Show me your flat bar* gravel bikes

https://flic.kr/p/2pN5kNb 

https://flic.kr/p/2puS7g4

https://flic.kr/p/2pqx8bo

Only a 38t chainring though…

And only a 26/38 on this ATB

https://flic.kr/p/2qvtdUz

Another neck/shoulder pain sufferer here but that’s down to several spinal fractures, bulging discs, broken collarbone and torn ligaments being restitched. The Whisky Winston’s are really comfy and put my hands in a good place which minimises the discomfort. On audaxes the tandem nubbins help with a change of hand positioning. The Passchier bars are nice on the Rambler although jury still out on position.

Controversial, I’m going to say a gravel bike has to have a 40t+ chainring

My gravel bike, marketed as a gravel bike and kept as purchased didn’t.

As for those not enjoying drops but liking the on the hoods position, wouldn’t going old school with narrower bars and bar ends fix that?

I had a gravel bike that mostly got used for commuting and the occasional gravel ride home.

I replaced it with a MTB that does the same thing, but with better brakes and less terror on anything bumpy and down hill.

Now you may say Hardtail*, but a Cotic Cascade is technically a gravel bike…. Sonder Scope bars with 15degree back sweep.

*I would agree and actually Cotic description says ‘Adventure bike’ but then says drop or flat bar, gravel or bikepacking…

Before disk brakes, and wider tyre options, nobody cared. My track bike has regulations for track, my road racing bike has regulations for road racing. My commuting bike has adaptations for commuting. My gravel bike is any bike I choose to ride on gravel, with or without adaptation. Actually it’s a cyclocross bike. But I’ve ridden my race bike too.  Since gravel bikes are basically slack road bikes with granny gears, adding flat bars is the very definition of a hybrid.

Personally I prefer swept back bars to flat. Soma Sparrow are great and I use them on my SS MTB.

Very apt thread – as I nearly decide I needed a Free Ranger last week.  Planet X told me I needed a L not and XL as 6ft 2 ( I have shrunk an inch).

off to geometry geeks – and other than top tube length it is nearly identical to my old RoadRat .  Even head and seat angle.

So the Gravel Rat stays

Now you may say Hardtail*, but a Cotic Cascade is technically a gravel bike….

nearly identical to the mk1 solaris isn’t it?

the only bike I regret getting rid of, and I did run it as a rigid bike (and 2.2 tyres, no dropper)  for a while in either 2018 or 2019; possibly before gravel was cool…

Mine’s a Mk IV Swift and it’s fab (if a bit porky). It’s really just a mostly road based gravel bike for me. I got a bit carried away in the Chiggle meltdown sale & built up a proper drop bar gravel bike, which I’m struggling to get to grips with & still mostly ride the Swift.

Winstanley currently seem to have around a quarter off of ’23 flat bar Croix De Fers if anyone’s after a proper flat bar gravel bike – https://winstanleysbikes.co.uk/genesis-croix-de-fer-10-flat-bar-2023-bike#187=4617

https://winstanleysbikes.co.uk/bikes/road-bikes/gravel-adventure-bikes/genesis-croix-de-fer-20-flat-bar-2023-bike

Controversial, I’m going to say a gravel bike has to have a 40t+ chainring

Both of mind have a 38t chainring

|My gravel bike is the same as my tourer and the same as my mountainbike.  Sometimes I swap tyres

A gravel bike is one ridden on gravel – anything else is just marketing.  |Its not a CX bike unless its built for CX racing

@chestrockwell

As for those not enjoying drops but liking the on the hoods position, wouldn’t going old school with narrower bars and bar ends fix that?

That is literally why I started the thread 🙂

I have 800mm riser bars with SQlabs inner bar ends on my rigid MTB, best of both worlds.

I liked the salsa cowchipler drops on mine and the hoods.

Now I’m on an on one Jones bar. I double wrapped bits of it last week and it was significantly nicer.

I have sq inner bar ends on one MTB for another hand.position. the 800mm wide bar is substantially nicer than narrow bars and bar ends from back in the day.  The sq bar ends are supposed to allow you to brake a bit, but I couldn’t get the position to work with hope V4 as the hoses stick out too much. Probably not a combo they had tried .

If you want more content like this thread check out

reddit.com/r/xbiking/

Trying a set of the sonder bomber 45 degree flared bars

nearly identical to the mk1 solaris isn’t it?

Pretty much why ai bought it actually. I sold a MK2 Solaris (and then regretted it), but had always thought it could make a good rigid, possibly with some wide flared drop bars. MK1 would have been better though.

Controversial, I’m going to say a gravel bike has to have a 40t+ chainring

Even more controversial, I’m going to say a gravel bike doesn’t have to have a single ring.

Yep. My gravel bike certainly doesn’t have a 40T chainring. That’s both too small and too big.