I am trying to figure out a handlebar setup for my bike. Right now, I have some traditional road bike handlebars, but I was wondering how comfortable they would be without brake hoods. Usually, on my road bike, I keep my hands wrapped around the brake hoods. On this fixie conversion, I will not have any brakes or hoods, so would that style handlebar still be comfy or should I chop it to make a bullhorn?

I thought it would be uncomfortable at first too, but its not. You can quickly adjust to not having hoods. I just ride on top or all the way in the drops.

People often fail to realize that standard road bike bars with hoods provide ALL THREE hand positions.
- Tops (good for cruising)
- Drops (for sprinting. Pretty much uncomfortable for anything else)
- Hoods (cruising, sprinting, climbing)

In the hipster world these would be three different bars:
- Flatbar/risers
- Track Drops
- Bullhorns



If you like riding on hoods then you will probably like bullhorns.

i actually just changed to road drops from risers, no hoods, cross brake. I've never ridden with hoods, but i really like riding with the palm up on the bend. The drops are crazy awesome for climbing over risers, and the flats are nice too.

tarck as my newly waxed butthole..

or you could just get a pair of dummy levers.

road drops have a little flat area before the bend that you can use as if there were hoods. Not quite as good, but ok for an extra hand position

depends on your riding conditions. i rode bullhorns around for several months and loved them for being upright around town. i recently lent them to someone and started using road drops. with the wind we have been experiencing (20-30 mph regularly) the drops have been GREAT. i never liked risers at all. my next set of bars will definitely be mustache bars, for my fixed. then they will go on my touring bike.

Drops without hoods aren't necessarily uncomfortable, but drops with hoods are much more comfortable than that.

i rode drops with a cross lever for a few months. i liked climbing with my hands on the bends. I never used the drops during my typical city riding so i switched back to horns.

A lot of people just put hoods on with no levers.

A friend of mine has some ergo road bars on his fixed gear. they have flat areas at the tops, and it's more comfortable than any other road bar I've used. I mean, I'm sure it's more comfortable with hoods, but still.

I personally would prefer pursuit bars.

I ride with the Nitto b115 road drops brakeless for 2 years now. I have no problems and find them very comfortable, these drops give you various hand positions as well. In fact my favorite spot is just where the bend begins I guess where the hoods would be.

Track riders have been using drop bars without brake levers for about a century now; seems to work for them.

track racers ride in the drops only, so your point is moot.

How so? The question was about using drop bars without brake levers on which to rest ones' hands. My response seems quite appropriate in that context.

Using a drop bar will always give you more usable hand positions than a flat bar or bull horns. Bull horns were first used in time trials where the event was short enough and fast enough that you were unlikely to need more than one hand position. Track racing encompasses a lot more than that, though. E.g. I'm sure 6 day race riders appreciated having a few more hand positions over the course of their events.

they're talking about road drops on the streets, not racing on the track in the drops.

The answer is: less comfy. And if you switch to bullhorns then they will be as comfy as before, but less versatile.

So? If you're going to be on the bike for any length of time, a drop bar will be more comfortable than a flat bar or bullhorns, regardless of whether you're riding on a track or on the street.

just one less hand position. it's still one of the better bars to have. ergo drops are the best. track drops are great if all you ever do is sprint and spin in a tuck, but road bars can be set up a little more versatile even without hoods. raise em up with the stem and ergo drops are damn comfy, or ride on the top.

His point, I believe, is that what worked for track racers for a hundred years has nothing to do with what the best choice would be for the road.

depending on the bike's fit and your body, a drop bar might make your back hurt. if the bike's fit properly and you don't have any joint or back problems, i think a road drop is probably the most versatile bar available, even without brake hoods. especially ergo drops that come up with a bend where the hoods are, because you can ride on those without damaging your wrists if you set them up well.

Generally speaking, track riders only ride for less than 5 minutes at a time, too.

You've never heard of a "6-day" race?

Are you that stubborn or are you just stupid?

Track bikes are irrelevant to the discussion here unless you only race laps on a closed oval. You might as well argue that because BMX racing bikes are good enough for BMX racers they are good enough for road cyclists.

Ride enough on the road, and you will inevitably conclude that road-style drops are better with hoods. Again people, this is not even debatable. How many road bikes do you see set-up differently. Sure its possible to ride comfortably with drops sans hoods (I did for years, and still do occasionally), but that doesn't mean its the best solution, unless you are so obsessed with bike fashion that your overall judgment of function is severely impaired.

A pair of Tektro road levers can be had for $25. If you insist on brakeless, saw the levers off and keep the hoods, or, as in my case, use a front brake and just saw one lever off.

I ride the Nitto RB021 bullhorn/pursuit bars. You can ride on top when cruising. Then go all the way out on the bars which kinda feels like hoods on a road bike.