upsweep?

Ferrals

What effect does upsweep have on a bikes handling/rider comfort?

I feel my front end is too high and realised the simplest way to drop it as much as possible it (already no spacers and zero rise stem, and no point in a negative rise stem given that my stem is 50mm) is to replace my 10mm riser bar with a flat bar (not sure if I'll notice 10 mm that much but maybe worth a go).

All riser bars seem to have a certain amount of upweep but flat bars dont. Apart from the obvious that the grips will be fractionally higher, what other effect does 5degress of upsweep have?

cooldad

Bars put your hands where you want them. That's all.

Ferrals

that's b.s. - but i guess you're just being annoying.

any more helpful insights?

cooldad

Really?

OK.

lostboysaint

Ferrals wrote:

that's b.s. - but i guess you're just being annoying.

any more helpful insights?

It isn't BS at all, it's exactly the theory.

Whether that theory is right or not is very much open to interpretation as if they were truly "ergo" they'd actually sweep down slightly (hold your hands out in front of you and see how your hands naturally fall. Graham Noyce was a legendary British MX rider who insisted on having his bars dropped at the ends to make the feel much more comfortable.

The Rookie

To add, look at your hands and you'll see they do need a backsweep....

Ferrals

Apologies then to Cooldad - exhausted after racing yesterday and I assumed he was being facetious - his wasn't exactly an enlightening post!

I had assumed there would be some kind of leverage advantage when hard cornering as under those conditions when the bike was leaned over the lower pad would be nearer horizontal, or that there was a comfort element to having the upsweep.

The only thing I could find online was the opinion that upsweep gave better levrage when standing (but I think that was a BMX forum post).

Is there a reason that flat bars don't have up-sweep and risers do?

I guess you can roll a flat bar which would reduce your backsweep but give you some upsweep.

Chunkers1980

You can roll risers to. The different planes allow you to achieve different things.

lostboysaint

The Rookie wrote:

To add, look at your hands and you'll see they do need a backsweep....

Is correct.

cooldad

Flat bars were originally quite narrow, and made quite simply - some of mine are dead straight wthout even a bulge in the middle - they use shims.
As they get wider than your shoulders you might need some sweep to keep your wrists straight in line with your forearms. Sort of.

But it's still a personal thing.

lostboysaint

Proving that upsweep is a load of old bollocks.

oodboo

Ferrals wrote:

I guess you can roll a flat bar which would reduce your backsweep but give you some upsweep.

This.