Right, tried normal roadie bars, no good. Then tried Midge bars, better but the flare out was too much. 3rd time lucky and trying some salsa bell laps, with slight flare. Now problem I've had before is initial set up of the bars , hoods etc..( Campag Mirage ergoshifters). Using a 100mm 7 degree rise stem. Having the stem so rise is positive.
Whats the rule of thumb for the bar position? Do I have the tops of the bars parallel to the ground, or the bottom of the drops parallel? Hoods up high to act as a hand rest or what?
Coz if it all goes pete tong this time I'm just going to whack a flat bar on and be done with it..
Cheers... Mick
Generally set the bottom of the brake levers so that they're in line with the bottom of the drop, then rotate the bars until a line through the bottom of the drop passes through the rear axle.
See if you like that then experiment with small changes from there.
There are no hard and fast rules these days.
In the old days you would set the bottom of the drops parallel to the ground, and put your shifters so the bottom of the lever was in line with the bottom of the drops.
Now, anything goes...
When I raced cross, I always felt more secure descending on the drops, so I had the levers set for that.
On my roadie, I encountered the 'six shooter' fashion when I raced, where you set the bars/shifters as normal then rotate the bars back towards you and have the levers sticking out the front.
Get your bar tape off and have a proper play...
generally CX bikes tend to have the bars with the top flat upto the brake, then the hood part slightly pointed up so you dont fall off the front on steep bits. personally i always set my drop bar bikes up the same, totally flat on tops to hoods, others prefer a slope down to the hoods or even a slope on the hoods, its all personal preference really. Have a play with different positions to see what suits you best (youll need to learn to wrap bar tape tho, youll be doing it a lot 😆 )
I set drops so that the drop section is comfortable and then the levers so I can ride comfortably on the hoods.
Cheers guys, much appreciated.