Bar shapes... help

Scrumple

Bar shapes... help

Do you buy bar shapes for

personal choice (what feels right)
hand size (what is right)
or ride type (race, sportive, fitness, distance)?

I know my bike's bars feel wrong - too much drop and too little bottom - see pic (note the bars are not at that angle now, they are tipped forward in the pic as it was out the box...).

I have resigned myself that I can't try any, as most are online stock. So I guess what I am asking is how much shape depends on riding choice as the first two options above are beyond my control. I guess it is all 3, but as I can't factor in testing any, have to keep the advice to ride style.
My riding is mainly fitness, communting, weekend 50's, and hopefully sportives.

I'm looking at the3T ones and the 3 styles, but not sure which.

crankycrank

Bars are one of those things that are highly personal. As you've seen there are a hundred different shapes and styles. Since you know your current bars are too low try finding out the "drop" measurement, which most mfrs will list, and try something with less. "Compact" bars are usually shorter reach from front to back and have a shallower drop. Some people prefer the angular bends (anatomic) such as the bars you have on your bike, while others like smooth, round bends. Also some bars are flat on top and some are round tubes. It really takes a lot of experimenting for yourself to find what's best and in addition to the right bars you can play around with rotating the bar angle in your stem and position of your brake hoods for more comfort. Best to just grab every bar you can get your hands on whether it's a friends bike or bikes in a shop and see if you have a preference for a certain shape. Your type of road riding doesn't always determine the type of bar you use but some people prefer one style for comfort, control and one for speed. Personally I use the same bar for fast rides, commuting and touring.

keef66

I feel the same about my bars which appear similar to yours. I'm fine on the tops / hoods, but I find the drops feel very unnatural. Firstly the drop is too far, and secondly I can't find a comfy hand position. The end bits are too short, and the angled bit seems too much of a stretch and puts my wrists at a funny angle, even more so when I try to reach the brakes.

Reading around the subject I think I'm going to try some compact bars. Less reach, shallower drop, and a gradual curve in the drops which should allow me to find a comfortable spot.

I notice they are appearing as standard on quite a lot of new bikes now.

There's a cheap alloy £20-30 set I keep meaning to order. I'll go looking for them again in a minute (Think I'm subconsciously waiting for the temps to rise a bit before I spend 2 hours in the garage getting the tape wrong)

keef66

FSA Omegas, just over £30 @ Wiggle etc, or the 3T ErgoNova Pro Alloy @ £45 look a bit funkier and have allegedly comfier tops.

If you're really on a budget, CRC have FSA Veros @ £22, and PX have them for £15 (although the description then calls them something else so best phone to check)

Scrumple

Not on a budget, but your first post summed up exactly how mine feel on the hands....

Steve_b77

I too came across this very same conundrum last weekend, tried riding on the drops and I hated it as they too low for me to feel comfortable.

(Pre-setup pic BTW so less spacers under stem etc )

My current bars are FSA Energy Ergos with 145mm of drop, so off I toddled to Condor and walked out with a set of Deda Fluida, semi-compacts.

Much shorter drop, circa 120mm, flattened top sections and most spangly in white too. Can't wait to fit them tomorrow and have a ride.

Scrumple

ergo bars suck....

who holds the darn things at the angle intended. I just can't see what use they are?! Your pic mirrors mine. Horrible things...

Like the Deda's, will go try work out the 3T equivalents.

keef66

I think I've worked out why the ergo drops don't work for me.

I'm only 5'6" in height but I've got relatively long legs / short torso. I have the smallest TK frame that was available at the time I bought it, the shortest stem that Epic would fit (and it's flipped upwards), and the saddle as far forwards as it will go.
However, because I need the saddle raised quite a bit to accommodate my legs, I still feel a bit too stretched when on the drops

When I look at the pics on the cover of C+, the rider invariably looks like Peter Crouch to me, and he's standing on the pedals but in the drops, and his arms are bent at nearly 90 degrees. Which puts his hands / wrists at the right angle to grip the ergo bit.

If I try that my arms are nearly straight, so the ergo bit's at the wrong angle. If I rotate the bars forwards to correct that, it messes up the comfortable position on the hoods

redddraggon

Scrumple wrote:

ergo bars suck....

who holds the darn things at the angle intended. I just can't see what use they are?! Your pic mirrors mine. Horrible things...

Like the Deda's, will go try work out the 3T equivalents.

Ergo bars definitely do suck.

You cannae beat the traditional round shape.

blinddrew

redddraggon wrote:

Ergo bars definitely do suck.

Horses for courses as always, i've got some shallow drop ergos that are dead comfy, much more so than my old cinellis

dboden

My orig bars felt exactly as you say yours do scrumple.... I took a pun on buying these.(not these exact ones ..btw.
http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12686126
And I must say, they feel great for me, a massive difference.. give it ago, if they aren't right, just flog em on.
A steal, and very comfy.

justresting

Couldn't get on with ergo bars myself, so fitted compact 'rounds' Ergos seem to be a solution to a problem nobody knew existed !!!

willharris10

Which compact rounds did you go for though?

topdude

Another vote for "Deda Fluida" mentioned above, nice compact curved bars with a flat top section

justresting

The compact I went for was FSA 'Omega' but bear in mind it gives you a shorter reach to the hoods ( in my case about 15mil, which is what I was after.