I know high rise and tall stack is on trend at the minute but I think I need to get my bars lower and my stem is already as low as it can go! Reason being due to my short legs, my saddle is a bit lower than my bars. Which puts me in a really upright and laid back seated position which I hate for pedaling for more than a few miles. Took a side-on picture the other day and I look almost upright when seated, it's just not very comfortable or efficient feeling for me.
Current bars are 25mm rise, think I want to go down to 10mm which will give me a bit of play to fine tune with headset spacers if needed. I can't see much about in 31.8, most stop at 20mm rise except for Gusset which are out of stock everywhere, and Renthal which are very expensive! The only reasonably priced option seems to be the Pro Koryak but would prefer my usual 8 back/5 up sweep angles if possible. I know I probably won't feel 1 degree less upsweep but I do tend to overthink everything 😅
I have some 12.5mm rise Nukeproof Horizon bars in very good nick doing nothing as I went to 40mm - cut down to 780mm IIRC…
Maybe too mech vacksweep?
PLANETX.CO.UK great to know they’re back in stock.
what about flipping your stem?
I've got one of these in garage. Bit battered, so won't offer them (I might use them (it?) again too as they are v comfortable bars). Can't get much lower rise than that.
I have the USE Rip handlebar on my XC Hardtail and it's really nice, no rise but small backsweep. I have the carbon one, but they do a reasonably priced aluminium version too (on sale here too):
Or a cheaper option from BBB from the same place:
Alloy Renthal fatbar 35s with a 10mm rise on the Hightower have been spot on for me, found carbon Renthals ok on my ebike but they made steering the Hightower feel unpredictable where the alloy versions don't
9 deg sweep flatbar? rotate a bit and you'll have your up and backsweep near enough!
MERLINCYCLES.COM cheaper option from BBB from the same place
Great option if you're not sure they are what you want 👍
What bar width do you need, I've got quite a few bars and might have what you need.
How low can you go?
always double check the clamp sizes.
Sorry I don't have anything that wide
I have a low 31.8 gold Fatbar at 750mm wide.
I have a zero rise Renthal Carbon fatbar lite for sale in the classifieds, nearly new and priced way cheaper than new
i linked some tredz bars a few weeks back, load of nice raceface stuff on sale, not sure if they go lower but grabbed 20mm rise from there
Took a side-on picture the other day and I look almost upright when seated, it's just not very comfortable or efficient feeling for me.
Show the pic. I can't believe you're that short of leg that you need to compensate by slamming your bars on an MTB unless you're xc racing on a 29/32er. I have an 29" inside leg and am on 80mm bars and have never been more comfortable on the bike. I've adapted by simply bending my elbows a bit more.
I've got some low rise Renthal carbons in the garage could be of interest - no good to me any more.
Cheers all I think I have something sorted now but appreciate the offers!
@Speeder here it is. Like I said I don't think I've ever had a MTB that fits me properly for pedalling so not really sure how I should be sat but it doesn't feel that comfortable to me, I feel like I want to be leant forward a bit more when pedalling. If I adapt my position I feel more hunched over which leads to a bad back. This is my first 29er which I jumped up to from 26" and even after 2 years it still feels very tall at the front to me. Looking at this the bike looks maybe a bit small/short in the TT for me, however with an ETT of 620mm it should be longer than more modern geo bikes recommended for my height n
RaceFace Next Flat Wide (carbon) is available for a very reasonable £37. Maybe a bit narrow at 720mm but it's 31.8, has a 1/4" rise and is 175g.
Looks like a Sentier and if your ETT is 620, then guessing you're on a medium - the reach being 428, which is pretty short tbh. If you're having your saddle low too, you're also shortening your ETT. It does look a bit too small for you I'm afraid
Yeah it's a medium Sentier 29! I've always seen this as a parts donor bike tbh so I'm not against a new frame if I can find something suitable. I like the feel for descending/jumps etc but hate pedalling it around!
I'm recommended a medium on pretty much every bike for my height, which with steeper STAs seems to give an ETT of around 600mm on frames with around 450-460mm reach. Then when the lower saddle reduces the ETT, surely I'll be on a sub-600 ETT which would feel even more cramped? Or do I need to size up to a ML/large with longer reach?
I guess I could try shorter cranks (guessing these are 170 or 175) which will mean the seat needs raising a bit, and shorter is probably better for my hobbit legs anyway?
I've got some lower bars on their way now anyway so hopefully that will be a cheap fix that hopefully won't affect descending too much.
What suits me obviously has no bearing on what will suit you - I'm 5'11" and my HT is a large Ragley Big Al. It was a revelation when I first got on it as to how sorted it felt. I've obviously had much shorter bikes in the past, but this just feels right.
Compare the medium to yours above though and it does make the Vitus seem quite short in most areas - 62mm longer in the wheelbase, even though you have a slightly longer chainstay, so definitely indicates a short front end albeit the steeper head angle contributes to that somewhat
Yeah it doesn't have the most progressive geometry to be fair. Now going to be on the lookout for a Big Al frame 🙂 I do have a 60mm stem I could try as well.
My local bike shop, Owens Cycles in Steep near Petersfield, which is an awesome proper bike shop btw, have a bargain rack of new but previously fitted handlebars taken off new bikes when the customer wants to upgrade to the latest trend before they ride out of the shop. The bargain options are invariably low rise and the selection has served me very well for a few builds this last year alone. Perhaps there is a LBS near you that does similar.
They do look good 🙂 wish I'd grabbed one or a Marley 290 in that CRC sale, though I did get this Vitus used for very cheap as a result of that sale! The medium Big Al looks like it could be pretty spot on for me. Looking out for that or a ML Bird Zero 29 on the used market.
The bike does look a little small to me. If you still need cheap / low rise bars then:
SPORTANDLEISURE.COM
For cheap bits my current go to sites and sports and leisure and banana industries right now. They have an eclectic mix of stuff and the filters no both websites aren’t great but there are some outstanding deals at times. Particularly on certain tyres and the DB8 brakes.
Cheers, always forget about checking on Banana Industries! Still contemplating a set of those cheap DB8s but not sure if it's such a good deal when you have to factor the matchmaker clamps in as well which pushes up a bit (and I'd need to upgrade my resin-only rotors)!
