During my fitting seminar, Michael Sylvester spoke a lot about how riders put their handlbars so low that they spend 95% of the time on the tops and the hoods and are only very rarely in the drops. In effect, the tops are nearly as low as where the drops should be.
Darren brought this up a few weeks ago after reading an article discussing the same issue. People like the look of a drastic saddle-to-bar drop. And trust me, I don't want my bike looking like some sort of touring cruiser. I love the look of an aggressive set-up as much as anyone.
But I decided I would make my set-up a little more practical this year. After a lot of searching, I found a bar with a short reach and a super shallow drop.
I moved my stem up one spacer, installed the new bar, and now I can comfortably ride on the tops, the hoods, and the drops. In fact, during the circuit race down in the Bahamas I spent nearly the entire race comfortably in the drops. The bars look funny compared to a traditional bar, but I think if people give it a shot, there will be a ton of converts.
5 comments:
Funny you should mention this. After noticing how infrequently I ride in the drops, I figured out that most people's hoods are where drops used to be. I watched a video from a recent pro crit and was surprised to notice them spending a LOT of time on the hoods. Last night I moved up one spacer and spent more time in the drops. I may need some of those mini drops since I have really short arms. Have you seen any bars that have flat tops and short drops?
I think that the best bar is the Bontrager fit VR. It has a 120mm drop and a 70mm reach. Typical bars hover around a 135-145mm drop and an 80-95mm reach. In the Bahamas Danny Pate was grilling me about my bars because he never rides in the drops--I am hoping to see these bars start to pop up in the giro :) If they do, I am taking all the credit.
Jared,
I noticed the Raleigh bikes today at Tradezone. They were pretty hot looking. I was surprised. I tend to think of them from my early days along with Schwinn. Obviously the have stepped up their game.
Thanks, I am pretty impressed with them. Raleigh gave us a great deal for 2008. From what I understand, they are pretty much the same thing as the Scott CR1s. Pretty sharp looking, but what I like about them most is the way they handle. Stiff and snappy in the turns.
Jared-
Those bars are EXACTLY what I need. I researched since I saw your posting and agree that the Bontragers are excellent. They seem to have the shallowest drop, but also a shorter reach than most other compact bars. And they're reasonably light, and much more affordable than most others. Can I get a pair of 44cm through Haymarket? Drop me an email.
Chuckwagon - FSA makes some compact bars with flat tops. Check out the K-Wing Compact, with 125mm drop and 80mm reach. Retails for about $230, so a little over 4.5x the cost of the Bontragers. But for a solo victory, maybe that's worth it.
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