drop bars on mtbs

[oliver]

I have ridden on bikes with both the wtb mtb drops, and my bike with salsa woodchipper's - main comment is that the woodchippers feel a lot more natural to me for offroad (wider), and seemed to fit better with STIs (more defined section for riding on hoods) - my bike is a 26-er for reference - the frame isn't designed for suspension either, but i found the combination of suspension and the drops has made it ride much better than before installing the drops/forks - but have heard horror stories about people putting drops on some stock frames (I believe it was a rockhopper ) and the handling going to pot!

 

[Drago]

The whole drop cars on MTBs thing started in the 90's. a famous MTB racer signed a contract to switch from off road to road racing, so for the last part of the season he switched to drop bars on his MTB to get used to them. And that's it, no performance benefit or anything.

There's a bit of a minor resurgence of this among retro MTB fans at the monent.

 

[ballyharpat]

Don't think it will ever get big, but it has been around for a long time,

 

[Licramite]

lovely bikes, looks like new tyres (wheels possibly) and handlebars are in the offing, - have to balance it against the cost against a new bike but I definately can see the way to go. - does seam to be the sort of bike I need.
thanks for the knowledge.

 

[oliver]

The whole drop cars on MTBs thing started in the 90's. a famous MTB racer signed a contract to switch from off road to road racing, so for the last part of the season he switched to drop bars on his MTB to get used to them. And that's it, no performance benefit or anything.

There's a bit of a minor resurgence of this among retro MTB fans at the monent.

I will admit there's no performance benefit (maybe even a loss due to added weight) - but i like the hand positions much much more than a flat bar, even with bar ends, as for the retro MTB side I had never thought of myself as one but I guess I am - it is a 1997 frame i'm using - steel is real!

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I will admit there's no performance benefit (maybe even a loss due to added weight) - but i like the hand positions much much more than a flat bar, even with bar ends, as for the retro MTB side I had never thought of myself as one but I guess I am - it is a 1997 frame i'm using - steel is real!

drop barred mtbs have always been popular in the USA where 'adventure cyclists' (off road epic tourers) use them extensively. As a long time subscriber/member of Adventure Cycling I'd say it was a pretty rare copy of their magazine that didn't have adverts for them or copy/photo's of them in use out on some remote mountainside in the the Rockies or some such.

Pretty rare beasts in the UK as how many mtb-ers ride a loaded mtb all day every day for two weeks at a time off road? Horses for courses, etc..

Seems to me the average UK drop bar mtb is essentially a 26 wheeled CX bike with an off road group on it.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

The whole drop cars on MTBs thing started in the 90's. a famous MTB racer signed a contract to switch from off road to road racing, so for the last part of the season he switched to drop bars on his MTB to get used to them. And that's it, no performance benefit or anything.

There's a bit of a minor resurgence of this among retro MTB fans at the monent.

Are you thinking of Tomac?

Jacquie Phelan rode dirt drops four years before Tomac's bizarre excursion into using road drops, CX-er style, off road, and still does iirc. Plenty of 80's ex-CX and road racers did when MTB'ing.

 

[Drago]

That's it, had a brain fart. Was Tomac that popularised it, though he wasn't the first. Just perhaps the most high profile.