whiteshark

I was just wondering if anyone has used track bars on their roadie? Would they be uncomfortable? Can you even mount break levers on them? Thanks
Chase

OneTinSloth

you can mount brake levers on them. a lot of old school crit. bars had a very swoopy trackish bend to them. i don't see why you couldn't use them comfortable. it just depends on your hand position. nitto makes a nice set of "anatomic" track drops.

whiteshark

Cool, thanks for the info. I was just thinking that they might look cool.
Chase

steppinthefunk 

old time bump... I was wondering as well...

Surferbruce

i have track bars on my road fixed gear conversion. they're fine and i love the feel in the drops, but you have to mount levers lower down on the curve, so they effectively increase your saddle to bar drop. for sprinting there's nothing better.

DannoXYZ 

I use one of these chromoly bars on my track bike:

and the aluminium version on my road bike:



I definitely like the extra clearance for sprints and tossing the bike around on downhills. But I think I'm going to upgrade to a chromoly track bar with 31.8mm center so I can use a big stem get more stiffness out of the front end.

classic1

I've used Cinelli 65's and 3TTT Gimondis in the past. Not as deep as track bars but 'round' on the tops.

I wish 3ttt still made the Gimondi bar. They were a touch deeper and had a longer reach than the 65's, plus I found them more comfortable on the tops.

same time

Most track bars have huge deep drops to them - put them on a modern racing bike with a threadless headset and compact frame, and your drops will be somewhere down around the front hub. Great for sprinting, but not for long rides.

I noticed that the handlebar that comes stock on the Bianchi Pista is pretty shallow, but still shaped like a track bar, kind of like the old Cinelli 65.

javna_golina

could someone explain the difference between track drops and "standard" road drops?

Yoshi

Regular drop bars have a straight section of bar to the left and right of the stem whereas track bars start curving practically from the stem. Track drops also have much deeper drops. This is advantageous in a sprint because it gives your arms more room (they don't hit the sides of the bars since the curve starts much earlier). However this limits your hand positions. If you ever watch someone riding a trackbike with the hands on the tops of the bars, they are usually holding on really close to the stem. This is because that is the only straight portion of the bars.

fogrider

additionally, track bars tend to be heavier and stiffer. my nitto bars must weigh a pound and a half, my road bars weigh in at about 225 grams. track bars also don't have a groove for cable routing, not a real biggie, but along with antomic hand position, it's one of the nice things about modern bars.