fietsbob

Thats ^^ You , I have a 4.5 cm stem on my Bike Friday Pocket Llama, with ITM Freetime Trekking Bars .

rear of the Bar tube is in line with the steering Axis ..

Bar near horizontal to use the sides and forward bend equally ..

R'off grip shifter on right rear end of bar. Disc Brakes ..

rifraf

Another fan of the Jones bars here.

Very happy with mine.

The link shows the multiple hand positions if you scroll down far enough:
H-BAR

GeoKrpan

I use an upside down north road bar. I tried a bar similar to Jones but the angle wasn't right for me. I hate drop bars, used them for 20 years.

takenreasy

Not that I'm a super duper bicycle tour dude or anything but I have Nitto Albatross bars on my LHT. They offer many hand positions and are great if you are looking for a more upright riding position.

Trevtassie

Mine are like this, but with the attachment point maybe even further forward than that. Trekking Cycling Road Mountain Bike Bicycle Butterfly Handlebar 25 4mm 31 8mm | eBay
Then there are ones like this, where you wouldn't need a long stem XLC Butterfly Trekking Handlebars Black Multi Position MTB Touring Handle Bar | eBay but you would want watch where the cables came out of the levers so they didn't foul the stem.

Leebo

I use a mountain bike with a riser bar, decent sweep ( 10 -20 degrees) and bar ends, works well.

Carbonfiberboy 

Standard drop bars work very well. They've undergone a century or so development process. They have at least 5 unique hand positions. They're what you run on 1200k brevets, so they'll be just fine for touring.

Happy Feet

I might argue that drop bars work well for racing and what you see in other forms of biking is a trickle down effect of that. Road bikes traditionally follow race bike form. Many tourers in the past came from a road bike background so.. you have people going on tour and being most comfortable with the feel of dropbars. Makes sense but sort of like Ray Bans dominating a scene until Oakley came along and rewrote the design book.

Take away the race influence and other shapes make as much, if not more sense.

Some people don't want to be hunched over in the drops, in which case, that part of the bar is a total waste of real estate and you are left with bull horns. Add a second position out front and you have trekking bars. Add side handles for more upright riding and you have Jones bars. Extend your reach for aerodynamics and rest and you have aero bars....

BobG

I use drop bars but 95% of the time I ride on the hoods or elsewhere on the tops. I don't like being hunched over in the drops as it obstructs breathing and tires the neck. That said, I like having the drops in reserve for downhill safety and stability, thus I don't consider them to be a "waste of real estate".

On a fast descent occasionally an unexpected bump may try to dislodge your grip from the bars. While riding in the hooks of the drops, your palms are directly behind the bars. This makes it less likely to loose your grip and control of the bike when you suddenly hit a pot hole. With flat bars, trekking/butterfly bars or Jones bars only the thumbs are wrapped around securing one's grip. Much more likelihood of loosing control.

veganbikes

I like a good flat top drop bar. I am currently using a Zipp Service Course SL-70 Ergo bar but Dimension, 3T and others make a similar bar if you have other requirements. Having those flat tops makes it so you aren't death gripping the bar so much and it you can rest your palms to allow better blood flow. I also have a comfortable set of brake levers and good bar tape and different set of gloves all quite comfortable.

GeoKrpan

100 years of development and they still suck. 5 hand postions, none of them as good as a dirt drop or Jones bar.

Happy Feet

To be fair my comments were in response to CFB's suggestion that dropbars had been around for a long while and were used for Brevets so they were the defacto choice. I certainly don't knock anyone who uses them because they like them. I don't really have too many hard and fast ideas about touring.

That being said, one could point out that upright or north road type bars have been around far longer than drops, and that reversed uprights were used during the early clubman era of touring (like the bars in post 28) and that drops only came into fashion as racing influenced road design.

As to stability during rapid descents in the drops. I have several thoughts. The first is personal in that I really don't try to go that fast on a fully loaded tour bike down hill for fear of a flat that could make the tire come off the rim so having my hands flying off is not what I worry about too much.

Second, if I look at what biking activity might cause hands to fly off the most I would suspect downhill MTBing to be the biggest offender and yet they tend to have wide flat bars. Yes, cyclocross bikes do have drops but that is probably more to do with the racing influence of generating crank power than concern for stability.

Third, I suspect that stability in the drops might be partially an effect of user familiarity. The brakes are found there, riders going fast downhill want to be close to the brakes. Added to that, old school dropbars were narrow and not very stable when held on the flats so.. going to the drops feels the most stable and safe. If someone were not familiar with drop bars I wonder if a person could make an argument with the same weight that being in the drops going downhill were the most stable, given other available options.

It's not something I would argue long about as I think it comes down to what you are used to and how you like to ride which is a person to person thing.

GeoKrpan

My theory is that drops morphed into what they are today because of derailleurs and shifters. Before them, wide bars were needed to get the leverage to climb on a single gear.

I was out climbing one day and was overtaken by a group led by a well known, recently retired pro, a TdF veteran. They had been going much harder than me and were far more tired. I thought I would be cheeky and ride along with them for as long as I could. I kept their pace far longer than I thought and the former pro remarked to me about it. I attributed it to the bars. We talked about the early days of the Tour where you might have seen such a bar. There is no way that I would have been able to go as far with them as I did on a traditional drop bar.

BobG

Agreed!

I may be more cautious than some about handlebar grip. I came very close to a serious crash descending slowly on a bumpy road from my house when I got bounced off my brake hoods unexpectedly. I recovered just in time to avoid the fall. Yes, one usually has a death grip on flat bars when mountain biking on trails when a fall is more likely. One becomes more casual about grip on the road.

Drops are the most awkward position for braking for me with small hands. I can apply them easier (although more lightly) from the hoods, more powerfully like a mountain bike with cross-top levers from the flat section up top (while descending slowly).

GeoK's bars look sweet for wrist comfort and braking power. I think I might miss the higher brake hood position for more upright relaxed riding.

Happy Feet

Bars are funny things. Have you ever seen drop bars rotated upsidedown so the drops are on top. I've never asked but I wonder if it is done by people seeking a more upright position?

I am going to add bar ends to my trekking/aero bars to create something like this. If I like it I think I will get my machinist friend to smooth out the corners and weld me a set:

BobG

Just on goofy around town bikes, usually ridden by the DWI crowd who aren't cycling by choice! My touring bike drop bar brake hood hand position is 2" higher than the saddle. That's high enough. I use a stem riser to accomplish that. They're even with the saddle height on a Litespeed road bike.

GeoKrpan

My bars are supremely comfortable. They are very low but the width and angle provide such good upper body support that it works. I'm bent more which means I'm utilizing more glut which in turn makes me more comfortable because I'm not over using my legs. I never miss the hoods or the tops of the bar.

The brake levers are positioned for maximum access. That and twin piston calipers and 180/160 rotors. I never have to be concerned with braking power or fade.

Hypno Toad

For long days (100 to 150 miles), I've been good with normal drop bars. I'm excited to use my Woodchippers for the first time for a century next month (Almanzo 100 gravel grinder). For shorter rides, I've been very happy with the hand positions.

I have to give a nod to a friend that just completed the Trans Iowa race (310+ miles, mostly gravel), he had some Jones bars with bolt-on aero bars. This is not his bike, but the same set-up:

Happy Feet

Very interesting.. What I seek in bars with multi positions is the ability to get off my hands for a bit as I numb out after a while, so aeros are very attractive. I always thought I had a touch of Carpal tunnel but testing determines it to be mild thoracic outlet syndrome.

Bob, I agree about who would use rotated drops; probably people who don't have a lot of experience/ ability riding hunched over, only have a cheap road bike and aren't into buying new bars and controls. The industry seems to address this by making commuter and hybrid bikes with flats.

Who knows... Last night I was contemplating trying to randonnee or something to challenge myself between tours (even looked up the 2016 BC 1200km brevet - but not yet). I used to run quite a bit and enjoy cardio work but can't hack the pounding anymore so I may wind up experimenting with drop bars yet!

jimmie65

I like this idea. I've managed to slip long handlebar ends onto my butterfly bars that give me a short aerobar simile (no pics right now, as I'm at work) but I've got a set of aerobars laying around that I might try.

Happy Feet

Yes, I think you would get away with the bar ends for the most part as it is. I see road aerobars in that style and find I hold my own not too far forward in any case, but the arm rests are what I really want them for (so I can take pressure off the wrist/palm). I'm sure people can also buy just forearm rests or make something similar pretty easy. The ones I'm using (aerobar set) were a fairly economical experiment at $35 CAD from the LBS.

I just used an electrical conduit pipe bender at work yesterday to off set my seat post by 2" and it was fairly straight forward so I may buy some alloy and try to bend a one piece trekking/aerobar combo instead of the bolt ons as another experiment which would allow me to really think about hand rotation and position.

GeoKrpan

Bending a seat post, you could still get the saddle level? You could also try flaring out some ordinary drop bars.

Happy Feet

Yep. By seat post I mean the pipe attached to the seat and not the seat tube it goes into. A very slight bend that just sets the seat back a couple of inches, which means I have to raise the post a bit to maintain the same height but the ratchet under the seat adjusts angle.

I looked at the LBS for a post with a set back to do the same thing but they came in quite expensive for what they were. I'm at work right now but will take a pic this weekend on my ride.

Bending drops would be interesting, sort of like wood chipper bars. I did do that to a set of old North Road bars to make moustache bars by putting a plank across them and driving my van on top but wouldn't recommend that Apparently I have discovered there are actual tools that can perform such tasks (though the end result was fair)!

elcruxio

Waaait... you bent alloy? And will still use it as a seat post? Good luck I guess but it's not as bendable as steel. There may be issues

Carbonfiberboy 

It seems that many people don't understand what drop bars are for or how to use them. They are the almost universal choice for long events such as PBP, 765 miles in 55-90 hours. In long events like that, comfort and being able to stay on the bike for very long periods is the number one issue. Simple math tells us that the 90 hour group averages 8.5 mph. Most only get 2 hours of sleep a night so their over-the-road average would be only 9.1. So drop bars aren't particularly for racing, though they're good for that, too.

For illustrations, simply google Images for "PBP handlebars." The first few images you'll probably see will be of Jan Heine, the publisher of Bicycle Quarterly. Note the many hand positions being used in the various images.

Hand positions: Lovely Bicycle!: Drop Bar Hand Positions: an Introduction
How to avoid hand pain: https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycli...l#post12953035
and note the exact hand positions that these women are using.