What is it about drop handlebars?

[ComedyPilot]

They're ok CP but you may find you miss a straight flat bar position with them. That's the main reason I went to the style I'm on:-

What make are they?

I also fancy bullhorns..... [gets gun out, loads, and puts in mouth]

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

MacB - what style is that? Does it have a name? Just curious.........

 

[threebikesmcginty]

What time does the garage sale start MacB?

 

[MacB]

What time does the garage sale start MacB?

I have been tidying and clearing lofts, everything now situated in garage for e-bay or to be given away. There's stuff that first went to a loft 20 years ago and has just moved lofts ever since.

These handlebars are the One One Midge variation of dirt drops, you can get others, the Salsa Woodchipper is one, but they tend to be US based. The Midge are a slight oddity in that they have MTB clamp sizing of 25.4mm, but road size, 23.8mm tubing. I believe they've now brought out a 31.8mm OS clamp option as well. There's some good info here:-

http://www.63xc.com/mattc/midge.htm

The only thin I don't agree with is setting them up so totally dedicated to drops only riding. As mentioned I've found a good compromise that allows them to be more versatile for me. Maybe not the perfect setup for off road but that's not what I'm using them for.

 

[longers]

I would also consider bullhorn style bars in the future.

At the rate you're going - a week on tuesday perhaps?

 

[Over The Hill]

I just find hoods comfortable and straight bars give me pins and needles in my hand.

Also gear shifting on drops is lovely. Never found a twist change I likes and that silly little lever on the end of the cow horns above looks really useless as you have to take your hand off the handlebar to change! May as well stick the lever back on the frame like 30 years ago.

Is it not that most shops sell 90% straight bars now so beginners start with them and dont change?

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I have drop bars on my Dawes, they are what the bike came with and I haven't got round to changing them, and courier bars on my Pearson, I prefer the courier bars. I have short arms and only ever use the top of the drops. In the past I have often chopped and flopped drops to get more comfort.

View attachment 5953

 

[Yellow Fang]

I used to have straight bars on my Ridgeback Genesis fast-commuter. It was a nice bike, but I found I needed a change of hand position for climbing hills and avoiding pins-and-needles. I put on some bar-ends, and they were fine as far as providing extra hand positions. My favourites were the curved Profile bar-ends. I found I could stretch out on them for a bit more speed, a bit like a poor man's tri-bars. The problem was they looked hideous. I tried about half a dozen and they all looked wrong. I later worked out it was because of the slight backwards and upwards sweep of the bars. If the bars are dead straight then bar-ends look ok. Then I joined a tri club, and I discovered straight bars were just outré, so I changed over to drops. I found I rode with my hands on the tops a lot, and on the hoods quite a bit. I never found the hoods that comfortable, and I rarely used the drops. If I get another road frame, I might put on profile bars (or bullhorn bars).

 

[MacB]

At the rate you're going - a week on tuesday perhaps?

I do wonder about myself sometimes, it's not like the butterflies hadn't been comfy enough for thousands of miles. They've been the benchmark though, any new setup has to at least match them for comfort and offer improved hand/control positions. Though still lacking 'bottle' I don't find descending as bad on the Midges(in the drops) as I did on the butterflies.

I'm also rather taken with the bar end shifters, I believe the first set of these I saw, up close and personal, were yours, but don't feel guilty

Still I can never be accused of not trying out the options

 

[Ian H]

I'm far from alone in this as On-One keep selling out of the Midge bars, the ones I'm using. My setup also looks pretty similar to that seen on a lot of drop bar bikes that people have positioned around tops/hoods riding. It's just that my drops are a lot more rideable than theirs.

North road bars re-invented (as in 'nothing new under the sun').

I use ITM Marathon bars - a shallow drop with a complicated multi-curved top and a long flat section towards the hoods. I got them after hand and wrist problems (old-age, methinks). As comfortable as it gets. My road bike is still on ordinary deepish ergo-style drops, okay for a couple of hundred kms, but it gets a bit uncomfortable on long distances.

 

[Crackle]

Still I can never be accused of not trying out the options

In fact, I never would've believed there were so many options.

 

[MacB]

In fact, I never would've believed there were so many options.

there're even more if you're prepared to attack those lovely machined clamp bits with some metal files I have a set of 9 speed pods that will fit round the curves to the top of drop bars. I'm also on my third incarnation of making an adaptor to fit a twist shifter(a must with some hub gears) on to a drop bar. Really liking the Midges with barcons so I want the same setup on the hub gear bike. I balk at the idea of paying £40 for a Hubbub adaptor, all it consists of is a bit of MTB size tubing with an expansion bolt. This attaches to the ends of drop bars in the same way as a barcon would.

So I got some old bars from my LBS and hacksawed off a couple of appropriate lengths. The internal diameter of the Midges should be 19.8mm and one of the flat bar bits has an ID of just under 19mm. I've bought a plastic flexible hose joint, 19 to 19mm. This has gone in to the bit of flat bar, took a club hammer and it peeled a bit of the plastic off, so it's in there for good. When the new Midges arrive I've just got to fix this into the end of them to mount the twist shifter. There are several options depending on the fit, but it doesn't have to be super tight. This is only for the shifter to mount on, it won't actually be used as a hand position when riding. Total outlay will be £1.75, a bit more palatable than £40 + postage.

But now that the better weather's here hopefully more riding will reduce my tinkering.

 

[swee'pea99]

2 positions? I have 4 main positions & can find intermediaries as well

Well, you can of course hold them any number of ways, but for me there's two: hoods, which I use 95% of the time, and find more comfortable than flat bars, and on the drops, which I use only into a headwind - and boy, do I appreciate them.

 

[XmisterIS]

OP - I don't think it's an "image" thing (although it may be for some), it's just a case of personal preference!

My bike riding started on a BMX when I was knee-high to a grasshopper, from there I went to a mountain bike with riser bars and I only recently bought a road bike (i.e. last few years) to complement my mountain bike. I tried riding with drops and just couldn't get the hang of them - as someone who's spend my entire life riding with high bars I couldn't make the switch, so I ride a flat-bar roady. Nothing to do with image, it's just what I feel comfortable on. I know I'd probably go faster on a drop-bar roady, but I can go pretty damn quick on my flat-bar roady!

 

[tyred]

I've just got a frame and wheels to do a SS conversion, and fancy these bars.

My favourite style of bar