climbing out the saddle with a flat bar

fat daddy · January 2017

ok I bought the wrong bike, I get that, I dislike the flat bar

I do however have a couple of drop bar bikes a 7kg Roubaix and a 9kg SS Tricross ... both of them love to climb, I love my hands on the hoods, I put the power down, out the saddle and they take off .. imagine contadore dancing on the pedals, ya ya ya

my hybrid though .. Boardman team weight 11kg without panniers, bags, lights ... with - 13kg+

trying to climb on it is hard work, I cant get comfortable, even with bar ends the bike seems to squirm and I bounce up and down.

Now one option is sell the bike and spank even more money on another bike ... but that's a lot of money ..... is there a set up to better climbing with e flat bar ... raise the bar, lower it, bigger sweep, less sweep ? .... or is it weight, if I got better wheels and got the bike to sub 10kg would it feel like a decent bike again

davesnothere · January 2017

Having ridden a mates hybrid I noticed a similar thing. Flat bar is a bit wider and stem a little shorter. Meaning more leverage so a small pressure from the hand has a far more noticeable effect on the front wheel moving side to side. End up wasting a lot of energy when climbing

Rather than cut your bars could try moving everything inboard 50/60mm each side and see if that improves matters? that's if your bar ends will slide over a little.

Alternatively try a slightly longer stem if you have one in your tool box. I've just done the opposite and shortened my stem by 30mm (to reduce cockpit length not for handling issues) it definitely has an influence on handling/twitchiness

arthur_scrimshaw · January 2017

Compare widths of the bar, I'll wager the flat bar is considerably wider than either of your drop bar bikes, this will amplify any side to side movement. Could try cutting it down.

Edit - as what Dave said!

dj58 · January 2017

Boardman specs. show the bar width to be 580/600mm, depending on frame size. As already suggested try moving everything inboard so that you end up with the bar ends at an overall width of 530/40mm and see how you go on. If you find that an improvement you can trim the bars down.

fenix · January 2017

I loved my old mtb with bar ends. I did have a long stem on it though so as has been said - look at that.

Obv your bars are wider than on a drop bar bike, but that didnt bother me.

Dont you have low enough gears on it to let you spin up a hill ?

fat daddy · January 2017

yeah at the lowest its 34t:32t ..... I could spin up the hill, but .. well, you know .. SCR, Strava :oops:

I do have a problem I really do. ..... if I could commute to work like a commuter, I could get up, wear jeans and a puffy jacket and bimble into town .. but I cant .. I get up, dress in sports clothes and wang the living crap into town, if I take the CX I'll do it off road and get in covered in mud. to be honest I think spending £1000 on therapy would be cheaper in the long run than buying another bike !

the bars width isa good point though, there is a massive difference between my hands on the hoods at 42cm and on the bar ends at 60cm

looks like I have some fettling to do this weekend with sizing

arthur_scrimshaw · January 2017

Nah, N+1

apreading · January 2017

I dont get this - my experience is that narrow bars on road bikes make the bike LESS stable when standing up - frighteningly so until you get used to it. Wider bars are much more stable. I had a Boardman Hybrid Team and did thousands of miles on it before getting my road bike and the hybrid was far more stable. I dont know why you are bouncing up and down - perhaps the setup is wrong somehow but I dont know enough to judge. If the bike is set up properly though, no reason why a flat bar bike should cause that. When I went on cycling holidays with everyone else on road bikes and me on my Boarman hybrid, I beat everybody to the top of the hills, although I was last by the bottom because I am a chicken with downhill and hairpin bends etc.

Although the stem may be shorter on the hybrid, the top tube is longer so setup should be about the same.

darkhairedlord · January 2017

Try climbing no handed, that will build your balance and negate any issues with using a flat bar.

The Rookie · January 2017

Mountain bikers seem to cope with climbing out the saddle with flat bars just fine - you just need to learn how to do it perhaps?

N0bodyOfTheGoat · January 2017

Having bar stability with my 747mm Knuckleball and 35mm Corto stem has been the least of my climbing worries, since I began cycling again in 2017, after a seven week break!

kirkee · January 2017

It could be your set up. I like you tend to treat (almost) every ride as a thrashing. I enjoy riding all of my bikes mtb road and hybrid. I see no difference in work out terms when riding them. If the set up is good on any bike for you, you will enjoy riding it as fast or as slow as you want. The fact it has flat bars or drops, is heavy or light isnt important. Try to suss out fit and position before buying another bike!

fat daddy · January 2017

kirkee wrote:

Try to suss out fit and position before buying another bike!

I am sure its hand position in relation to feet ( Iguess it has to be seeing that they are the only 2 bits touching the bike).... I was trying to use Pythagoras to figure it out last night, but gave up .... I am hedging my bets that the bar is to wide and too close to my legs.

when I climb on the road bike my balls are a lot closer to the stem, my body seems a lot more over the front wheel and my hands neutral and shoulder width apart elbows bent with the hybrid my hands are out side my shoulders width by a fair amount and seemingly close to my knees, yet my arms don't seem to bend as much at the elbow ... the acute angle between arms and torso is making me bob up and down

this weekend I think I will take ALL the bikes apart and spend a day swapping stems and bars about

N0bodyOfTheGoat · January 2017

Could the wider position of the pedals on a fatbike like mine make wide flat bars more stable?

The Rookie · January 2017

No, less stable as the input via the pedal is offset at a worse angle from the upright from the contact patch.

kirkee · February 2017

fat daddy wrote:

kirkee wrote:

Try to suss out fit and position before buying another bike!

I am sure its hand position in relation to feet ( Iguess it has to be seeing that they are the only 2 bits touching the bike).... I was trying to use Pythagoras to figure it out last night, but gave up .... I am hedging my bets that the bar is to wide and too close to my legs.

when I climb on the road bike my balls are a lot closer to the stem, my body seems a lot more over the front wheel and my hands neutral and shoulder width apart elbows bent with the hybrid my hands are out side my shoulders width by a fair amount and seemingly close to my knees, yet my arms don't seem to bend as much at the elbow ... the acute angle between arms and torso is making me bob up and down

this weekend I think I will take ALL the bikes apart and spend a day swapping stems and bars about

Its a pain getting it all correct but necessary. If you want to dial in your bike pos, I find that most important is getting the seat fore/aft/levelled and saddle hieght to perfectly mimic your favourite set up. Take into account the different seat tube angles/crank length etc to get it right. At least that way you will have confirmed the peddling part of your setup. Of course you may well of already done this in which case it could be a long weekend swapping out bits!

N0bodyOfTheGoat · March 2017

Just a heads up to let you know PX pricing appears to have changed for the better after their fixed price promise during February, including Knuckleball bars are now £40 and stems start from £7.50 (if you fancied a shorter stem or a 17 degree), plus there are a few tyre bargains such as £12 35mm Voyager Hypers and Vittoria ~150g Lite tubes for £1.50 each.

Could shed some weight, more stability while standing on the climbs and improve rolling resistance (I've never bought those tyres because I was wary of their fairy resistance).;)

figbat · March 2017

Is there any significant difference in the cranksets? Arm lengths? BB width etc? This will all add up to the leverage effect on the frame.

grenw · March 2017

Never a problem on my mtb with much wider bars.

Technique that works for me is hovering over the front of the saddle rather than being really out of it. You want your weight in the middle of the bike to help with balance and traction. If I'm almost impaling myself on the nose of the saddle then that balance is there.

climbing out the saddle with a flat bar

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