Mary style road drop bars
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Mary style road drop bars
I've seen Mary style "flat" bars but what are Mary style drop bars used for? They look like track bars to me. Riding on the drops look like the only comfortable option. Riding the hoods looks very uncomfortable and riding the tops looks difficult at best. I bought a nice vintage touring bike that has a high quality flat bar and stem and rather than change out the stem, bar, brake levers and shifters I'm wondering if adding a bar-end extension would be a more cost effective alternative since I almost never use the drops anyway.
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I did a Google search for "Mary style handlebars" and got a long list of hits that include discussions of their merits. You should find your answers there. Apparently "Mary" is a trade name used by one maker, not a generic type.
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Maybe post a picture of the bars you are talking about. My searches show Mary bars are a type of flat bar. I can only find one person selling a drop bar referred to as a Mary style drop bar and that looks like it has an outward flare to the bend with an inward bend to the drop.
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Maybe post a picture of the bars you are talking about. My searches show Mary bars are a type of flat bar. I can only find one person selling a drop bar referred to as a Mary style drop bar and that looks like it has an outward flare to the bend with an inward bend to the drop.
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Bar ends will obviously give you one additional hand position on flat bars. You might also look at trekking/ butterfly bars. To make your post/question more comprehensible you might delete the irrelevant stuff about the Mary bars, maybe change the thread title.
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Are we talking about something like the Salsa Woodchipper?

Not particularly my choice of bars, but I think they're popular with some tourists and casual riders.

Not particularly my choice of bars, but I think they're popular with some tourists and casual riders.
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I finally decided to take a bit of time and did a search for mary style bars and see they look very close to what we called "North Road" bars back in the day. A style I used on a couple of small wheeled urban bikes years ago. Oh well, I guess every generation feels the need to make the old their own by renaming it. Andy
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I finally decided to take a bit of time and did a search for mary style bars and see they look very close to what we called "North Road" bars back in the day. A style I used on a couple of small wheeled urban bikes years ago. Oh well, I guess every generation feels the need to make the old their own by renaming it. Andy
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Not at all what I had thought. Also not what I would want given the long sloping tops to the hooks. Good luck. Andy
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Those look somewhat like track/pista style drop bars.
Here are some Nitto Track bars.

https://an-excellent-test-store.mysh...rack-drop-bars
Here are some Nitto Track bars.

https://an-excellent-test-store.mysh...rack-drop-bars