A while ago I sold my gravel bike and bought a marin four corners frame to build another. I didn’t think I was getting on with drop bars, so built it up with on-one Geoff bars. It’s not great how it is, so was looking to give drops another go, might work better with the higher stack of the four corners. However I sold my drop bars and road shifters etc.

Thinking about trying a corner bar (or more likely an Ali express replica). I can then keep the mtb brakes and shifters that are on it. Drop looks pretty shallow, have no hoods as such but tops are there for alt hand position.

Any opinions on this? I know they’re meant for gravelising a mountain bike, but no reason they shouldn’t work well?

Mostly used for 6 mile commute, local gravel and occasional touring.

I have been following a similar thought pattern to you but I am very dubious about the AliExpress bars as they’re either carbon and the strength of the joint scares me, or alloy and very narrow. You could always buy a legit corner bar and if you don’t get on with it, eBay it off. Won’t lose much money.
Edit to add: I did look at flipping a set of north road bars and ended up flipping a pair of ragley Carnegie bars. Looked great, too much drop for comfort.

Something I have thought about too.
Here’s where I am. Still have a gravel bike with wide slightly flared drops and find them great apart from when quite far off road.

Built a Titus silkroad with Geoff bars and it didn’t feel good until I put a longer stem on (80mm).
Rides nicely but keep wondering what it would feel like with drops, so that’s probably the next step.
Regarding the corner bar option. The Surly bars are quite expensive but also very heavy. Like you Iv looked at Ali Ex copies but the carbon seems a bit dodgy to me!

I have the Zniino carbon copies off Ali Ex.
I chose them because they had plenty of selling history and reviews.
I have no issue with the quality they are great.
I have not died yet but I will post here and let you know if I do
I have put them on an old XC bike and they have taken some abuse but suspension will smooth out knocks a bit I guess.

People say that they wouldn’t buy chinese carbon but from all of my searching it does not seem to present an increased risk. I do not find many verifiable issues. And go for sellers with reviews

Mine are 460mm at the hoods and that works great for me for road positions and good control downhill.

I have an integrated brake/shifter on the right which is quite compact but I find riding on the tops, hoods and drops all very confy.

It is possible to shift and brake from the hoods.

All that said if Planet X brought out an aluminium copy I would take those.

I’d love a Corner bar, if it didn’t weight more than a carbon MTB fork and cost £120

(they’re well over 700g I think)

You could run a flipped On One Mike bar — they are dirt cheap and way half what the Surly does

I had one on a monstercross build recently, but single speed so no issue with bar space

People say that they wouldn’t buy chinese carbon 

I’m pretty sure we’re buying Chinese carbon every time we buy carbon

Good to see and read @jp-t853 👍

I’m pretty sure we’re buying Chinese carbon every time we buy carbon

We probably are but there is a huge difference between them. It’s cheap, unbranded or fake carbon where all the risk is.

If you have any doubts, just buy two pairs and do your own destruction test on one of them. You will get a good idea of quality seeing how much force it takes to destroy them, or crush them with a stem clamp or brake clamp.

Who was it on here that filmed a pair of bars they bought that they tested? The flex was terrifying.

Nice one, it was the Zniino ones I was looking at. Might give them a go. If I die, don’t tell my wife how much my bikes are really worth.

Ti version?
https://www.btchnbikes.com/components/btchn-flattracker-5bfrh-znjzr-kdasc?utm_source=IGShopping&utm_medium=Social

Why do the brakes need their own postcodes?
I would like to try a corner bar but am concerned with the somewhat enforced drop position for hands. Guess because I’ve come so much from road and cx. Maybe I take my own advice and order a bar to try.

Got one recently for the singlespeed. Makes a nice alternative to a riser bar and feels very natural hand position in the drops. Need to wrap with bar tape instead of grips though as could do with the option of more hand positions.

How long are the drop bits? Would esi xxl grips fit? Think they’re about 210mm long

I have a Q as well; @jp-t853 what’s the internal diameter of the ‘drops’ as I would want to use a bar end shifter?

I am away for the weekend without the bike so I will check those measurements when I get back home. There is a bit of flex way out on the drops in a good way for off road but bar ends might exaggerate it.

Edit ignore that about bar ends you said shifter

👍

@dufresneorama the drops are 17cm you could put some of the spare grip at the top
A normal length of bar tape is more than enough for the whole bars.

@shedbrewed Internal width on drops and hoods is 18.5mm

These are 46cm at the hoods

When I reviewed the corner bar way back when as a “make your MTB a grav bike” experiment
Surly Corner Bar Review

I found the drop part is quite a bit lower than a std short drop gravel bar. As the corner bar is designed primarily to be used on the drops adding it to a gravel bike will make the position very low unless you use a silly amount of spacers under the stem or an ugly high rise stem.

As (no offence intended) mtbers tend to only have experience of a wide riser bar and a very upright position a more low than usual low position will take quite a bit of getting used to if riding properly off road on the gravel bike.

So if you are substituting the corner bar for a drop bar because you don’t like drop bars I think it’ll be an expensive exercise in futility

Thanks both.