wintermute

I currently have 46cm Salsa Bell Laps on my 2006 Bianchi Volpe. I love the shape, I love riding on the hoods, I love the flare, I LOVE the ergo bend. The problem is, as I get older and my hips and back get stiffer, I find it harder and harder to get into the drops and feel that lovely ergo bend under my palms. I'm contemplating switching them our for Ritchey VentureMax Comps. They have a similar reach, 42mm less drop, some more flare (which could be a good thing, still fit barcons, and have that ergo bend. Has anyone ridden these? I have my bars set up with Cane Creek levers and barcons. If you've tried them, did you stick with your normal bar width, considering the wacky sizing of these bars?

wintermute

Sorry, bumping my own thread to see if anyone has any opinions on these things.

One added concern is that I'm running bar end shifters without routing the cabling all the way along the bars to the stem. I'm concerned this might interfere with the ergo bumps.

masi61

The 42 mm less drop part caught my attention. I say try it, and let everybody know how you like it.

I think I have a used set of Salsa Bell laps which I was going to use on one of my projects where the frame is sized just a bit on this side of "aggressive" sizing that I like. What I mean is that I am 5'11-1/2" and when I set up a road frame that is like a 56 or 57 I have to lean down, using more of my upper body when riding the drops which becomes comfortable when my pelvis rotates more forward.

I have a project bike that it going to take this concept one step further by downsizing the frame to a 54 Klein Performance that I am trying to make fit for me. The bars I bought for this build I believe are Ritchey Venture Max (I'll have to check the size). I spec'd these so that when I ride this smaller frame on the drops, it might still be OK for this crazy build where I am using a Thomson zero setback 27.4 seatpost and a zero degree rise Thomson 13cm stem to give me some healthy extension for the short top tube 53.5 cm (?) frame and my build.

tyrion

FWIW I've been using Ritchey Beacons for a few months and love them. Even more flare and even less drop than Venturemax bars. Bar end shifters work fine.

Because they have such low drop, I find myself in the drops more now, around 50% of the time.

Elvo

I have the WCS venturemax - works very well and you sort of feel "locked in" with the bumps

wintermute

Thanks everyone. The Beacons are a bit too flared for me. I think the layout of the Venturemax will be perfect, except for my concerns about the barcons: Will the tight bends in the ergo portion add too much friction, and will the shifter cable exiting the front of the drops cause too much interference? I might also give rotating the front of my Bell Laps downward a bit go allow me easier access to the ergo portion of the drops - that might help my back and hip issues.

Toespeas

i bought 2 of those , the first one was 44 and was too wide , so i got the 42 and its really good , only party i dont like is the curve is too shallow to get my natural grip and it puts mad pressure on my outer hand area , feels good is some positions , but if i want to get choked up uner the shifter and have easy finger reach to my brakes , my hand feels squished in , i like the flare , and the price , thats why i got it , i dont think they have any grooves for cables , that sucks , if it was just more custom fit to my hand i would say perfect bars

tyrion

I was considering the Venturemax before the Beacons came out and I was thinking I would "fill in" the concave bit on the underside of the Venturemax if I got them (I use bar-end shifters too). Carve something out of firm foam or something. It seemed to me making the cable conform to the underside of those bars would add extra cable drag (and the cable drag is already significant because I route cables all the way under the tape through the tight radii of those short drops).

mechanicmatt

​​​​I know nothing of the venturemax bars but want to try them. However I don't have the best back and am one of those young arthritis people. If you want to try something that is guaranteed more comfortable then try some bars that are wide with a 30-35deg bend back to you with a 5-15deg tilt downward like Guster Stache or Jones bars. I have the setup on two bikes and love them. Also I have Nitto Noodles on a road bike and love them.