Heatherbikes

Hello, I have been looking at vintage french bicycle catalogues, and the women version of various road or touring bikes rarely came with drop bars. I do not know if there was a bias against women using drop bars, or if they thought women preferred these bars, but I want them! I know the belleri 'porter' bars are quite sought after.
From photos they appear to be like a porter bar or the VO belleville except smaller and more narrow. I had the VO porter bar and it was quite large. The Grand Bois "elysees" look tempting, but perhaps too wide.
A car accident several years ago messed my back up enough that drop bars are a problem. I try them from time to time because I feel like a dork for not using 'proper' drop bars, but it doesn't work out.
I recently got a vintage road bike with 105 brifters which I was keen to try, but couldn't manage with my limitations and little hands.
So, I put a flat bar on with some parts hanging around, which is okay but not elegant or too comfortable. This road bike is definitely a go fast twitchy road bike and worry that getting too upright would negatively affect the handling.

mechanicmatt

As a guy with a lot of low back issues I have setup road bikes with lots of handle bar setup sand if you are going from drops to a true flat bar conversions there are a couple suggestions that I would give. First off make sure you don't have a long reached stem that you are using, something 70 to 100mm range. It helps to give you more of a hybrid style reach. Second, I like to setup flat bars controls about an inch to 2" more narrow or inward in setup and use bar ends that are clocked just a hair up from level. Seems to feel like a more natural hand positioning for the road.

That advice for a true flat bar conversion, based on the feel that your trying to describe wanting here, I would try a stem as describe above and maybe a riser bar with some sweep back. It sounds like more of a middle ground to what you are wanting.

The Golden Boy 

When I was setting up my old Raleigh Sprite, I kept a set of Schwinn bars from a Suburban. They have a really nice sweep to them, and were much nicer than the Sprite's bars. The best handlegrips I found were the old 1960s style Schwinn grips- best comfort in the way they felt on the hands and shock absorption. I set them up with Suntour Power thumbshifters- it was a perfect ergonomic setup.

Here- trying to figure whether I liked thumb shifters or stem shifters more:




The Raleigh bars as found with their grips, levers and Huret shifters.

blackmarks

Have you thought about the Ahearne/MAP handlebar?

Ahearne/MAP Handlebar - Ahearne Cycles

John E

Have you tried regular mountain bike bars with end extensions? This is what I use on my mountain bike, along w/ those great old motorcycle-style 4-finger Shimano brake handles.

noglider 

It's because of the bias built into women's bodies. It's harder for a woman to be comfortable cycling while bent over. It's not because of genitalia. It's because upper body mass is lower, making it harder to support oneself. I learned this attending a talk given by Georgena Terry, who has studied deeply women's cycling physiology.

There are obvious exceptions, but that is the trend.

Bandera

The latest Vol. 12 #3 edition of "Bicycle Quarterly" has an excellent article "Les Randonneuseses: Riding as Equals" w/ comprehensive text & nice period photography. Allez!

-Bandera

JBC353

Due to some funky disc in my neck I can't tilt my head back for long without pain. So I can't use drop bars, or paint ceilings, neither of which I was all that fond of anyway. I have fully embraced the upright ride, dorkiness be damned. On my Schwinn Passage I am using the Sunlite alloy North Road bars which I like a lot. By using a tall stem and tilting the bars down a bit I get a very comfortable hand position. Getting the weight off my hands has been good and I actually enjoy riding more now than I ever did as a yut on my Super Course.

Heatherbikes

The Ahearne Map handlebar is lovely, gorgeous actually, but too big.
The flat bar with thumbie shifters is working out for now, a bit too flat which is straining my wrists, but it's getting better. just not pretty.
comme ca...48cm Mercier Lightweight Vintage Ladies Racing/Town Bike

Yes, women's core is in the hips and legs, so I see women having trouble with drop bars ALL THE TIME. I wonder why the women specific road bikes still push drop bars? Parts are getting better, more options, but still not stock on small women's bikes.

The Golden Boy 

Coming into cycling, I've had back problems- and that anxiety of hurting myself had me hunting for ways to not bend over.

I LOVED having the upright bars. It was nice and comfy, I had great control, using thumbshifters- I never had to move my hands off the bars. But somewhere into... say ... mile 7- you find yourself looking for another way to hold the bars. Northroad type bars, as comfy as they are in that first couple of miles- offer no other hand positions.

Drop bars do offer tons of hand positions. I didn't want to like or use drop bars. I thought of every other bar combo- I'd still like to try out some butterfly/trekking bars. But drop bars are not just for riding the drops. Without being in the drops you've got the hoods, the ramps, the corner of the ramps and the tops.

Best thing you can do is try every option available to you- and decide what you and your body likes.

Grand Bois

The Nitto B617 and B601 are French-inspired city bike bars. You can wrap the centers for more hand positions.

https://www.google.com/search?q=nitt...95%3B604%3B401
https://www.google.com/search?q=nitt...x%3B1200%3B900

I like this bar alot:

custom flat handlebar

Heatherbikes

Oooh, the jitensha flat bar is beautiful. The nitto bars are quite nice, especially the b601 which I think I have bookmarked somewhere. I wonder how they'd do as road bars? I have seen photos of bikes set up with similar bars that were cut shorter to be sportier.
The Golden Boy: Upright bars are generally not great for long distance riding, but I've done very long commutes on bolt upright bikes. I have ridden for years with mostly upright bars, touring and all and did not have too much trouble. I did a century with albatross bars which I would never ever recommend. For some reason the lbs who built my bike thought albatross's were perfect for me! I am finding the flat bar position okay. I am bent forward as much as I would be if my hands were on the tops or the hoods. It is not killing my back as feared, but can see on a long distance ride it could be trouble. But to have drop bars, ride on the hoods or the drops I would have to have munchkin sized gear, and the issues with braking are a problem. For me, riding with drop bars was very uncomfortable, unsafe and scary.

Grand Bois

A lot of tourists swear by trekking bars. They provide multiple hand positions. I've read that they're very popular in Europe. The odd appearance puts off a lot of people, including me.

https://www.google.com/search?q=trek...w=1019&bih=660

3alarmer 

...this is a possibility, of course, but if you limit your modifications somewhat to where you might end up on
the tops of your drop bars, you ought to be OK. As mentioned already, simply shortening your stem reach puts
you more upright as well. Here's one that is a race geometry PX that I modified for use in heavy downtown
traffic, to put me a little more upright for better visual scanning. I also get a little more steering leverage.

vonfilm 

With a Nitto Technomic stem you can raise drop bars up and choose the reach that you want.

Untitled by vonfilm, on Flickr