Hi all. I'm looking to switch the bars on my Arkose, primarily so I have more room to change gears when my bike packing bar bag is fitted.
Any thoughts on what angle of flare I need? Also interested in bar recommendations.
Thanks
I switched the bars on my gravel bike to Ritchey VentureMax with 24° flare and am very happy with them.
The flare provided enough clearance for gear changes even with a full bar bag, the flat section on the tops is comfy and the short drop means not being too hunched over when riding on the drops.
I think it depends your gravel. My bike is mostly used at the extreme end of gravel and has a 50cm redshift kitchen sink bar with the loop and 25degree flare. Excellent for control and for hanging stuff off but by god it's fugly and gives my upper body the aero efficiency of a lunchbox. If it was a gravel bike that spent meaningful time on the road it would not be my first (or second or third come to that) choice.
I use Ritchey ergomax as I only like a gentle flare and the extra rise is beneficial
I get on best with "normal" width around 40cm but quite flared (Ritchey Venturemax or Ritchey Corralito's are the two I have, both 24-deg flare). Others go super wide up to around 50cm so there's a lot of personal preference/what you need to achieve space-wise.
The nice thing about the Venturemax is the flattened top section is comfy for resting your hands on, Ritchey do aluminium versions of all their bars too so you can pick them up for ~£40
Do you have GRX shifters? They work really well with flared bars, 105 etc. don't feel quite as natural due to the lever shape and angles if you put them on really flared bars.
As above, depends on your gravel. I tend to avoid riding on lumpy trails, spend a lot of time on roads and easy gravel, load up for overnighters and do quite a few all day rides.... I settled on the venture max, it's comfy (for me) and seems to suit my riding. I can fit an 8 litre bag on them without fouling the controls.
I've got the standard 16° flare bars that came on my Canyon Grail (5° backsweep). Took a while to get used to them but they're really comfy and not *too* flared.
I run a Sonder Crest which is very flared and excellent. They do a less flared version too
https://alpkit.com/products/sonder-crest-handlebar
My Sonder Camino was specced with their very flared "bomber" bars but I opted for the more moderately flared "Spitfire" bars. This proved to be a good choice for most of my riding, but not when bike packing. Any reasonable sized bar bag interferes with gear changing unless you underfill it and pack it very carefully. Next bike packing trip I will probably fit the bombers.
I’m on venturemax xl and they are too wide for me and I’m 6 foot 4
But the flare is spot on . The main benefit of the flare is that your wrist and for arms can be at any angle with out the tops of the bars
I was told that for bars like this the aero position is on the hoods and drops are for control
I used Woodchippers for a while and got on ok with them but actually prefer my Easton AX with 16 degree flare these days.
I really like the Pro Discover 30 degree bars. Had 45, 25 and 12 in the past and with a shallow drop 25-30 degree flare is perfect.
Love ritchey coralitos
Thanks for all the responses - appreciate it.
I'm making the change in preparation for a trip to Morocco in March, so the priority is bars that can handle the rough stuff when needed. I have more off road adventures planned for later in the year too.
The bike normally gets used like a rigid MTB. I've survived on the 42cm standard bars so I reckon something like the Venturemax will give me the room for my luggage and handle a bit better too. 🙂
Some of the wider bars look like good fun, but I'm already running a short stem so not sure I'd have the adjustment to make them work for me.
Another Corralitos vote from me.
I went for a tumbleweed big dipper. Minimal flare but go as wide as you want. I went for 54cm.
https://www.keeppedalling.co.uk/accessories/finishing-kit/tumbleweed-big-dipper-handlebar__7375
There will be more knowledgeable folk than me on this for more hardcore gravel riding...
I mostly ride my gravel bike as a relaxed road bike plus some light bridleway use/light touring.
I spend a LOT of my riding time on the hoods.
I suspect a lot of flare would give me some difficult wrist positions because of that.
On the few occasions I've run a well loaded bar roll I've found the issue is thumb room up by the hoods and not lower down at the end of the shifter lever (SRAM brifters).
YMMV.
I've found the more flare, the more natural it feels. My Corralitos bar is 24/25 degrees. I'd go more.
the aero position is on the hoods
This holds true for all drop bars. Harder position to hold but more aero.
Really, you need to try some and make a decision based on what's comfortable and not on terrain. I've found every flared drop very uncomfortable in both the hoods and the drops and ride everything from the road end of gravel to basically mountain biking on 44cm Deda bars with zero discomfort and I keep up with my pals with flared drops no bother.
I bought some slightly flared bars for my gravel bike as I needed a wider bar at the top. So I went from 42cm to 44cm wide and the flare width was 54cm.
I rarely ride the drops on any road bar but I thought that trying the flare should be the way to go.
The problem I've encountered with the flare is negotiating the narrow anti motorcycle gates. The 42cm unflared bars fitted through and now the flares don't.
Flare is useful from the packing point of view. But maybe go for a rear rack and frame bag , if your frame is big enough for a decent bag 5L or 6 L .and a small front bag. .a 3rd bottle cage for tools etc.
I think you will prefer this when riding the bike unladen and stay that bit more aero and comfortable.
I don't really get on with the über-flared bars. My go to is the Salsa Cowbell, which has - hits google - erm, a modest 12˚ of flare. It just feels right, compact drop, moderate reach, nice shape etc. It's all very personal, but the Cowbell does me fine on anything from back lane tarmac through to moderate Dark Peak trails.
Fwiw, I found the moderate flare Sonder Spitfire was just all kinds of 'wrong' for me, the drops always seemed to be at the wrong angle regardless of what I did with bar rotation. I'd also be wary of super wide bars generally, if you're going to be doing much road/moderate gravel, they can potentially mess quite badly with your shoulders/neck, but again ymmv.
It maybe helps if you've ridden standard drops on the road/cross bike a bit and aren't trying to somehow replicate the feel of wide mountain bike bars.
I rarely ride the drops on any road bar but I thought that trying the flare should be the way to go.
If you never use the drops why have a drop bar?
Lots of flare may well require more changes to stem length, bar height etc to work right.
For me- I prefer a little flare even for road (I rolled the brakes in a little even before I got flared bars). I have enve G-series (silly money normally, i got them cheap) which I think sit somewhere between a cowbell and a cowchipper. Something with this sort of shape should replace a normal road bar fairly easily.
Touring I liked Woodchippers- extra space, extra leverage, more room to get your arms in different places. They’re not really a direct swap in for normal road bars though I’d say.
Another Ritchey VentureMax user here; I'm very happy with them. Not sure of the width - I think they're 40cm or maybe even 38cm.
If you never use the drops why have a drop bar?
Rarely use the drop part but occasionally do on downhills. Typically ride on the hoods on road bikes. The gravel bike came with drop bars so I wasn't going to alter the brake levers and shifters.
I have considered trimming an inch off the drop part of the bar but it probably isn't worth the effort.
Op where are you? I've some sonder bomber bars if you want to try some?
As with all handlebar advice, either buy a cheap pair new, second hand or borrow a pair. If you like them then you can buy a lighter more expensive bar, or try another pair. Better than wasting money on expensive bars you might not like.
Also, I currently use a pair of Salsa Woodchipper bars that I like, although the length of the bars at the drop might get a trim, as they're quite long. I even used them in a Cyclocross race.
Op where are you? I've some sonder bomber bars if you want to try some?
Thanks for the offer - I'm over in York so not a million miles away but a bit too far to make the return trip worthwhile.
Plan to buy a cheapish pair to see how I get on with them. Probably the Venturemax for £30, although the Corralitos look like a potential unicorn bar.
Flare is useful from the packing point of view. But maybe go for a rear rack and frame bag , if your frame is big enough for a decent bag 5L or 6 L .and a small front bag. .a 3rd bottle cage for tools etc.
I think you will prefer this when riding the bike unladen and stay that bit more aero and comfortable.
I'm trying to accommodate my existing set where possible. On my last trip I had issues changing gears so hoping that flared bars will fix this (acknowledging the mixed experience of others with flared bars).
I'm upgrading to an 9L frame bag to provide more capacity. The bulky item is my sleeping bag which I carry in my bar bag. A smaller sleeping bag would be great but they're spendy so I'm trying to balance the age old problem of cost, weight/volume and function.
The one option I'm not using are the forks. Mine are carbon and don't have cargo mounts. The Old Man Mountain Axle Pack would work, but once you buy the matching axle they get quite expensive. I'm keeping an eye out for some cheap or second hand forks that fit the bill.
I used Woodchippers for a while and got on ok with them but actually prefer my Easton AX with 16 degree flare these days.
Merlin have EC70 AX bars (although only in 44cm) at a ridiculously good price if they'd suit.
https://www.merlincycles.com/easton-ec70-ax-di2-carbon-gravel-handlebar-319012.html
Sleeping bags are a pain to carry as they are bulky. Esp proper bags us mortals use (can afford). Min bulk bags cost a lot of dosh!
Maybe a tri bar set up with bag pointing forward Or try and drop load down headtube and lower it if the frame is big enough, to free gear change action.
I just put my tent and bag on a rear rack after thinking about trying the above.
I was also looking at a larger "diameter" drybag to shorten the load.
Or use a harness with a "packer " to push the wide load further forward.
I’ve got some GT grade bars on my bike. They’ve got a pretty subtle flare but they’re great on or off road. Not sure what they’d be like with luggage on though.
even though they don’t have a lot of flare I was shocked at how much better they were off road than standard bars.
Just looked them up - 16°
I have narrow but flared lambda cross-wing 42 carbon bars on my gravel bike and also my road race Propel. I like them for both duties, but the hood width will be too small to store much (27 cm internal). Very aero and a longer stem was needed.
https://www.lambda-tuning.de/en/cross-wing-aero-rennrad-lenker
On my main gravel bike I just have road bars with minimal flare (Deda Zero2 DCR, 42cm), on the other gravel bike (also current winter road bike and future bike packing bike) I went for Redshift Kitchen Sink Low Flare loop bars (44cm), I'm not convinced I'd like wide flare bars but have never tried them. They seem fine so far but have only used them on road, they accommodate a Tailfin medium bar bag on their bar cage just fine.
Ritchey WCS Beacon XL 52cm 36deg flare on my Cascade for the more extreme end of gravel riding for the past 2.5 years (like someone else said above, I use mine like a rigid HT). I find the width and flare comfy, I ride in the drops 99% of the time / never on the tops / rarely on the hoods.
FWIW I'm 187cm and ride 760-780mm width on my MTBs.
I'm keen to try Corralitos as they've less drop than my current bar, but TBH I'm happy enough with the Beacon XLs:
@RustyChain, If you're anyway near Notts/Derby then I've got a set of flared bars that were originally on my Arkose but I didn't get on with them because of the amount of canal paths I ride and regular drops are easier to cycle through those annoying handlebar width barriers - you're welcome to have them to try out
I went for a more "roadie" like flare on mine last year; only 12deg (combined, so 6deg each side) they're very compact drops (~100mm IIRC). I also downsized the width from 440 to 400mm this means that riding the hoods my hands are a bit closer together (which I wanted), but in the drops they're about the same width apart I was before on my old straight drops. I do also use the bike with road wheels as a road bike...
I toyed with more flare/width, but decided that if I wanted my hands 500mm+ apart on the drops, that I would just be riding my MTB or maybe be looking at a jones loop bar or something. I sort of prefer a more conventional "endurance / touring" road like position for my gravel bike. 24deg / 500mm wide (at the drops) would be the absolute limit for me (YMMV of course)...
This might be helpful....or from some of the FB comments insight rage 😀
Is there any other kind of Facebook comment?
Sonder Bombers on my Camino. I don't have much experience of drop bar bikes - my previous cross/gravel bikes have all had "traditional" drop bars with no flare and never got on with them. The Sonders feel loads more natural to me though. When on the top of the shifters its that kinda nice halfway between drops (which I could never seem to get enough force on when on the hoods) and flatter, more MTB type positioning. That in itself is enough of a winner for me.
Ritchey Venturemax +1
But I'd echo a few other comments as well that you don't want to go too wide. I'd give some consideration to actually going for a narrower bar size (measured at the hoods) otherwise descending on the drops just feels like .....
It's certainly not aerodynamic, and it feel less controlled because your arms are stretched out so your elbows can't articulate. Whereas on traditional bars (even 460mm ones) your elbows are tucked in and to me it feels a lot more stable.
I also found there's a very fine line between raising the bars high enough for comfort and control, vs weighting the front wheel. A spacer or two too high and it felt completely unrideable.
It's certainly not aerodynamic, and it feel less controlled because your arms are stretched out so your elbows can't articulate. Whereas on traditional bars (even 460mm ones) your elbows are tucked in and to me it feels a lot more stable.
For me it's almost the opposite. A wide flare forces the elbows out, allowing the flex in the arms to act as a measure of "front suspension". I don't want my elbows tucked in when I'm descending and given how XC MTBs have developed over the years neither does anyone else 😉 I do see lots/too many riders descending on the hoods with straight arms though - and they wonder why it's "too rough" and they need a suspension stem or forks. 😂
Yep, same for me. The concept that when the terrain is veering on to MTB Territory with their wide bars for stability that you'd want narrower drops bars (for stability) feels completely counterintuitive.
I have significant misgivings about the 50cm Redshift kitchensink monstrosities I put on my gravel bike, but confidence with off road descents is not one of them.