Risers V Flats.....

litwardle

When I first started on MTB it was all about flat bars. In recent years it's all about the riser.

Q: What are the pro's for each type of bar? Do we all use risers because of the whole "MTB vogue" thing are do the effect the way a bike handles in a positive way? Or, is it simply about geometry and comfort?

Nobody seems to be able to answer with any definitve suggestions!

Regards

Lee

supersonic

Whatever feels best! That's all there is to it really!

Steve I

Riser bars became popular because they give better control, being higher and wider (usually) than flat bars. You can get the same effect by using a high rise stem and very wide flat bar, but it looks kind of weird.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but riser bars started to become popular at the time suspension forks started appearing. More control and greater speeds, there's probably a connection there.

redvee

Flat bars and bar ends Risers and bar ends

warm18

i find they put you in a better position to attack the downhill stuff. having used both i prefer the riser as it giver better control and a better riding position

milkywhite

I can't be the only one who thinks risers just look cooler?!

Apart from that I can't really see a difference. Horses for courses (that seems quite apt given todays upcoming event)!

litwardle

When I was a kid you just didn't see risers. ( ripe old age of 26 people...) I had a (think it wasa townsend but can't remember) mountain bike with a yellow frame and purple rigin forks. Proper nice bike at the time I seem to remember.... But anyway it had flats and big alu bar ends! How cool was I ?!.
I remember looking round a bike shop in the late 90's and seeing a bike with risers and thinking how "old womaney" they were! Fashion is wierd.

What difference does the sweep of the riser have in handling?

Oh, has anybody tried those grips with the wide end/palm support? Any good?

Lee

milkywhite

Oh, has anybody tried those grips with the wide end/palm support? Any good?

I think I know the ones you mean. They're called ergo...something or other.

My mate has got them and says they relieve the pressure on your hands really well. He likes them a lot.

litwardle

Thems the puppies:


I'd quite like to give them a go.

scale20

I was always a flat bar person, for me, flat bars were the law. Don't ask me why, I suppose it was just what I started with and that risers were just a fashion accesory, the in thing to have.

When I bought my Scott it came with flat bars on it and I thought it looked the mutts. A mate of mine was trying his hardest to ween me off the flats and on to risers and I told him I would never do it.

After riding XC in Cyprus 4 days a week for the forst 2 months of 6 the flats were starting to take their toll on my back and hands. Because they were lower down there was a lot of weight on my hands and they became painfull during rides, and being bent over made my back a little painfull.

I tried out a pair of my mates Race Face low risers and as much as i hated to admit it they were much better. My riding position was a litle higher and took a lot of pressure off my hands and back. I wouldnt say than my controll was any better and I found that I had to drop my wrists and elbows a lot more on steep climbs to stop the front end coming up. I also found that risers moved my riding position back a little bit so that I wasnt right over the front end on decents.

I have proved to myself that risers do have a big advantage on longer hard going rides over flats and its safe to say that I wouldnt go back flats.

I do miss my bar ends though. I find myself riding sometimes with my hands in the 'if I had bar ends' position on the ends of my bars!

fizik

Depends how you ride, I have big rise deity street bars on my kona coiler which are great for dh and freeride, but I like the flats on my focus raven for the all out attack position, and find them pretty comfy too.

god1406

I use the widest FSA riser bars money can buy. Man up!

Flats seem a bit dainty sometimes, but it's totally down to riding style and what you feel comfortable with I suppose.

MattW87

I prefer the 'feel' of a riser bar, after trying out my mates flat bar it just felt really awkward, i was glad to get back onto my own bike again!

Matteeboy

My Stumpys have flat bars, the Rockhopper has a riser.

I use them for different stuff but like them both - risers better for DH stuff, flats better for climbing and long flat blasts.

Marjory Stewart BAxtor

I swear by flats. I think because I'm a road rider as well as offroad I'm used to being uncomfortable and doubled over so don't feel the back pain of a flat bar. Also they're about 20g ligher (and I'm am XC rider so that's important ) and IMO look muchos cooler.

Oh, and you get more badge for your money

KonaMike

I was raised on flat bars too but I now use EA70 Low rise bars and find they are a good comfortable reach for longer XC rides.

bishbish

i would switch to risers in a heart beat if i suddenly turned into a slow fat girl who was so unfit icoul not bend

so no strong feelings either way

dunker

up-turned drop bars! no? i'll get me coat...

Chaka Ping

The poster who connected risers to sus-forks may have a point there, I definitley noticed the two appearing on other people's bikes at the same time back in the late 90s.

And personally I held out on both fronts until a couple of years ago - then added a sus-fork and suddenly saw the appeal of a riser bar precisely because I was going faster downhill on an old-school XC bike - and my weight was too far forward for comfort.

xtreem

milkywhite wrote:

I can't be the only one who thinks risers just look cooler?!

Well I think the same, but also I think you have probably
1" more space avaiable, so you can save your head from
hard landings, like this guy: :shock: (well, he is sitting a little more in front, but...)

tomxc

Xtreem wrote:

milkywhite wrote:

I can't be the only one who thinks risers just look cooler?!

Well I think the same, but also I think you have probably
1" more space avaiable, so you can save your head from
hard landings, like this guy: :shock: (well, he is sitting a little more in front, but...)

i love my risers (truvativ xc riser bars)or sumin like that, but when your going downhill they seem to give you more control,(although i cant understand for the life of me why they feel more controlable) also they just look soooo much better than flats they look mint.

switchback18

litwardle wrote:

When I first started on MTB it was all about flat bars. In recent years it's all about the riser.

Q: What are the pro's for each type of bar? Do we all use risers because of the whole "MTB vogue" thing are do the effect the way a bike handles in a positive way? Or, is it simply about geometry and comfort?

Nobody seems to be able to answer with any definitve suggestions

There is no definitive, but for me, wide risers & a short stem. I have a theory that the more travel the shorter the stem you can use - short stem=fast steering. Longer travel front sus on XC type bikes these days works with a more upright position (shorter top tube, short stem, riser bars), but years ago with real short travel or none, you needed to be stretched out to have control - short stems made the bike feel real twitchy on downhills.



Also same, when I started people used to cut their bars as narrow as poss & there was a fashion for totally straight bars, never worked that one out...

http://www.chasingtrails.com

flyingelephant

I went from flats to low risers as it put the wrists into a more natural position.
Flats are for agressive xc racing. Anything else and go for risers for the comfort.