Flared Drops

vrsmatt

Hi, I ride a fairly stock 2015 giant defy advanced, I rarely use the drops and and have to conciously make an effort to, I can tell I'm faster in them but even so I rarely get down, I think part of this is I almost feel my arms have to bend round the top of my bars and it feels a bit odd, I think flared drops feel a bit more natural, does anyone else run them on predominantly road bikes , what model of bars and what degree of flare?

Cheers

trivial_poursuivant

I use 3T aeronova bars. They flare out slightly. I also point my shifters a bit inwards so I can reach the brakes better when on the drops. Do you prefer a deep or shallow drop on your bars?

vrsmatt

Trivial poursuivant wrote:

I use 3T aeronova bars. They flare out slightly. I also point my shifters a bit inwards so I can reach the brakes better when on the drops. Do you prefer a deep or shallow drop on your bars?

Shallow as I have back and flexibility issues.

timothyw

My Eastway Balun came with Ritchey Evomax bars:
https://ritcheylogic.com/comp-evomax-road-bar

Didn't really get on with them. Much too wide for my tastes, drop was so short that I couldn't comfortably fit my hand in the curve behind the brake lever (so they were comfy enough on the bottom of the drops, or on the hoods, but the position inbetween was no good for me.)

I'll probably be selling them once I've taken the brifters off - 46cm wide at the bottom of the drops, 44cm at the hoods.

dj58

Giant do a flared handlebar https://www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/giant ... -handlebar

luv2ride

I like FSA wing compact bars a lot. They flare slightly (my 44cm bars at the ends are 41.5cm at the hoods) and seem to come up regularly on eBay at pretty low prices. I also have a Salsa Cowbell 2 bar with a more pronounced flare on my "adventure" bike and is definitely more comfy again, for me anyway...my new roadie has a non-flare bar and I'll be changing those as soon as funds allow.

ddraver

To be clear, there are bars that are "a bit more" flared than others but still look like road handlebars. I can't recommend any brands but I can tell you that Bontrager Comfort bars are NOT flared.

I assume this is more what you mean and you re not looking for a Salsa Woodchipper type bar? Have a look at the Salsa Cowbell perhaps but this is really quite flared by road standards. I use them on my "bikepacking" bike as they make it easier to fit a handlebar bag on.

(another thing may be that your position is already quite low on the hoods. Have a play and move the bar up a bit for a ride to see if you then use the drops more)