Bars for climbing (discussion)
 

I like bullhorns.
I ride them on my track bike and my tt bike.
In the next year or so my gf and i (we ride the same sized frame) will begin building a second road bike (probably a ti frame with crit geometry), so i've been thinking about bars lately.
The pros ride drops, probably for aerodynamic advantage when sprinting. They have hoods, which they use when climbing.
This makes me curious-- when using bullhorns with drop, you're provided with something of a drops/climb hybrid, so why don't more riders use bullhorns instead of drops?
climbing on track bars i an obvious hinderance; flat bars/risers are almost more advantageous. hoods are often a fashion faux pas, so most riders of fg who climb either swap their bars altogether (for horns) or climb inefficiently.
i wonder, though-- is there a reason most pro riders don't use bullhorns? i only see them in time trial and triathlon environments, but have found that i can ride hard and long when using dropped bullhorns.
I'd like to hear the thoughts of cyclists who do long distances on both, and what you think the apparent strengths/weaknesses of a bullhorn vs drops w/hoods are.

*note, i currently use bullhorns w/aerobars on my tt bike, but don't know if i'm going to go that route in the future.
** i have ridden drops for a brief period of time in the past; i didn't like them. that's not to say they aren't good, but i've found that i'm rarely in a sprint long enough to benefit; unless i'm in a race with a long flat or in a velodrome, i don't see how they'd be superior to dropped bullhorns.

There are no pro riders on bullhorns because UCI rules state that you can't race in a mass start race with forward-pointing bars.

ahh... ****, i wasn't aware of that.
interesting.

If they have plugs they shouldn't be that bad in a mass start wreck... just blunt force trauma to the spine...

They would also be dangerously easy to snag on something in a tight pack.

for the record, i am not fond of this rule.

So while we're at it, would it be totally gross to put bullhorns on my road bike? It's a vintage steel trek and since I'm going to be buying new brake pads, cables, and levers for it I think that bullhorns would be cool as well. Thoughts?

Go for it.

Would it look nasty though? I think it would work using cross levers and especially since my shifters are on the downtube, but I don't know if it would look too weird or not. Maybe I'll just buy new aero levers and keep the bars I have.

Use TT levers on the end of the horns. It will look fine. There are a few examples of bikes set up like this on the board. Look for Rad/55's "commuter".

I'd worry more about how it felt than how it looked. If you like bullhorns, run 'em.

You don't need cross levers; road levers/shifters actually work quite nicely.
here's an old picture of my y-foil (from over a year ago, maybe two).
As you can see, i've used hoods on the underside of the bullhorns which works QUITE nicely.
i've since changed the bars/saddle/everything, but still use the same positioning for the brakes:

http://b1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/0...10878651_l.jpg

^ sweet ride there, I've seen that usage of aero levers before, didn't really like it.

Maybe I'll keep drops on this bike and buy an Allez and THEN convert this bike.

Because that's gonna happen eventually anyway.

Hooded brakes are superior to cross levers for climbing.

My $.02:

bar width is more important than bar type. Measure your shoulders.

When you're reaching out on the horns, your hands are going in effectively the same position as road drop hoods. So they're both pretty similar. The hoods may be ~a tiny bit more ergonomical, but yeah. I use bullhorns on long rides and like them fine. I'd never use risers or flats. Track drops seem to work alright if I put my hands at the end of the drops (nearest to the headtube) and forefully rock the bike back and forth while I climb out of the saddle, which is basically the same thing I do on bullhorns... main difference is my back is more horizontal, i.e. more aero and way less comfy. Not something for long rides but for runs through the city it works fine.

Even bullhorns with drop do not provide the same kind of positions that drop bars do, since your hands always have to be on top of the bar. With drop bars, you can practically put your chin on the stem and still have a reasonable hand position. Also, drop bars with hoods provide more hand position options, which is preferable for longer rides.

I have a bike that I can easily switch between drops (with hoods), bullhorns and flat bars, and I find that the drops are almost always the most comfortable.

I've ridden horns and drops, liked them both. I find myself riding on the horns or inside near the stem whether I have horns on or drops, so I've kept with the horns because I'm lazy and my drops are at Jgarcia's house.

FWIW, I had my tri-bike-on-the-cheap set up with brifters on bullhorns. Looked funky but worked just fine.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y18...ugust06017.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y18...ember06031.jpg

curved road drops. ride on the hooks pushing a big gear out of the saddle. Pantani style. snort coke and wear a bandanna for extra effect.

Use cross levers and some Dura-Ace bar end shifters (like $50-$75 a set). If they're indexed properly then it's just as convenient as STI shifters.

I've yet to see anyone with this setup though.

DAMNIT SLOPVEHICLE BEAT ME TO IT

That's exactly what came to mind when I read the title. I even found my own picture and everything.

Here's what I don't get about drops....how can you ride them with the same stem you ride your other bars with? When you have bullhorns, the flats and the drops are pretty close together (drop distance) but drops have more...well, drop. I'm assuming people want to be comfortable riding both on the flats and in the drops, so...wouldn't that mean that if you have a good flat position, you have drops that are too low? And if you have a rise stem, your flats are too high and your drops are good (and you look like a ****** with a positive rise stem and drops). How do you guys reconcile having a good drop position with having a good position on the flats? Alike so:

http://photos-b.ak.facebook.com/phot...04829_8629.jpg

The green line is the "ideal" line. Where your hands are most comfortable, and you have good power transfer and not too much back pain. This is where you'd put your bar if it was flat, and you were a hipster (joking!) If that line is at the top of your drops, then the bottom is obviously going to be really far away from ideal. If that line is in the MIDDLE of your drops, then the drops and the flats are both a little bit away from ideal, but they're each less far from ideal than your drops would be if you had a flat stem (do I make sense?)

Anyway, how do people feel about stems and drops and body position?

EDIT: sorry for the crappy pic, and...the fact that it's sideways.

EDIT2: w@nker is a cussword now?

Power & aero are often two different things. The most comfortable and/or best position for energy efficiency is probably not the same position for aerodynamic optimization. Since most riders with drops are only in the drops when going fast (i.e. wanting to be aero) and not for extended amounts of time, then having your hoods at a better height for distance and your drops lower than is comfortable (but in a position which is more aerodynamic) makes sense.




And hopefully that did, too.^^