What type of bars are these?

nozzac

Bike is a Triban 500. I don't know what year as I got it used a while back.

Are these classic, ergo, compact or other?

The reason I'm asking is that I find the bars uncomfortable, especially on the drops. I suspect it's a lot to do with my bad back, and I'm fitting a more angled stem to help with that but I'm also thinking about the bars.

whyamihere

Those are compact bars.

What do you find uncomfortable? Is it your hands or elsewhere on your body that you feel the discomfort?

nozzac

Thanks.

Mostly my back and neck hurt but also the hand position in the dropped position is only comfortable on the red parts, meaning I can't use thee brakes. Seems weird to have brake levers in a position means the strongest braking position is never achieved - obviously on the hoods you can break OK but not really hard and in the drops they';re not in reach

But then I've not owned a "racing bike" since I had a Raleigh Kellogs Pro Tour

Darius_Jedburgh

Most of the guys I know, and ride with when we could, would seldom have their hands on the red bit.

Hands on top of the brake hoods, and it is easy to effectively brake. For a change hands could be on the top of the bars, but seldom on the drops. Maybe if sprinting but hardly ever for normal riding.

You don't/shouldn't need to grab brake levers with four fingers. One or two should be enough.

What are the brakes?

whyamihere

The back and neck pain could be that you're just not used to the position, or it could be that the setup is not right. The bike could be too large or small, you may be better off with a shorter or longer stem, there's a lot of parameters. You could post some pictures of your position here, or look at a professional bike fit.

The hand position is easier to solve. The bar is designed for the flat part at the end of the drop to be parallel with the ground (roughly, there can be a bit of angle to it). You have the bar rolled back quite a long way. Rolling it forward will shift the levers down - The bar has a similar radius all along the drop, so the discomfort when you get up to the part with black tape at the moment is more to do with the position of the bar. This does of course move the hood position as well, so do it in small increments and test each time to make sure the hoods remain comfortable.

nozzac

Ta. TBH I'm going to have some back and neck pain whatever I do, I accept that. My spine is knackered and I'm in pain all the time, it's just a matter of degree. I've ordered an adjustable stem and I'll play with that. If I find an angle that suits I'll consider a solid replacement.

But I'll also try rolling the bars a bit.

The brakes are whatever cheapo ones came on the Triban 500 - some kind of generic caliper from B'twin by the look of it.

nozzac

I got my adjustable stem which I've set around 30 degrees and suddenly the bar issues don't seem to matter.