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Like a plane on a treadmill - will it take-off? Seem to be more and more (and wider) offerings available eg Kore Torsion, 800mm anybody.
What are the perceived advantages/disadvantages?
Wide bars give more confidence and better control. I'm guessing people want low front ends which is why they want flat bars.
DH bikes have long travel forks. This means that the handlebars are a lot higher than they would be for, e.g. a 100mm XC bike. In order to keep the front end low some people use flat bars.
Yup. If you're a shortarse on a DH bike with tall forks, you can't get enough weight on the front wheel for cornering, so anything that lowers the bar height is a good thing. Negative rise direct mount stems are appearing too.
If it wasn't for fashion, all handlebars would be flat.
aracer - Member
If it wasn't for fashion, all handlebars would be flat.
No they wouldn't.
If it wasn't for fashion, all handlebars would be flat.
Try telling RaceFace or Easton that 😉
Any other bikes benefit from this non fashion item? Lowering the front end good or bad in an over the bars sort of way?
Don't necessarily have to have it lower, just use a higher stem, much more efficient way of tuning bar height imo. Not to say I don't have riser bars on all my bikes though.
as I understand it, lower + wider means you are forced to take a stance on the bike that brings your centre of gravity forward and presumeably slightly lowers it (not by much though).
Fitted some wide bars on my DH bike, it certainly improves the cornering grip, and I am now running a few more clicks of compression on the front and a few less at the back to keep it balanced.
Because the likes of Sam Hill uses them so the sheep follow. If he said he put dog turds in his tyres to help him go faster people would try it.
Kuco - Member
Because the likes of Sam Hill uses them so the sheep follow. If he said he put dog turds in his tyres to help him go faster people would try it.
So taking advice and trying something that seems to clearly work for the best riders in the world is classed as being a sheep? I won't disagree that there are some people (mainly kids) that blindly copy the pros, but I've got to admit that if a pro is fast with a particular set up, emulating that to see if it works for you can't be wrong. If I wanted to be individulastic, I'd be riding across the moors on a steel, recumberant fixie...
Because the likes of Sam Hill uses them so the sheep follow. If he said he put dog turds in his tyres to help him go faster people would try it.
Really? Any evidence of that? Love to see a top 10 DH rider using flat bars on a DH bike....
I suspect you're talkin out of your arse.
Some people just prefer lower front ends. Makes sense, if your 5ft tall and the front of your bike is the same height as the 6ft tall rider next to you, its obvious which is going to benefit more.
More choice is a good thing, being able to adjust factors like this is common sense really.
Not for DH, but I'm just trying out flat bars again...
Seem pretty spot on so far, dunno if they are a "keeper",not decided yet..
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I've a few sets of bars, narrow and wide, DH big rise etc bars and XC risers. The wide DH bars seem to give me maximum confidence and balance, but I can't quantify the grip improvement if there is any. The one thing I find with risers is my outside of my hand gets a lot of pressure on it, whcih it doesnt with flats, due to the upward curve of the bar.
Really? Any evidence of that? Love to see a top 10 DH rider using flat bars on a DH bike....I suspect you're talkin out of your arse.
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Pretty flat. My new bars are 1/2inch rise and seem to make more of a difference than I thought they would.
They'er not flat!? Look a the back and upsweep.
Are you saying flat bars have no back or upsweep?
Flat wide bars still have a fair amount of sweep, just no rise!
[i] aracer - Member
If it wasn't for fashion, all handlebars would be flat.
No they wouldn't. [/i]
Yes they would. It makes no engineering sense to make a bar bent when you could just make the stem have a steeper angle and a flat bar. It'd look silly though.
By the way, I'm not saying those are flat bars. I said myself under the pictures "pretty flat". All I'm saying is that for you to say that a top dh racer using flat dh bars would be ridiculous isn't the case, as it's not far from the truth.
thekingisdead - Member
aracer - Member
If it wasn't for fashion, all handlebars would be flat.No they wouldn't.
Yes they would. It makes no engineering sense to make a bar bent when you could just make the stem have a steeper angle and a flat bar. It'd look silly though.
But the good thing about a riser bar is that you can rotate it in the stem clamp to achieve different angles of up and back sweep. You can't do that with a stem, and with a flat bar the changes are less pronounced.
You can't do that with a stem
Of course you can!
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The one thing I find with risers is my outside of my hand gets a lot of pressure on it, whcih it doesnt with flats, due to the upward curve of the bar.
Then sweep them back so that they don't curve upwards. Loads of people seem to rotate riser bars much further forward than you would with a flat bar. I don't get it.
You can't do that with a stemOf course you can!
How will that effect the sweep?
I was assuming you were referring to large difference in height and fore/aft position - if you're referring to differences in angle of the grips, then that works just the same way for flats as for risers.
Furry muff.
Gotta say though, does that stem make more engineering sense than a riser bar?
Oh, and I'm still not putting a 15 degree rise stem on my ibis, no matter what makes more structural sense!
More engineering sense? What would a 50mm stem with 2" rise in it look like? Better engineering than a 50mm flat stem and a 2" bar?
More engineering sense? What would a 50mm stem with 2" rise in it look like? Better engineering than a 50mm flat stem and a 2" bar?
Or using your steerer tube to do the rise...now that makes engineering sense!
Alot depends on how your headtube/frame is designed...a normal headtube will give a higher bar height than an integrated design, so if you want low bars on a normal h/t design you may have to go with flat bars (like in the pic above).
Why's that? Is there an inherent problem with riser bars?
Except many forks aren't warranted for more than 30mm of spacers. And it looks gash...
Why's that? Is there an inherent problem with riser bars?
No, just flat bars have a higher strength to weight ratio...
Except many forks aren't warranted for more than 30mm of spacers. And it looks gash...
Cant argue with that!
Low is the way forward, just not too low 😉
Except many forks aren't warranted for more than 30mm of spacers
Which is kind of silly, because 30mm of spacers and bars with 50mm of rise puts more strain on the steerer than 70mm of spacers and flat bars.
Just shifting the weight to a heavier stem, or to a longer steerer tube + spacers though.
Just shifting the weight to a heavier stem, or to a longer steerer tube + spacers though.
No, because you need to add less weight to them to get the rise than you do to the bars (for a given strength).
Well, I run 1/2 inch riser bars on my DH and trail bikes, but the only bar with the width and comfort (up and back sweep) I've found to run on my XC bike have an inch rise. It occurs to me that either there's a hole in the market for a wide flat bar with up and back sweep comparable to a riser bar, or somethings being missed here.
What would a 50mm stem with 2" rise in it look like?
It would go up at a 45 degree angle, and actually look quite sensible IMHO (I so love the mixing of units!)
or somethings being missed here.
Marketing.
I can't believe it's all down to marketing. There's enough bike companies willing to break the mould that it shouldn't be an issue.
It occurs to me that either there's a hole in the market for a wide flat bar with up and back sweep comparable to a riser bar
How can a flat bar have up and backsweep 😀
What sweep you looking for?
So is that not the benefit that a riser bar has over a flat bar then? The fact you can have up and back sweep, that you can't have with a flat bar?
No, because you need to add less weight to them to get the rise than you do to the bars (for a given strength).
Significantly so? If it's about 10 grams or so then the only people who will care are xc racers, who should be on flats anyway!
In reality, the only benefit of a flat bar that anyone cares about is a low front end...eg when i put 36s on my 5 i got some flat bars to bring the height back down.
stuartanicholson - Member
In reality, the only benefit of a flat bar that anyone cares about is a low front end...eg when i put 36s on my 5 i got some flat bars to bring the height back down.
Which is the reason I run 1/2inch rise on my DH and trail bike, but a flat bar "feels" wrong when I've run it on my XC bike, even with the appropriate rise stem.