Craptacular8

Looks very nice. I was just at my LBS last night for another issue, asked if they kept that flare bar in stock, they said they didn't, but happened to have one that they had just taken off a new bike build, steeply discounted. I went ahead and bought it, think I will give it a try. I think it is a 42, which will be fine for me. This will also be going on a Diverge, so small world.

thehammerdog

They look cool but do use lose too bar space for hands? I like riding on top of bars when pounding up hills

TenGrainBread 

Same amount of tops space as regular drop bars. Just with a slight rise.

Abu Mahendra

Ritchey Venturemax Comp 42mm






i like them, will keep them. Would love to try the narrower versions.

Banzai

My concern with the Venturemax is the tilt of the lever/hoods. I'd like to know how it is riding on the hoods with that bar.

In the meantime, I have the Salsa Cowbell on my off-road bike. It's nice. It's actually the "Cowbell 3", which I guess is a discontinued model, and I got it for $40.

ph0rk

I've got 42cm cowbells on one bike, and 44cm cowchippers on another. Replaced woodchippers because I thought they sucked for endurance riding. The cowchipper flare is pretty serious - not sure I'd want it unless I was hitting some nasty singletrack frequently.

TimothyH

Did you used to live in Atlanta?

u235

Not perfect but good enough and on the long haul I can still rotate into the hoods for 1/2 the time with no problem. I have short sausage fingers and I set my levers to be ideal in the drops. Ideal bar for me. It's not the tilt of the hoods, it is they are further around the bend and you don't have that nice flat level spot like you do with regular bars. For me now is almost always in the drops, with my old compact bars I was always in the hoods. Not because the hoods are bad now but the drops are so much better. I also flipped my stem over to +6 when I switched. Compared to the Veturemax pics above, my bar is rotated down more putting the reach and hoods sloping down more but it works for me.

Banzai

No. Why would you think so?

thehammerdog

Supergoose in NYC central park

pbass

Yeah, the Cowbell is flared enough for me on my gravel/adventure rig---seeing about 50/50 road/dirt(fireroads, some singletrack, not too technical). I've ridden the woodchippers too before--I think I'd only switch over to those if I was primarily in the dirt, particularly in more techy stuff.

lennskii

There are generally 2 levels of flare that would suit most gravel bikes.

Something like the Salsa Cowbell or Ritchey Evomax are moderately shallower drop than a normal road bike handlebar and flared around 12 degrees.

If you're riding knarlier terrain (more steep, technical terrain) or if you find you're not very flexible/agile (can't get comfy on drops or unnerving steering that low, but want more leverage or 1-finger breaking/grip of the drops) the Salsa Woodchipper or Ritchey VetntureMax have an even shallower drop and a 24 degree flare.

redlude97

So I swapped out the stock 42cm compact drops for some 40cm Cowchippers with a 24 deg flare. With the angled hoods, they end up about 38cm ctc which is what I run on my road bike for aerodynamics(fitted for 42cm bars based on shoulder width). On the cross race bike I have standard compact 44cm bars for reference so I'm used to a somewhat wider than shoulder width grip in the drops. The cowchippers are something else for sure, about 50cm in the hooks and 56cm on the ends of the drops. I set bar drop so the hood position is where id normally run them since the drop on bars is smaller than normal but the increased width makes them effectively lower. Will have to play with the position to see if I can get them to work or if I'll have to swap to a 12 degree bar like the cowbell.

ph0rk

Yeah, I've had Cowchippers on my crosscheck for a couple years and still can't decide how I like them. I've been toying with the idea of swapping them to my Fargo (which is currently my single track slayer) an taking the cowbells off that. Reason being once I build up my Warakin I won't need a gravel century version of my Fargo anymore and the added leverage of the cowchipper might really kick ass. I need a warm afternoon and a few beers to make the swap, though.

veloz

I’ve run a Cowbell II and a Bell Lap. The Cowbell had longer drops and felt like a longer reach for the drops. Also doesn’t have the ergo bump which the Bell does (like the Ritchey and I like). I went back to the Bell Lap because the bottom end of the drops is shorter. I run bar end shifters and it gives more room. I think total drop might be a touch more too which is nice in the wind. Somebody did a nice photo comparison of the Bell Lap and Cowchippers a few years back with photos and measurements - search online to find.