What are the benefits? I like the look of them but is there any benefit in use?

All the benefit is off road I believe – have some coming on a new bike arriving February. Have tried them on a friends bike, take some getting used to but seem fun!

Presumably the same benefits as wider bars on most bikes.
Allows better control on rough terrain with being able to move the bike around.

Yes, in my opinion.

My Arkose came with normal (well slightly flared but not so you’d notice) 42cm drops and I changed them for Ritchey Venturemax 46cm at the hoods and bigger flares than a 70’s rock band which made a huge difference in offroad descending with much more control. They are easier to get into a dropped position as the drops are shallower, the leverage is much better for climbing and the wiggly bit that flares out is really grippy for control on bouncy/muddy offroad like today in fact – and I managed to control an icy front wheel slide from the hoods which I’m not sure the old narrower drops would have recovered.

My Ritchey Venturemax are deffo in my top 5 best bike thingies I’ve bought ever.

It perhaps depends upon quite how flared they are, compared to some mine aren’t overly flared (On one Brian’s) but i find it the slight angling of the shifters makes it easier to shift gear on uneven terrain, and the increased width does give more control, also it may be placebo but i’m sure their is a little more spring in the drops which can take the sting out of rough tracks.

Shallow drop & flared bars are great for in the drops control off road. And the flare puts the hoods in a much more natural position.

I reckon that the flare almost forces the arms into an elbows out “attack” position. This makes for a natural shock-absorber when descending rough terrain. I fitted Woodchippers many years ago for off-road riding but I like them for touring too. Might be (as Bazz suggests) that the angled shifters just helps too.

+1 On One Brian’s and at <£20, what’s the worse that could happen.

What rocketdog said. I would never ride on the drops off road – felt awful. But I’d get awful hand fatigue riding rough descents on the hoods. Swapped to some flared Ritchey WCS Ergomax bars (which also are flat topped which I like) and now 1000x more confident riding on the drops and hands don’t hurt.

The point is to give you a wider hand position for better control in certain situations, matched to a more efficient hand width on the hoods – kind of a best of both worlds.

If you subscribe to the theory that road bars should be as wide as your shoulders (which does seem to be the received wisdom), then your position on the drops with a non-flared bar would offer nothing more than an aero tuck which is less relevant off-road, and generally the drop is pretty extreme even in shallow road bars.

Flared bars tend to combine a slightly shallower drop and a flare which is not about being more aero necessarily but about offering an alternative position with more control.

I love mine. I would however describe the perfect flare bar as:

1) a wide flat section on the tops.

2) a sharp bend to the levers to maximise the width of the tops.

3) straight to the levers so they aren’t angled too much (most levers weren’t designed to accommodate it).

4) a shallow drop.

5) a slight flare that starts below the lever.

I ride an Enve bar that ticks all of these boxes but there are loads that conform at different price points. The advantage of carbon is point 2 above. That’s harder to achieve when bending a straight piece of metal.

I like the shape so much that I am seriously considering fitting a set on the road bike.

A few people suggest fitting a wider bar on your gravel bike than your road bike. That really can alter your fit, particularly if you regularly ride both. The flare enables you to stay consistent on the hoods and tops, with a bit more control in the drops. A shallow drop combined with a wider flare combined with an angle that seems to ‘meet’ your hands more naturally is really the Goldilocks combo!

Personally I think there’s kind of three categories:

A very modest flare doesn’t really affect the road parts of your riding (though feels a bit weird at first) but when off-road it just gives a slightly more comfortable grip and little more wriggle room for moving around. You can set these up either as you would a road bike or with some extra height.

A super wide flare gives you good control off-road (though still not as much as a flat bar) but is horrible on tarmac and the hoods position is (for me at least) out of the question. They need setting up higher because you’re in the drip section 90% of the time.

Then there’s a middle ground which is neither fish nor fowl and just doesn’t work for anything.

I use the first of these (Salsa Cowbells and Selcof Sterratos), but my “gravel” riding is probably at least 70/30 biased to tarmac; YMMV.

A super wide flare gives you good control off-road (though still not as much as a flat bar) but is horrible on tarmac and the hoods position is (for me at least) out of the question. They need setting up higher because you’re in the drip section 90% of the time.

As you say, it’s a personal thing. I like the flared hoods position for touring-paced rides. I accept its not as aero, but I have a different bike for when that’s more important.

Have people fitted shorter stems when moving to flared and wider bars ? I was looking at the PNW bars mainly as I have their bars on my full suss and they recommend a shorter stem when fitting wider bars .

In theory you would fit a shorter stem with a wider bar.

Assuming your road position is right, measure from the tip of the saddle to the hoods and subtract a little.

They’re just a different way to position your hands, but the biggest benefit is when you’re in the drops on rough going and you can ride with a loose grip because you’re hooked in.

I might not be describing that well, but it feels more secure to me than trying to do the same with flat bars.

An unexpected benefit of drops is on steep descents. If you are in the drops your body is lower and flatter, so your CoG is much lower.

Of course you can do that with flatbars too, but it’s automatic in drops. It does feel scarier at first, counter-intuitive, but obvious when you consider it.

moonsaballon
Have people fitted shorter stems when moving to flared and wider bars

There’s a simple test you can do. Grab a straight bar of something about 1metre long.

Put both hands in the middle and hold it out in front to you,

Now start moving your hands apart, and you’ll see how much it comes back to you.

If you do it with your hands at the width of your current bars, and then at the width of the new bars, you’ll see how much shorter your stem should be.

When dealing with dropbars, you also have to take into account the reach of the bars because it’s different in most bars, so you have to consider the stem and bar combos.

The on one Brian looks perfect but they only have them in 40cm at the moment. The midge are in stock but the flare might be too extreme for me at the moment as a first try. The selcof sterrato are in stock but is the 10 degree enough to feel the benefits?

WTB Dirt drops are fab. Lovely wrist position.

Crc have the Venturemax comp in stock in a 44cm which is fairly wide as its a hood measurement. 40 quid is a bargain for a properly designed bar by people who ride a lot of gravel.

I went from 100mm to 90mm stem .

The midge is a good width but I always found the drop section too short.

is the 10 degree enough to feel the benefits?

Not really, in my view. I have 16 degree flare on Easton EC70. I would describe the effect of the flare on those bars as quite subtle, but I still like them for the most part and see no compromise on the road. I’m kind of torn between keeping them and trying something much more pronounced to get the off road benefit. However the inconvenience factor of setting up and wrapping bars just for an experiment has kept me as I am, plus the bike does a fair few road miles. I’d love to try a few bikes with different bars back to back.

I would never ride on the drops off road

Said also me, before wheel twisted landing a microjump out of a shallow short tabletop into a swoopy descent. Forward roll/half-flip, off I go over the bars/leg trapped in the bike frame sliding down the 40ft bank. It was natural terrain, off piste in FoD. It happened because I was overconfident on the hoods, and the bars were ‘only’ 440. Doable on the drops. Whether fun or not depends on your state of mind/levels of injury. I was just relieved to have been able to get back on and try again, before finally decided not to try to try again. Any future offroad lumpy stuff/descents has been on the drops. Jumps on drops? nah, I’m alright thanks. Even on flat bars I’ve been jump-shy since a certain age. 🤣

I have 42cm bars on the purple haze with a 80mm redshift stem and 44cm bars on the Fustle causeway with a 60mm stem. The Fustle is designed to be longer and slacker though. Combined with a dropper it’ll tackle anything local off road but cruise along on tarmac between bridleways and trails without being boring

I much prefer the rotated hand position you get on the hoods with flared drops. Means that my arms and hands sit in a more natural position than they do on standard drops. Everyone is different though. I prefer flared drops and wouldn’t use any other type of drop bar now.

My riding is biased towards towpaths and bridleways with roads where they can’t be avoided. I honestly think gravel style bikes with flared drops are a better proposition for most people. Unless you’re a serious roadie they just make more sense imo.

When I had a gravel bike I started with the Funn G-wide- which was predictably very wide, very flared:

And then went to a Prime Kanza ‘riser’ drop bar:

I struggled with the Funn bar initially as to get into the drops it felt too far away – imagine a triagn between your head, and your hands – jsut like youtMTB, as you widen the base (handlebar width) you need to shorten the sides (top tube+stem length).

I had got my sizing wrong and bought a bike based on a ‘regular’ roadie style drop bar.

The Prime ‘riser drops’ solved some of this be being narrower and the rise has a similar affect to a taller headtube. However it was nowhere near as good for proper off-road.

My point is – if building a gravel bike think carefully about sizing and dont bars your sizing on a roadie riding position and geo.

My next bike will be slightly shorter and with a taller headtube, allowing me to use a proper wide falred bar like the Funn again.