Bike Forums - Drop Bars

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dheorl (Post 7393635)

The reason I'm wondering is because I am hoping to buy a bike for touring. I will be using about 50% rough gravel track and 50% road and although the drop bars will obviously be good for the road section I'm wondering if I'll ever be able to ride them for long periods over rough gravel. Being able to do a bit of single track would also be nice.

If drops aren't a possibilty then is there any way to get a similar position whilst still maintaining the option of flat wider bars?

For the kind of mixed use you're describing, you should consider a set of wide flared "dirt drop" bars like the Midge handlebar made by On-One, or WTB's Mountain Drop bar. I haven't used the WTB bar, but I love the Midge on my cyclocross bike. That bike was what I rode when I first started going to mountain bike trails, and I got a lot more comfortable taking it on rough singletrack and fire roads once I put the Midge bar on.

I put a pretty tall stem on it to get it high enough that I could comfortably use the drops a significant percentage of the time, especially in rough terrain. The downside of this is that it's a little harder to get really low when you're fighting a headwind or want to be aero for a fast smooth-paved downhill, but that's a trade I'm okay with.