Thinking about changing the bars on my Jake, as I am not getting on with the ergo bump in the drops, and considering Midge bars.

Any user opinions?

Can you still ride on the hoods a fair bit or do you have to ride the dropped section? I generally only ride in the drops on descents.

Do I need a longer/shorter, higher/lower stem with them?

Oh and any pics, of them on CX bikes, gratfully accepted

I also use the bike for road work, non competative, and touring so they have to be good, or atleast ok, for that too.

Why not just get some non ergo bars?

I had them on my CX bike thinking that they'd be good all round bars and make the bike better for taking onto singletrack. They are great for the second half of that, but pretty useless for the first half in my experience. The drop position is great, but needs to be high (so you'll probably need a new stem) and the brake levers need to be set quite low. That made the hoods very uncomfortable for any decent distance, partly because of the flare and partly because they were so low that there wasn't a nice flat transition from bar to hood. For me that meant that the bars didn't meet my needs.

I'd look at either a pair of classic bend, shallow drop bars in the widest width (I think Deda make some) or look at Nitto Randonneurs, which is what I've got. Classic bend, a tiny bit of flare that helps with wrist clearance in the drops and generally very comfortable and well made. Not hugely shallow though.

ive had midge bars and salsa bell laps . i found the midge was great off road but not so great on the road the bell laps were kinda a halfway house but due to the design the tops felt very narrow for a pretty wide bar (you can go wider but i got the widest i could and still comply with 3peaks rules) im now back on standard drops tho

Yep, sounds like what you need are shallow "Italian" drops. Try some FSA Omega compact drops in 44cm width. They're usually no more than £25 so worth a punt. Or maybe the Deda equivalent (215 compact?).

ok thanks, i'll go look at the alternatives suggested, doesn't sound like midges would suit

I love my midges, but I never was a roadie, so dont know how standrad drops were meant to feel. I have specialized BG gel bar tape on, and find them great for riding round the country lanes, and farmfield bridleways round here. Spend equal time in the drops and tops. Had to get a sligtly higher/shorter stem (but then I wasn't sure the original setup fitted me anyway). Not bad for £25-ish.