Questions on flared bars (may have been asked, I'm asking again)
 

I've searched a bunch, and I can't seem to "scratch the itch"/"massage the charlie horse" on this. I am a roadie at heart, and my legs tell that story...but here's the deal, I discovered how awesome gravel (and even non-technical single track) really is when I moved to Germany. I've got standard drop bars on my gravel bike (2015 Diverge frame...but it's far from original). But the more gravel I ride, whether for commuting, for pleasure, or for poaching KOMs in Strava, I'm always wondering, do the flares really make a difference? My gravel bike is really more of a do it all bike, shod with file treads, blocks, or slicks, depending on my mood....so while doing it all, flares or no flares? Opinions and snark welcome, I am asking because I have ideas, but am pretty much clueless on this matter.

I like flared bars so much that I put them on my road bike too. I use the FSA Adventure bars which have a 12 degree flare. I tried some bars with more flare and didn't like them. I prefer the flared bars for several reasons. The first being that the flare angles the brifter and puts your wrist in a more natural/comfortable position on the hoods. The second being that the flare makes the bars wider in the drops and also allows your elbows to be in a proper position to absorb impacts, such as bumps, rocks, etc.

Totally unscientific but last year I dipped my toe into the flared drop world by adding these to my endurance bike. https://www.mec.ca/en/product/6003-9...ture-Handlebar

Not a huge flare but noticable.

I like them while in the drops because my forearm does not have to do a little bend thing to adjust my hand position and/or they lean a bit against the bar for bracing. It's just feels a little more natural and secure to get up into the hooks or use different surfaces of my palm for pressure relief etc... It was a cheap experiment. I now ride more in the drops than hoods which is saying something!

Before
https://live.staticflickr.com/7904/4...561a8a45_c.jpg


After
https://live.staticflickr.com/7889/4...36c3d602_c.jpg

For me, flared bars' advantages:

1) more comfortable overall
2) keep forearms from banging bars on rough descents when in the drops
3) provide more leverage (because they are effectively wider) on technical terrain

Basically, the rougher the terrain the more advantageous they are.

Disadvantages: wider, less aero, weird.

I use salsa cowchipper which is the middle of their 3 bends.
Love it.

A little flair is nice on road bikes too.

Almost as important as if a bar has flair is how the bend is set. Some bars have almost no ramps, some have hard bent hooks, some have drops that come back a lot, etc.

2 bars with 15 degree of flare can feel totally different. You may try one and thinkn15 degrees is too much, but actually like the other one

I really like the Specialized Hover Flare bar. The shallow drop and flare make a huge difference when riding in the drops during technical descents. Like Dsaul, I will also be putting a flared bar on my new road build.

They also let you run a bigger handlebar bag if you're into that. Another con is that there are no "ultralight" flared bars yet (sub 200g)

I used to poo poo flared bars because they weren't "roadie" but then I bought a Topstone that had them standard. After I rode them a few times I'm convinced, they're pretty nice on gravel.

Mild flare on my salsa vaya, factory. But I put a set of wood chippers on my Giramondo and loved them instantly. I have wtb adventure drops on my gravel grinder. Not a fan of the angled style flare. The salsa product is best for me. Flares are great for sprinting in the drops. Honk city!

Rodie with a gravel bike here. I'm still waiting for my "Aha" moment with the FSA Adventure bars I swapped in for the stock Eroica bars. Both are 46cm but I don't really feel opened up on the top. I've only got 4 rides in, though. I don't find the sweep section on the drops very comfortable. Maybe I have big hands.

If my road bike wasn't in storage, I'd swap in those bars with the flat ergo drop section. I thought those were the most comfortable.

Time will tell, I guess.

After running Cowbells, I will never run non-flared drops again on any bike, even a dedicated pavement bike.

I just got my first taste of the Cowbell yesterday and I really like them. Short reach and drop, good bend at the levers, and a nice long flat drop without too much flare. Pretty nice product, and it comes in carbon. Might have to get that.

Having smacked my arms on the bars while in the drops on my road bike, I can def appreciate the flares on my gravel bike.

3T Superghiaia comes in sub 200g.

$400 for handlebars to ride on a gravel road! Wowsers...

If you dare, check out the Darimo Ellipse gravel bar. Even lighter, even more $$$, but takes a different approach than flared drops.

My bike, Trek Checkpoint ALR 4 came with compact road drops 42cm wide, I switched to a Salsa Cowchipper 42cm and it felt really good, gave a lot more confidence riding downhill in the drops made the hood position more confortable overall great stuff. I later switched to the Pro Discover Big Flare handlebar, shorter reach, less drop and even more flare, that handlebar felt even better right from the start. After my months of riding flared bars I borrowed a bike with non flared drops and it felt very weird as if the bars were bent inwards, If I were to get a dedicated road bike I'd still want some flare on the bars.

Has anyone gone too far with flare and regretted it? My bike (Trek Checkpoint) is 85% commuter/pavement, but i'm interested in some shallower drop bars and like the idea of the flare ergonomically as well as for control. I'm leaning toward Cowbells (12deg) or Ritchey Evomax (12deg) or Easton AX (16deg) as they aren't as extreme. Would i regret not going for more?

My first bars were Origin8 Gary OS Sweep and I liked them...until I tried other bars and realized I didnt like them. In retrospect, there was too much flare(29deg) and sweep(15deg). I made do because ignorance is bliss, but my current Cowchipper bars are the perfect(currently) mix of flare(12deg on each side) and sweep(none).

Short answer: no. I find the super wide bars to be pretty extreme and IMO they don't fit your style of riding. I've used both the Cowbells and the Ritchey Evomax. Both are good but I like the more compact drop of the Cowbells (and I'm a Ritchey fanboy).

Yeh, that's what i'm thinking too. Thanks!

If you want to give flared a try, I don't hesitate to recommend the FSA Adventure. Modest flare, compact drop, and under $40.

Be aware though that they run narrow-- the width measurement is at the ends of the drops, so a 46 is supposed to be 44 at the hoods, but it's closer to 43. This is the only reason I replaced mine, I wanted wider everywhere, at the hoods as well as the drops.

But they will let you know if flared is something you want.

I own the Easton EC70 AX. They are about as wide as I would want to go on the road, not so much because of the flare of the bars themselves but because of the angle at which it places the shifters/levers. The bars themselves are super comfortable.

This is a size 42. The top of the hoods are actually 42 cm apart. I've not measured the drops.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e2393eaa00.jpg


-Tim-

Well that explains my lackluster reception to these bars then!

What did you get instead?

Anyone want to buy a barely used set of FSA Adventure "46cm" bars?

Short answer to your question, "I'm always wondering, do the flares really make a difference? My gravel bike is really more of a do it all bike, shod with file treads, blocks, or slicks, depending on my mood....so while doing it all, flares or no flares?"

Depends, if you are comfortable, confident, and have total control that and you are happy with what you have, stick with what you have..

Long answer..

On my all purpose gravel bike I went from relatively standard 420 compact to 440 Ritchey VentureMax that have a 24 flare and a short drop. A standard compact bar always had me gripping the bars or mainly hoods hanging on hoping for the best. I'll never go back to standard bars. Flared bars totally transformed my experience with control, confidence, and capability. I do singletrack, on and off road centuries, and multiday tours with them and no regrets at all. In my opinion, for the most benefit of a flared/short drop bar you have to consider the best position of hoods and bar angle for riding in the drops. I went from almost never in the drops with my compact to almost always in the drops because of the control and comfort with the flared bars. I am far more comfortable in the drops now than I was in the hood before. Trying to get the best position for hoods AND drops is not easy, specially as the flare increases and the drop decreases (like the venturemax). If you try to setup the position of everything like a traditional bar for ultimate hood position you will be playing around a lot and the brifters will be all over the place. You should keep the brifter forward further down the drop and angled in on the top which may not result in the bar being on a level plane on the top but if you twist the bar to far up or move the brifter too far back to compensate there will be an angle or a valley between the bar and the hood and a drop that is angled up too far. If you have longer fingers you can reach a compromise. That's not to say you can't get it setup right but it isn't a compact bar shape so something has to be different :)
They are drop oriented bars first. The overall advantage in the design is using the wide flared end for control, hoods are secondary. I can totally understand why a lot of dedicated compact or regular bar users do not like flared. They are not regular bars with just the end bent out.

When I first swapped from compact to the flared, I swapped my stem for one +10mm that compensated for the shorter reach bar. I swapped back eventually and finalized by adding another spacer instead. Even with the shorter drop, I was mainly using the drops now and the additional height from the stem evened it all out. Depends on what you end up with but a stem change, angle, or height might be involved depending on where you eventually end up.