Would flat bars be best?

Al1000
Al1000 Posts: 14
edited February 2016 in Road beginners
Hi,

I have a Specialized Hard Rock CrMo mountain bike with "dual purpose" tyres that I mostly ride along cycle paths. I like pedalling as fast as I can, and I also like comfort.

I would like to swap the bars for something slightly lower, and wonder if flat bars would be the best option. I find that my forearms can be near horizontal when I'm cycling along, so reckon that lower bars would be more suitable without sacrificing comfort.

When I was searching the internet for different types of handlebars, I noticed that most of them seem to be thicker in the centre than at the ends, but the bars I have just now seem to be the same diameter along their entire length. Would this be an issue?

If I'm missing anything obvious, please let me know.

Comments

  • Moonbiker
    Moonbiker Posts: 1,706
    Adjust the stem angle.
  • Poitr
    Poitr Posts: 35
    Could you post a pic of your current set up. It's hard to comment without knowing what you currently have.
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,499
    No.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • markhewitt1978
    markhewitt1978 Posts: 7,614
    I think you're coming at this from entirely the wrong angle (pun intended).

    Post a picture of your bike and handlebars so we can fully asses.

    But; if you want your bars lower chances are you'll just be able to move them down by one spacer, easy to do and entirely free.

    If that's still not low enough, then you can flip them stem over. If *that* is not low enough you have the wrong bike.

    But note that if it's a MTB then this post should be in the MTB section.
  • Al1000
    Al1000 Posts: 14
    Here are a couple of pics as requested:

    bike1_zpswsbzrmgw.jpg

    bike2_zpssmzj03w0.jpg

    I don't see any way to adjust the height of the bars, except to turn the part that connects the bars to the frame upside down, which I could try.

    Yes it is a MTB but I use it on tarmac, and it has "dual purpose" tyres on it. Should this still be in the MTB section?
  • N0bodyOfTheGoat
    N0bodyOfTheGoat Posts: 6,067
    If you flipped the stem, you would drop the handlebars by 5+cm, if that feels comfortable then happy days!
    ================
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  • Al1000
    Al1000 Posts: 14
    I'll try that when the rain dies down, and report back.

    Thanks for all the responses.
  • fenix
    fenix Posts: 5,437
    The black things underneath your stem? Spacers? Once you have taken off the stem you can take them off and move the stem down and put the spacers back on top.
  • Al1000
    Al1000 Posts: 14
    I'll have a closer look at the black thing to see if it's a spacer, but I don't think it is. For the meantime I turned the stem round and that's done the trick. Had to tilt the saddle further forward a tad too. Thought the bars might have been too low at first, but went on a 30 mile ride this evening and it's just what I was wanting. :)

    bike3_zpsfowfr9du.jpg
  • ForumNewbie
    ForumNewbie Posts: 1,664
    I was going to say if with stem flipped it was now too low, you could have bought a straighter stem, as even when flipped, stems don't usually angle down so low. As your bars are now so much lower than they were, you might find you need to tighten your gear and brakes cables a bit, as I have had to do that after flipping stems with less of an angle than yours.

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