So I'm trying to figure out a handlebar setup that I won't hate on tour. Last summer I did a bunch of touring on Mustache bars, and while I love them around town, they're really not that great on tour--there just aren't very many hand positions.

I put on a pair of Salsa Poco bars only to discover what many other people have--"ergonomic" bars, aren't.

I'm looking at swapping them out for either the FSA Compacts or the Salsa Woodchippers.

Here are the factors that matter:

*I have shoulder issues. I know part of it is that I tend to lock my (weak) arms when riding, which is something I'm working on.
*I am, shall we say, a cautious descender. To be frank, I tend to ride my brakes, I'm a scaredy-cat going downhill. Not having a really secure/easy grasp on my brakes is terrifying, and then I ride them even more. The mustache bars are helpful in that I have them on the ends of the bars and they're easy to grab, I find myself descending faster on them than I ever did in drops just because I feel so stable at that wide angle. I have some totally upright bars on my 1961 Raleigh, and I descend quickly on that too, because again, I'm upright and have an easy grasp on my brakes.
*I do not reach very far. Part of that is my shoulder issues, part of it is wearing strong glasses, but I like sitting at a pretty straight angle. My handlebars are a few inches higher than my saddle and I like having a short reach.
*I have a quill stem.

I'm getting drop bars at all because I need lots of hand positions when touring.

The two strong contenders right now are the Salsa Woodchipper and the FSA Compact. Anyone toured on either of them? Like them? Hate them? Think they'll work/not work with my issues?

I've tried different bars and, just like you, what seems nice for an hour doesn't always seem so nice for several hours a day. I keep coming back to this one:



It's the Nitto 176 "Dream Bar." There's nothing unique about it except its complete lack of gimmicks. There are no weird bends, ramps, wings, tucks, or grooves. It's the Ward Cleaver of handlebars. The oddest thing about mine is the 46cm width and that's what I like about it.

I spend a good deal of time on the handlebar tops while touring. I like to move my hands from the hoods to the area behind the hoods, to the bends, to the outer straight part, and to the inner straight part. I like to grip the bends with my palms down sometimes and with my palms up other times. Obviously, I can use the drops for yet another change.

There's nothing really special about the Nitto 176 except its "ordinaryness." There are probably tons of other ordinary drop bars I'd like as well, especially if they are wide.

The Woodchippers wouldn't appeal to me because of the narrow tops and the splayed drops:



That cuts down on the room I have to move my hands around on the tops. In fact, I try to keep the tops of my bars uncluttered of more than a small bike computer and maybe a bag strap or two. A fully instrumented cockpit takes up hand position space.

FSA makes several bars they call Compact. It's hard to guess which one you're referring to. The more normal shaped it is, the more I'd be likely to like it.

The woodchippers are dirtdrops, and are meant to be riden in the drops basically 100% of the time. The Salsa fargo comes with them. I have them on my s/s mtb and LOVE them. I have commuted on them as well. The tops are not that narrow and the flared drops are nice and long for climbing and moving hand positions. I find the flare is perfect for me as well. It puts my arms and wrist in a really natural position. They have a short reach and a shallow drop.

Here is how I set mine. The tops are level with my saddle.



No idea about fsa bars. I only have dirtdrops(or bell laps) on my bikes.

I don't understand the comment about the tops being narrow on the Woodchippers. There is as much room across the tops as any bar of the same size. I have them on several bikes now including my tourer and anyone that has tried them is using them now. It's a bar that once you give it a try, you tend to start to use them - on everything.

I find that there are more hand positions available to me with more comfort than any other bar (I have ridden) plus a whole lot of leverage. I would suggest the 31.8mm bar size.

My other bars are or have been Bell Laps, Ritchey Biomax, FSA Compact, and some OEM bar that came on my Scott thats very FSA like.

I like the Easton EA70 or the very similar Bontrager bar that came on my Trek 520. I do like a couple centimeters of drop though, not sure how that interacts with bar selection.

Edit to add: I had those salsa bars too, and hated them.

The Nittos just always looked huge to me. Long reach, deep drop. I'm fairly short with the arms to go with that. I used to have old-fashioned randonneuring bars, and even on a tall stem I almost never got in the drops except to brake hard.

Pyze-guy, thanks for the photos!

The first time I saw dirt drops was on a woman's bike parked in front of where I go to yoga. She was arriving as I was leaving, and I just about went nuts over her handlebars--they were the Soma Junebugs. The wrist angle looked so natural and comfy, and the reach was so deliciously short, and the way the drops flare out and back, they gave you damn near the same position as upright bars. They just look like the best of all worlds!

I'm looking at the Woodchippers as opposed to the Junebugs because I can't find Junebugs that fit my old-skool stem. Although at this point I'm wondering how expensive it would be to switch to one'o'them new-fangled threadless, just because they look like they're much easier to adjust in terms of height and reach, in order to figure out what feels best over time. I assume it's possible. Interestingly, though, the handlebars to fit older stems are usually the budget version, which is fine by me!

I'm not so stoked on the idea of dirt drops on a road tourer. They are fantastic on a mountain bike, or on a touring bike that sees mountain use, but I've always found them to be more awkward for road use. The angle of the hoods reduces comfort for me, and the tops are too narrow to be a good alternative.

Of course, I was using the Origin8 Gary bar, which is closer to a deep drop moustache than a standard drop bar.

There is an interesting continuum of flared drop bars, from bars with little flare like the Salsa Bell Laps, to slightly flared bars like the WTB Dirt Drops, and then moderately flared bars like the Woodchipper, then the On One Midge, the Origin8 Gary, and then you just hit Moustache bars.

The woodchipper has a verywide top and the hoods are pretty vertical.


The gary bar is useless for riding the hoods. Its 100% a ride in the drops bar. The soma is very similar to the gary bar with the levers moving very horizantal.

Like I said, I'm biased as I love dirt drops and LOVE the woodchipper, and pretty much hate 'road' bars. I have used it for a 4 hour ride on trails and it was awesome. I can ride on the tops, hoods, bends and the long flare. Great for climbing and decents as your hands are 'wedged' into the drop and don't need a firm grip to maintain control. The woodchipper is IMO perfect for long rides.

Salsa I think did it right with so many hand positions. The bars seem very large, probably one of the largest I have seen especially at 46cm size. The Garys pictured above I think are v1 which did not have much for tops, I have v2 (not in use) and they have more of a traditional road bar look.

I would also tell you to look at WTB Mountain Road Dirt Drops, I use this bar now on my "adventure bike" and find the hoods to be the MOST comfortable position. The bar comes in a standard mountain 25.4 vs a road 26 so you will need to keep that in mind on stem choice.



Please ignore the bar tape hack job.

April,

Not to overwhelm you with options but here are some photos of one further choice for a "dirt drop" style bar. Pictured is the On-One Midge bar. It is available to fit a stem with either a 25.4 or 31.8mm bar clamp. If you have a standard 26mm quill road stem you can order shims to make the 25.4 bars work. They are similar in shape to the Soma Junebug that you mentioned. The brake levers are angled more than the Woodchipper or WTB but not so much as the Gary. Bottom section is shorter than Woodchipper. The hoods feel comfortable at that angle. Your hands just rest more on the outside corners of the hoods. My bike is still under re-construction, I haven't ridden the new bars on the road yet.

I've been using conventional drop bars on touring bikes for the past 40 years but as you have pointed out, the dirt drops seem to put everything right where you want them. The angle of the bottom section matches the angle of your wrists when you let them hang limp. Combine that with a shallow drop set up high, it makes the drop position more useable and brakes easier to reach for extended descents. Not sure if I'll still need the cross top levers above but I'm going to continue with their installation.

Yes, you can adapt your threaded fork tube to "one 'o them new fangled threadless" styles. That's a "Dimension" adapter pictured on my threaded fork from Harris Cyclery. I chose it because it adds over 3" of rise as well. Extra hardware but easier to change stems if you need to tweak the fit.

Top to Bottom: 46cm Salsa Woodchippers, WTB Mountain Road Dirt Drops, and Salsa Bell Lap


Woodchippers installed on my Cross Check


I really like the Woodchippers so far, but I don't have a lot of miles on them yet.