Track Bars

Velonutter

Hi,

I used to race on the track 30 years ago and am now wanting to enjoy it again.

Just bought myself a Giant Omnium as an all round track bike and will use it for the track and TT's.

Currently the bars are road with levers, but intend to switch before track days so I need to buy some bars.

Currently on the road having been measured I use 46cm bars as I have wide shoulders, can anyone recommend some bars that aren't stupidly expensive but more appropriate than using road bars?

Many Thanks

Eddy S

You have a couple of approaches/options but you will have to get used to narrower bars – 46 is too wide, especially on indoor tracks.

If you’re riding endurance disciplines/general training probably the best option is to get road bars of your favourite bend/shape but no more then 40 C to C (42).

If you want specific track/sprint bars, the aluminium Deda Pista are worth a look, again in 40 C to C.

I also use 44 C to C bars on my road bikes but my sprint bars are 40s and the drops on my TT bars are 38.

Velonutter

Thanks Eddy, going down to 40cm bars, doesn't that cause a problem with breathing?

I used to struggle with 42cm to get down on the bends, thats why I got measured.

I used to do a lot of weights and thus the reason for my wide bars, is the reason for the narrows for aerodynamics or to get into smaller gaps?

Eddy S

The narrower bars are more to do with stopping the bars flexing but getting through gaps and aerodynamics are side benefit.

I can understand if you’re having breathing issues if your usual road riding stance is with straight (and possibly locked) arms. With a narrower bar, if you bend your arms and flex your elbows out sideways, you will naturally open your chest – this is the stance you will see adopted by many larger track sprinters.

There aren’t any rules stating you must have/use narrow bars. Ultimately, you need to feel comfortable and that contributes to on-track safety. However, your track bike should have a slightly more compact riding position so it can feel quite ponderous and barge-like with wide bars on the track.

Velonutter

Eddy S wrote:

The narrower bars are more to do with stopping the bars flexing but getting through gaps and aerodynamics are side benefit.

I can understand if you’re having breathing issues if your usual road riding stance is with straight (and possibly locked) arms. With a narrower bar, if you bend your arms and flex your elbows out sideways, you will naturally open your chest – this is the stance you will see adopted by many larger track sprinters.

There aren’t any rules stating you must have/use narrow bars. Ultimately, you need to feel comfortable and that contributes to on-track safety. However, your track bike should have a slightly more compact riding position so it can feel quite ponderous and barge-like with wide bars on the track.

Cheers Eddy,

Once I have the bike sorted I'll try and experiment with some spare road bars first and see if I can "Open my chest" up more, if that seems fine, then will sort some narrower pista bars.

Eddy S

Velonutter wrote:

Once I have the bike sorted I'll try and experiment with some spare road bars first and see if I can "Open my chest" up more, if that seems fine, then will sort some narrower pista bars.

Let us know how you get on.