zeeway

My return to biking was about six years ago on a hybrid with straight handlebars. Very solid bike, but my hands hurt after riding a short distance. Tried various fixes, but none worked very well, so I decided to sell that one and...

I bought a road bike, but those drop bars did not improve my hand pain. I did raise the stack height with spacers and that helped a bit. Also padded the drop bars, and that helped.

After converting the road bike to single speed, I did not need the brifters, so I bought some wide-sweep handlebars and added hand brakes. Hmmm, that helped a lot, but my wrists were still at a funky angle.

So I measured the resting angle of my wrists - seemed to be 20 degrees backsweep. And (voila) found some Dutch handlebars that have the same backsweep angle. I have these adjusted so that my wrists are not bent in the long axis direction..and my hand pain is gone. While I realize a road bike with Dutch handlebars would not be accepted by my roadie friends, my hands do not care about that. They feel much better and so do I.

hillyman

Good deal. Every rider for their own style. You'd think the bike brands would at least try to sell a bike in US that other countries have used for years but guess can't find right marketing name to push.

wgscott

Link?

I think this could help my wife. She tried Jones bars but the angle was too extreme.

zeeway

Look up UPANBIKE handlebars on Amazon

Litespud

I put a pair on my straightish-barred commuter. More comfortable hand position, more upright seat position - I love’em

Harhir

I have angled handle bars on all my bikes. Straight handlebars are awful for non offroad use. At least me for commuting and mainly city driving. One of the reasons I hate mountain bikes as commuter bikes.

GamblerGORD53

IMO a 20d bend is still a MTB bar. Nothing in common with Dutch bars that are 40 to 80d.
Mine are 70d AFAIK and I won't be using anything else. For 20 years I had straight and 10d bars and SUFFERED horribly.

canklecat

Yeah, those Amazon links show riser bars with a little sweep, more akin to 1980s-'90s mountain bike handlebars than classic European swept bars.

There's a reason why swept bars have been popular for decades -- they work well for many cyclists. There are variations, from the wide flared bars like the Nitto Albatross, to North Roads to porteur handlebars.

My early 1990s Univega went through a few phases, from the original straight (well, slightly arced) MTB bars to riser bars (also basically mountain bike bars) to the current incarnation with albatross bars. That's a keeper. It offers almost as many hand positions as my drop bar road bikes -- comfortable and versatile.

diggida

Really interested in these, love to see pics of your bikes with these bars!

I-Like-To-Bike

I have used handlebars that are comfortable for me for daily commuting and city riding for over 65 years, been comfortable for day trips of over 100 miles too. Never needed to change to different hand positions to be comfortable while riding, these handlebars were comfortable from the get-go. One zillion (or so) non enthusiasts world wide seemed to have made a similar decision.

gios

cubewheels

If you install those handlebars upside down (flipped left to right, NOT simply rotated on the stem so you'll have to remove it from the stem and swap the brake hoods left and right), it will look like a drop bar and put you in a more aero position while preserving the sweep (which is good for your hands).

Plus, it looks so bad-a-s-s!

zeeway

Agree that looks good. But that cool aero position was putting a lot of weight on my hands, which was a problem for me when I used drop bars. My core strength is pretty good (for a 78 year old), but apparently not good enough to be even a pretend-roadie.

cubewheels

That's pretty amazing!

Pop N Wood

I swapped to wrap back bars on my ebike. Some Origin 8 Transit Ergo bars I got of CL for $20. That required a riser stem to keep my knees from hitting the bars in turns.

Now I have an upright bike with a seating position not unlike my 70's Suburban. While the swept back angle is more natural for the wrists, I feel it is the upright position that takes all the pressure off your hands and wrists.

BobbyG

zeeway You gotta find what works for you and go with it Last year at 57, I converted my straight bar bike to drops after a dozen years of hand issues. My other two bikes are already drop bar bikes. I did consider bars like what you described, but I went with what has been working for me on the other two bikes...and it works...for now.

I'll check back in 20 years when I'm 78.

Enjoy your ride and thanks for sharing...that's what makes BF so great!

dmanthree

Anyone who wouldn't accept your choice of gear is to be ignored. There's a real nouveau snob culture out there lately.

C9H13N 

And you won’t get the upright position of a Dutch bike, which is part of the point. Aerodynamics are meaningless for low-speed city riding.

Princess_Allez

...and your nose Dutch ovens

FiftySix

I'm trippin' on that kickstand of Campbell's Chunky soup.

Trevtassie

Whack on a set of Ergon GC1 (or equivalent ergo swept bar grips) and next level the comfort!
That little bit of wrist support is awesome, especially on swept bars like the Jones.

Gresp15C

Same situation here. I can't ride drops -- my neck don't bend that way no more -- and straight bars pound the hell out of my wrists. Swept bars, ahhhh.... nice. I can ride all day.

Just for reference, here are some bars that I've tried. Some of these happened to be deeply discounted at the old Niagara Cycle:

FSA Metropolis
Origin8 Citi Classic
Velo Orange Tourist
Old Schwinn steel bar

Don't overlook those old steel bars. They won't add all that much weight, and are a practical solution to a real problem if your wrists happen to prefer swept bars. Some folks think that steel bars are actually a bit more comfortable, similar to steel frames.

ofajen

Having experimented recently with drop bars, trekking bars (of a sort) and upright bars (Albatross shape), one observation I have is a caution for those who still ride at speed regarding braking with the swept bars.

When you brake on the swept back bars, your hands are not pushed into the bar, as is the case with drop bars and (relatively) straight bars. Instead, you have to rely on hand strength to keep your hands in braking position. Not at issue at lower speeds.

OTOH, when you are going fast downhill with curves and bumps and all the other things that actually happen in riding, there is a safety factor to a braking position that resists your momentum as the bike slows. Moustache bars can offer similar hand positions while leaving the braking in a well-supported position for faster riding.

Otto

zeeway

We may have an apple to oranges situation with definitions, but the other advantage when I switched to the Dutch bars and hand brake levers (instead of brifters) was I was able to brake more effectively. Maybe it was related to a combination of causes specific to me, but I always found braking on a drop bar with brifters to be a bit awkward.

ofajen

There are plenty of ways to set up drop bar levers such that they are awkward to use, and reach can be an issue. My point is not a general comment on braking effectiveness. I was able to brake effectively with every configuration including Albatross style bars.

My only point is that when you are braking from high speed, upright bars require you to use hand strength to maintain your position as you decelerate since your palm is moving along the bar, not being pushed into it. For low speed biking it really isn’t a concern. That’s why they work so well for city riding.

Otto