Viewing 27 posts - 1 through 27 (of 27 total)
  • Riding off road in the drops or something else?
  • velosam
    Free Member

    I went off road for the first time on my pseudo cross bike.

    It was not really technical composing of bridleways etc. I really enjoyed it but I couldn’t see how you would ride in the drops as I like covering my brake levers.

    how do most of you ride off-road with drops and stis?

    firestarter
    Free Member

    Drops off road for full breaking control

    scotroutes
    Full Member

    You should be able to cover the brakes when in the drops. If you can’t then take a good look at your setup and correct it. FWIW, I prefer Woodchipper bars for that type of riding.

    ceepers
    Full Member

    Drops for descending off road, three fingers wrapped around the bar, one covering the brakes ideally, although with my cable discs, you sometimes need two fingers for full braking control. Helps if the brakes are set up with an early bite point.

    Descending off road on a cross bike is by turns hilarious and terrifying! Along and up I ride on the hoods off road

    As. Above, you should really have more braking control in the drops than on the hoods if the levers are set up correctly. A slightly less than slammed stem can help if you don’t mind sacrificing road performance position

    JoB
    Free Member

    you ride in the drops, covering the brake levers with your fingers, as normal

    riding in the drops gives you lots more control, and braking from there is significantly more effective than from the hoods

    if you’re bike’s set up correctly it’s fine
    that said, most bimbling about is done on the hoods where braking isn’t such an issue, downhills and tricky stuff are done in the drops

    velosam
    Free Member

    cheers, I need to check my setup as I wasn’t comfortable with my hands at that angle trying to cover the brakes.

    1-shed
    Free Member

    I find the ergonomic drop bar good for giving confidence descending,but I’m flared bar curious.

    singletracksurfer
    Full Member

    What bars do people recommend for riding the cx off road? I want to change mine for something more flared (I think).

    Research so far has revealed:

    Woodchippers (not great on the hoods apparently)
    Cowbells 2 or 3 good all rounders (what’s the difference between 2&3)
    Luxy are the best off road but no longer available and I can’t find out when brant is bringing out some replacements.

    Cheers

    bugcab
    Free Member

    Drops are fun for some light offroad duties. Hydro STI’s make it possible to brake from the hoods in nearly all conditions but not so much hold if the wheel grabs. Cowbell 2 and 3 are the same size and shape just one is a more expensive alloy (cant remember which but I paid a £15 more for them).

    antigee
    Full Member

    need to position levers correctly ……or

    (wrong wheelset been out on road and sneaking in a loop on way home normally run 32mm tyres for singletrack)

    scotroutes
    Full Member

    Not a problem here.

    [url=https://flic.kr/p/oE4xXC]P1010496[/url] by ScotRoutes, on Flickr
    [url=https://flic.kr/p/oE5359]DSC_0144[/url] by ScotRoutes, on Flickr
    Again – I think it’s just a question of setting them up right.

    singletracksurfer
    Full Member

    Ah OK thanks for the info on the bars. What/is there much difference between Cowbells and woodchippers?

    munrobiker
    Free Member

    My experience of bars like the Woodchippers is not good- genuinely uncomfortable in the drops (they hurt my hands, which are quite large) and not great for braking in any position.

    Standard compact drops for me, hands on drops with a finger on the brakes or death gripping. Death gripping is more fun.

    mudsoul
    Free Member

    I ride singletrack on my CX bike. 95% of the time I am in the drops. Great fun if a bit of a boneshaker on the rooty sections. 440mm standard (non-flared) bars work well for me.

    FunkyDunc
    Free Member

    I’m not too sure what advantage flared bars would give, as when you need to be off the hoods, you also need to be on the brakes so would actually have your hands on the flared bit… if that makes sense ?!?

    OP sounds like you have your bars tilted too high up, or the leavers are mounted too high up on the bar. Decending on the drops usually feels the most natural position.

    General larking around I find riding on the hoods is fine, I only use the drops for steep decents where you need lots of braking power.

    convert
    Full Member

    I use Salsa bell lap bars – a bit more subtle than the woodchipper. I think Salsa have updated them and call them something different now. edit – they are now the cowbell (as mentioned above), which is a crap name – bell lap actually made sense!

    With bog standard bars I used to bruise my wrists badly when on the drops – they would hit the upper bars on big hits.

    steveoath
    Free Member

    I’ve got midges on my cx. I really like em. Don’t need to sit on the hoods at all as its really comfy in the drops.

    15 squids at the moment.

    STATO
    Free Member

    I’m not too sure what advantage flared bars would give, as when you need to be off the hoods, you also need to be on the brakes so would actually have your hands on the flared bit… if that makes sense ?!?

    with your hand in the middle of the lower ‘flared’ section of woodchippers you can still get 1 or 2 fingers onto the brake lever, see scotroutes second pic, lever well within finger reach, unless you have tiny hands?

    STATO
    Free Member

    Ah OK thanks for the info on the bars. What/is there much difference between Cowbells and woodchippers?

    Woodchipper

    Cowbell

    FWIW, my wrists didnt like the angle on woodchippers, very happy with my cowbells. Bontrager do some thing similar to cowbell too, more likely to find an LBS with some in to poke/feel.

    ChunkyMTB
    Free Member

    I use Cowbells (46 wide). No problems with control and braking in the drops of more techy stuff.

    Xylene
    Free Member

    I’ve got midges on my cx. I really like em. Don’t need to sit on the hoods at all as its really comfy in the drops.

    Robbing barstewards want 59 quid to ship to me, and yet Wiggle can manage it for 12USD or 24USD.

    antigee
    Full Member

    I see quite a lot of woodchipper stylee bars being used by serious and younger people on our local gravelgrind events – so either they work or they are fashionable 8)

    whatever bars need to get levers in right place – buy some really cheap handle bar tape – a few packs or live with loose rewrapped tape for a bit and try the levers in different positions – it doesn’t take long just more faff than mtb set ups and about as hard to get right*

    *edit = pretty hard

    Xylene
    Free Member

    Never having wrapped my own road bars, can I not reuse the tape?

    convert
    Full Member

    Normally yes, if you take it off carefully – there is normally a sticky line on the middle of the underside which has a tendency to tear the edge of the layer below it as you unwrap. It might have got a bit misshapen after being stretch nice and tight the first time which can make is a bit baggy on second (or third etc) wrapping but normally ok if you are careful.

    You can start a massive debate about if you should start in the middle and work towards the end or vice versa but it is very dull.

    SprocketJockey
    Free Member

    Another happy Midge user here but if I was being pernickety they could do with being a touch longer in the drops. The recommended setup for off road riding is to have the bottom of the drops at roughly the same heigh as you’d have your flat bars – as above the idea being that you are in the drops most of the time when riding offroad for better control.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    As far as the drops and brakes go, it could be worth seeing if there’s any reach adjusters for your levers- I added a set of spacers to my 105s, it made a lot of difference.

    singletracksurfer
    Full Member

    Thanks for the recommendations.

    Yeah I got some spacers for my 105 which really helped my stumpy fingers to reach the levers.

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