Best handlebar for descents
 

I have to ride down (and back up) a huge ass hill everyday. I know what makes a bar good for uphill, but what about downhill? Are plain old drop bars the best choice?

Yeah.


Get down in the drops, lay your back nice an flat and you're all aero an such.

risers for visibility, drops for aero position.

bullhorns for compromise.

braked or brakeless? Do you care about how aero you are or just about control? Is there traffic and or tight corners?

are you riding fixed?

if so your ability to spin or comfort with feet off the pedals and gear ratio will be more important to speed than aerodynamics

With brake. I care mostly about control and comfort. Lots of traffic and I tend to ride between cars at lights so I don't want anything too wide. I have 39 ish shoulders so this isn't an issue except with risers. I tried flip and chops for a while and liked them except on long descents, or rides over 15 miles. Right now I'm using risers which I cut down to 50 cm, but they're super uncomfortable on long rides and too wide for traffic. I've been thinking about getting legit bullhorns, or trying northroads style bars or moustache bars. The only reason that I don't really want drops on this bike is that I never use the drops in traffic. Plus my geared bike has them and it's fun to have variety.

Yes fixed. It's not about speed, only comfort and control. I'm happy with my gearing, but I might be changing it SS soon anyway, until I move back to somewhere flat.

what brake did you have with your flop+chops? I would probably say they are the most comfortable for long heads up descents with braking combined with a normal road brake on the end.

If you don't need to brake much drops are great. Bullhorns are ok but not really that much different from flop+chops except being a bit longer

hmmm

something that doesnt force you to ride in the drops for visibility

no track drops

something that allows you to push backwards with your arms in case of an emergency stop

bullhorns

drops with hoods

maybe you can try mustache bars and tell us about them

with hoods i can brake with less effort from drops

depends on brake lever and hand size really now

I had a cross lever up near the stem. I've thought that my brake might have been contributing to the problem. Is there an advantage to using a road lever over the dia compe time trial lever? Should I use an aero or non aero lever?

I don't know If I would trust a tt lever in flop 'n' chops since you would be inserting it into a curve. I've used non-aero recently just because that's what I've had laying around. I remember doing aero with real bullhorns years ago and the routing was not ideal but it worked.

I'm a fan of setting the reach up so being on the brake hoods is comfy for normal riding with normal drops. That way you have like 3 other hand positions, unlike bullhorns or risers.

Also, non aero brake levers pull more cable as an added advantage. I run aero just cause I'm not that cool.

Does that equal more stopping power, or better modulating?

more cable = more clearance/worse stopping power and modulation.

On a lot of fg descents I want to get as non aero as possible, to keep cadence down.

since you're not concerned with speed, chop your risers to your shoulder length and sit as upright as possible on the decent. Wind resistance will keep your speed low and your bars will help you control the bike.

If you are uncomfortable with any style of handle bars for only 15 miles, you need to look at other adjustments like stem and saddle. I rode 100 miles fixed with risers and my back felt fine.

No, track drops for instance can be uncomfortable after only 2 miles if you are riding on the tops even with a 2" saddle bar drop.

Also the sweep of risers is designed for a much wider hand position. They are a poor choice for cutting narrow. Flat mtb bars would work better possibly flipped backwards.

Really, whY? Honest to god newb question... seriously...

because they are made for sprinting in the drops

it is possible but stupid that they could be made comfortable by adjusting stem and seat relation even for long distance riding

i think the point of the poster a few up was that maybe the problem should be looked at more broadly

Top position is VERY narrow, depending on the model, and not fully flat.

What's modulation exactly?

Forgot about the whole pulling more cable = less mechanical advantage.

fine control over braking pressure.

More cable pulled means less brake lever movement goes from too light to too hard.

I'm mostly talking about hand/ elbow comfort. I have my road bike (with drops) set up similarly and it's never an issue.
I don't like that risers have only one hand position, and they just feel weird to me, especially going downhill. I think I'd need to have them above the saddle to feel right, and then I'd be stuck in an upright position all the time. I think Dutret's right in that my problem with flip and chops before was my brake placement.

I'm still curious as to how moustache bars and north roads feel on long descents.