Tried this yesterday, what a blast. Was on a carbon hardtail 29er and I borrowed some cross wheels. The wheels were invaluable due to the mudbath that the race was. Apart from the weight penalty of the bike, and the wheels, I was wondering why cross bikes have drop bars on them? Is it for very small aero gains? I’d imagine wider flat bars are better for control (and make it more difficult for people of overtake you!)

I’m gonna take a wild guess (though I might have read something in the past) and say it’s because CX started with road riders modifying road bikes with drop bars and evoled from there.

they have drops because if they didn’t they wouldn’t be cross bikes. And also, I imagine, for the same reasons roadbikes have drops.

I did a CX race on a mtb once, for reasons, muddy grass and a clayish woodland section. The tyres picked up so much clag in the woods the wheels quite literally would not turn. I remember grabbing fistfulls of the stuff trying to get the wheel to revolve whilst trying to ‘run’ up a steep bank but slipping backwards faster than I was going up. Finished top half of the field, narrowly, but obviously the proper race was somewhere in the distant distance.

Its CX, don’t go looking for rational reasons for any of it 🙂

Its all good.

Is it for very small aero gains?

At the speeds of the best riders, the aero gains are not so small.

Drop bars offer more torture positions compared to flat bars which are the missionary of the CX Karma Sutra.

a 29er with CX tyres is a far better tool for the job than a cx bike IMO. But that’s not got the nostalgia of roadies converting bikes and doing CX races for winter fitnes so will never be allowed in Trophy or UCI races.

Local races though, fill your boots!

a 29er with CX tyres is a far better tool for the job than a cx bike IMO

Highly debatable – An MTB is far harder to carry effectively and narrow drops are easier to thread through a bunch of fast-moving riders.

Easier to shoulder the bike with drop bars? The CX shouldering position is quite comfy, with a hand round the frame holding the drop – the strong riders are extremely fluid switching into / out of it.
Not that I’ve tried shouldering a MTB and legging up a hill, but it’s probably harder to reach round the frame and grab a flat bar.

Not even debatable, or the local fast lads would *all* be using them in any race they could. Most of the UK race calendar for instance.

I’d guess more than half of them have a XC 29er already, and a huge stack of compatible wheels.

Funnily enough, the fast riders all use CX bikes.

Narrow bars = easier to overtake too. Easier to make a narrow bike wide to block people than to make a wide bike narrow to squeeze through a gap. I don’t think you gain any bonus control by having flat bars in cx race anyway the courses are fast for sure but omg technical need me wide bars!

This guy is slow as chuff 😉

MTBs are only allowed in the ‘hobby’ races (so people without a racing license) or U16s round these parts and then with a max bar width of 50cm. They also have to start at the back of the field.

Wasn’t that *just* for the three peaks. Which is a long way away from your common or garden CX race.

This guy is slow as chuff

That was 2010. He’s seen sense since then and rides a drop bar at 3 peaks 🙂

2015

and then discs in 2016

That was 2010. He’s seen sense since then and rides a drop bar at 3 peaks

or the rules changed in 2011 regarding the use of flat bars.

Funnily enough, the fast riders all use CX bikes.

Because they have to… due to rules.

For a privateer one-bike entry I still think a 29er with rigid forks, 580/600 wide bars and skinny tyres is the better tool. More control on tech ‘rideable’ courses, FAR better mud clearance etc… There’s plenty of ways to carry an mtb over the shoulder. Very few proper cross courses that I’ve ridden will mean that the alleged aero effects of drop bars will have any impact. Maybe a few early season courses if it’s been a dry late summer, but they’re pretty much crit races anyway and you’re probably best off on a road bike 😉

HOWEVER, CX racing is a formula isn’t it – hence the rules regarding bike design to make it a level-ish playing field – and to to enjoy the stupidity of riding ‘road’ bikes off road 🙂

I don’t think you could confuse the 3PKS with normal CX. I think that would be faster on a 29er but the rules are set such that you have to ride a CX bike with certain characteristics.

As for normal CX races – They are generally non technical relative to mountain biking so you benefit a lot from a position that is more suited to generating efficient power than stability. But XC bikes aren’t a million miles away – just don’t take an Enduro sled.

Drop bars are in there because the rules say so. It is historic. If the rules were changed to allow flat bars a I guess people would but then it would end up being a mtb race on bikes with skinny tyres. While I use all the hand options in a race (drops are for descending!) I probably wouldn’t need to if I had a wider flat bat (maybe some bar ends). You do see people with top levers but they are a compromise because in that position it is like riding a 350mm flat bar so you don’t have great control. I prefer the drops in those cases.

Overtaking is really only a consideration on the first lap. After that there is enough space. NEver struggled to get round someone on a wide XC course.

I was wondering why cross bikes have drop bars on them?

Because the rules say you have to use a drop bar. There is no other reason.

To acquire championship points you have to be riding the right bike. Hence with the rule change that bloke above started racing drops in the 3 peaks.

F1 cars could be designed to go around the track much faster than they do, but the rules “level” the playing field.

I only did a couple of events so maybe they’re not representative but the second time, I left my actual cross bike in the garage and took my hardtail and flat pedals, it worked just as well overall and I had more fun.

The traffic was a big leveller though, you can only go as fast as the guy in front and I felt pretty out of step with other riders. In that regard it was like endurance xc racing only worse, at least in xc people are inclined to get out of the way but a lot of the cx guys obviously thought they were doing it properly and I should get off and walk too. Fair enough I suppose, it’s their ball. By the same token sometimes I was slower and also wider so I felt like it was my job to get out of the way as much as possible.

(I can’t do a proper cross remount without sitting on myself and I never got a handle on when it was better to carry even though it’s rideable, I guess my thinking might well change if I could get more from that stuff. Maybe an mtb is good at doing cx badly and a cx bike only gets good when you’re doing it better?)

Great laugh though, not sure why I’ve not done it again

You need to read the rules then. And my post.
Most races (in the UK anyway) don’t require drop bars.
So the fast boys would be using there 29er XC bikes with CX wheels in those events. But they aren’t.

So the fast boys would be using there 29er XC bikes with CX wheels in those events. But they aren’t.

Why would they use a 29er for regional races they have to use drop bars in nationals???? stick to the same bike for all cx racing – muscle memory, familiarity etc…

Why would they use a 29er for regional races they have to use drop bars in nationals????

Fast boys want to win so would be on their 29ers if they made a difference. Most of the top lads/lasses race MTBs too so the muscle memory aspect of it would make little difference.
In 25 years of CX from summer evening events up to international ones, I can think of less than 5 occasions where an MTB would have been any kind of advantage, and that wouldn’t have been over the entire course. Yes, occasionally an MTB wins a CX race but that’s normally someone who would’ve won if they were on a unicycle

Wow I’ve opened a can of worms there! Some interesting comments. From what I can gather the benefits are potentially:
Aero gains for the faster riders
Possibly easier to grab onto when the bikes on the shoulder
Narrower to allow easier overtaking and line choice (the flat bars on my MTB are obvs wider but you could of course use flat bars that are same width as drops)

From what I can see not any overwhelming benefits of them over flat bars. Seems to be more to do with tradition, history and rules than anything. But mainly a case of it is what it is, if the pros do it then we all should do it!

I suppose with road racing and CX the rules have tried to make it not about the bike where as MTBing more or less has always been about the bike.

bigmandh – Member From what I can see not any overwhelming benefits of them over flat bars.

maybe the next race you do you can borrow some drop bars to go with the ‘cross wheels you borrowed to make your MTB more suitable to CX racing 🙂

where as MTBing more or less has always been about the bike.

Someone should tell Nino to stop training – its obviously not needed since its his bike that wins.

I can’t think of a single cx course I’ve raced on where my 29er hardtail would have been faster than my cross bike.

Wow I’ve opened a can of worms there

No, honestly, you haven’t.

Cx bikes are substantially more aero and you really notice the difference. I don’t have two cx bikes so use xc mtb as spare. When switching from one to the other the extra drag is crazily evident, to the point after doing a bunch of tests I
‘M not bothering with a spare bike now.

I don’t have narrower tyres than 2inch but therolling resistance on mtb tyres are significantly greater on harder surfaces, and most cross courses have a mix of terrain.

Also cx bikes are IMO faster round tight hairpins.

I raced loads on my Spark 920. Was awesome clicking into descent mode to ride up the concrete steps at Tidworth and one or two muddy rounds I was able to run super low pressure and just ride past my usual competitors but when all is said and done- WHAT BETTER EXCUSE COULD YOU ASK FOR FOR A NEW BIKE 😀

They also are more likely to have lower gears 😉

I prefer drop bars on fast off-road and climbing, the only time I would favour flat bars would be on very technical single track. Drops put my body in a better position, have full control when in the drops and am a bit faster as less upright.

This is just me riding on my own rather than CX racing but terrain is similar.