alternate handlebars?

Jeff100au

I just don't get the traditional drop down style handlebars. I never go down to the low position. I need my head up to see the traffic and besides it's just not comfortable (for me anyway). Has anyone tried "pursuit" type bars? Or Scott AT-2 bars (made for mountain bikes?) Any recommendations for alternates?

meehs

I have Nitto "moustache" bars w/ bar-end shifters on my cross-bike. I like them a lot. They'd be great for a SS I think.

bmph8ter

I say use whatever makes you comfortable. If that means bull horns, moustache bars, drop bars, or flat bars then by all means get them. I like drop bars on my road bike. Just get on the low part when the winds pick up to be a bit more aero. I also like flat bars on my mountain bike and my errand bike. Upright is more comfortable for short jaunts.

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veloce99

I have Brahma bars on my old Panasonic I converted to a singlespeed drivetrain. I don't have a problem with drop bars (which I have on my road bike) or straight bars with barends (which I have on my mountain/crappy weather bike), I just like the variety. Don't forget that you have choices in stem angles as well as handlebars, which means even if a given handlebar style initially looks too low or too high for you, it doesn't have to actually be either. And look, just because you have drops on road bars doesn't mean you have to spend time in them -- when I am doing day rides, charity rides, etcetera, I probably spend most of my time on the tops or hoods, and I don't think the drops mind.

John Knees

Have a look in the mirror - you may suffer from the same condition as I do - a short neck. I have the same number of vertebrae as normal people, but my cervical ones are very shallow, so that I appear to have no neck at all. As a youngster I initially found it difficult to look ahead from a racing position, but persevered until I could do so fairly comfortably. A year or so back (I'm 70) I went for treatment for severe neck pain and crepitus: the physio told me that all my cervical cartilages were severely worn, especially at the back edges, where they were non-existent and allowed the vertebrae to touch and grate against each other. It's the price I paid.

I'd suggest that you go to a competent lightweight shop and seek advice from their resident road-man, but I'm afraid this is an area where the modern one-position-only handlebar stem fails. With the old-style stem which secured into the steering tube via an expander bolt stem you could, during a ride, adjust up or down, a millimetre or so at a time, until comfort suddenly struck. As I got older I'd go out early in the year with the stem of my best bike raised by about 5/8" (16mm) and lower it each time my body stopped complaining - or was it as the belly burned away?
Good luck, John.

Shannon Hooge

[QUOTE=John Knees]Have a look in the mirror - you may suffer from the same condition as I do - a short neck.

Wow John! That is great advice. I have the same problem, but never really considered my bull neck to be the issue. I may have to choose to ride a bit less tucked in order to save myself the cervical damage. I'm 34, so I have a chance to learn form your wisdom.

Shannon
Twin Cities, MN

10timesbetter

i liked the position i had with my drop bars, i never used the bottom halves, but I just didn't like my lack of ability to use the brakes while my hands were on the hoods, they made my hands sore too from being too skinny, so i got the bullhorn bars. I've seen people with flat/mountainbike bars on road bikes too, looks comfortable, but i like being leaned over,

lifehasnovalue

i like to flop and crop all of my drop bars...wheee! it's cheap, you can get lightweight road bars new or used pretty much anywhere and it looks really diy...ha ha.

turn the bars upsidedown...determine how much of the bar you would like to remove to give yourself a nice bullhorn style. hack off the remaining bar. file the edges smoothish. put on some bar tape and plugs (...or corks...or whatever fits...) and you are ready to rock...i find the cyclocross levers work well if you intend to run brakes...or if you are ghetto you could use some old bmx levers...

classy...

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John Knees

[QUOTE=10timesbetter]...... never used the bottom halves, but I just didn't like my lack of ability to use the brakes while my hands were on the hoods.......

If that's a problem, try adjusting the position of the brakes on the 'bars - probably upwar ds. With your thumbs on the hoods, the 1st-3rd fingers should drop comfortably onto the levers, and exert enough pressure for normal braking by simply rotating the fore-arm (easier to demonstrate then to describe).
Good luck.

John.

10timesbetter

with newer brakes yes, it's not a big deal anymore cause i took the brakes off, but when I did have brakes on my one bike, it was an older 27' so they were long reach single pivot, and you really need to get good leverage on those for them to work well, as opposed to the dual pivot ones that'll stop you no matter what,

John Knees

I can't comment on modern brakes, as I have no experience of them. My knowledge is restricted to the older-style levers.
I'm only a short-arse with a short neck, and have been off the bike for some time now, but I could brake effectively when "on the tops" with the Galli brakes on my best bike (see picture), and with the C.1950s GB ones on my ancient fixed-wheel Flying Scot.

Perhaps modern levers have a smaller mechanical advantage than my Stone-Age ones?

Joking apart, I think brake-block compound is important too, and if you're a light brake user, so is knocking the sheen off the face of the blocks very so often.

Miles mean smiles, so
Happy Wheeling.

John.

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