trail_monkey

I am running cowbell 3 now and they are comfy on the hoods but the drops put too much pressure on my hands. I am double wrapped with gel tape. I also got my reach dialed in with an 80 mm stem so I don't want to go much longer on reach. Would the flare of woodchippers or June bugs or the midge make the drops more comfy?

tyrion

I have Midge bars and I find the drops very comfortable. They are short, but I have bar-end shifters in them, which adds some effective length. Without bar-end shifters they might be too short for me, I might go with Woodchippers or Cowchippers.

trail_monkey

Thsnks for the reply. I just didn't know if he added flare in the other bars made them more comfortable in the drops.

tyrion

That flared angle just seems more natural and comfortable to me, and definitely gives me more control over rough terrain. But it's a highly personal thing.

mstateglfr 

Add in Origin8 Gary Sweep bars. They have a shallow drop and flares ends. A ton of control when in the drops and shaped similar to the others listed

egear

I have Midge bars and they are really just to narrow for me. They do however work extremely well in tight spaces. Just ordered a pair of O8 Gary bars. Want to see how they are. I do love the shallow drop of the Midge bars.

trail_monkey

A friend of mine got wood chippers and the flare looked really radical on the drop. I just know that I can be riding fine on the hoods of my cowbell and switch to drops for a sprint and as soon as I switch down to the drop it feels uncomfortable on the heels/palms of my hands. Nothing horrible just nothing near as comfy as the hoods but maybe that's the way it's supposed to be lol. I have little drop experience.

ph0rk

I ride woodchippers on my Fargo, and I am on the verge of changing to either cowbells or cowchippers. I mosty ride gravel, and woodchippers are sort of overkill even for the worst goattrails and ergo wise aren't as comfy as I'd like for getting low with a headwind. My wrists are also often at weird angles which is not good for long stints.

The flare is nice, but i'd at least put the cowchippers side by side with the woodchippers - plenty more flare than cowbells, and a reach a bit more like you're used to. Both angle the levers and hoods in a bit of a weird way.

sgtdirt

i just switched over to Cowbells from O8 Gary II's. the only reason is i wanted my SS cross/gravel bike to feel and ride like my geared cx/gravel bike.

i can honestly say that i like them both...a lot. the comfort level is just slightly more on the Gary's but i don't notice any control issues on descents or technical stuff.

trail_monkey

I lowered the angle of my cowbells, unwrapped my bars just to below the hoods and raised my hoods up higher. I can't believe how much of a difference in feel this made both on the hoods and on the drops. Plus it probably shortened my reach 1 cm.