are often on a significantly downward slanting portion of the drops.

There is no requirement that the bottom of the drops be parallel to the ground either. Set them to your preference.

As I mentioned, FSA does make bars that allow a flat transition to the hoods/brifters while keeping the bottoms parallel but they are the only ones I know about.

Camilo

There are no "requirements", it's all personal taste. The drop flats range anywhere from tilted upward (toward the top tube) a little to tilted downward a lot.... and everything in between. They are "usually" horizontal to downward slightly. But again, it's all personal preference. Start by experimenting with the flats - get that position so it's best for the way you ride.

Then adjust the shifters where they feel best when you're riding on the hoods. Then, tweak all of this to get the best compromise for the way it feels good to you in various positions.

For some people it's with the hoods dead level and the levers perpendicular. For others, they the shifters further up the curves and the hoods are slanted up quite a bit - with the levers therefore pointing outward away from the bars.

For some people, the hoods are fairly close in to the bar tops, for others, they're half way down the curves toward the drops.

If you look at any of the photo threads on these forums ("show us your XXX" type threads, or people who post pics of their new bikes), you'll see what I mean. There are no hard and fast rules.

If you look at old, pre-brifter, classic bike set ups, the common set up was with bar ends pointing somewhere between the rear brake and the rear wheel hub. The brake levers were then set up to be just about even with the drops. The hoods then were about half way down the drop curves, and provided a middle position between riding on the bar tops and riding in the drops, like hillrider says below.

I think the Bontrager "VR" bars are supposed to accomplish this too. A couple others, more ergo, are the Ritchey Biomax and the Deda Supernatural. At least that's the way it looks from photos I've seen.