Surly Corner Bar
 

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thinking about this for my fixed steamroller :foo: any thoughts

I found this written review to be very helpful. Pretty much all of the details are covered, including how to wrap them, etc. Pay particular attention to the "why" part of it. If you don't know why you might want to make the change, maybe it isn't for you? Only you can decide that.

https://bikepacking.com/gear/surly-corner-bar-review/

It's nice that you don't have to get new shifter/brake levers to see if you like drop bars, but I personally wouldn't want a bar that has a "drop" position but no "hoods" position. Even the "tops" position seems compromised by the way the bars curve downward before they hit the grip section. I like the idea, but it seems like an expensive experiment that you'll only use until you decide to get a dedicated drop bar or go back to a flat one. Nothing wrong with that, of course; re-selling should be easy.

Thx, i needed sanity ... I got drops and horns and flats and as curiously cool as these look, they aint gonna give something that i don't already got

That is a strange design. I see it's appeal as you can run your MTB brake levers and shift levers, but it looks like it is not as comfortable as normal drop bars. Also, you could stab yourself during a crash over the bars?

A worthwhile dimensional view of the bar from Blue Lug:

Would be cool idea for a few local friends to go in on one together. They could pass it around on bikes they are considering putting drop bars on. Think “I don’t want to be out 100$ or the time to resale, but I’d try it for 20$”.

I have a 26" Cannondale with some road tires and I've thought about getting these bars. I just wish they weren't steel and the tips need to be a little narrower. Even the smallest size is too wide for my taste.

Interesting. I’ve had the RockHopper for five years and it had drop bars most of that time. Ultimately, I decided they weren’t wide enough and the cantilever and U-brake really weren’t ideal for drop bar levers.

For over a year, the MTB has been sporting touring bars, instead. The trade off is that touring bars give wide grips that reach back to the steering axis and go all the way to as far forward as hoods. They work great all along that range both seated and standing, which is important for me when riding SS. The downside is that there is no bar tops position for seated climbing, but the standing positions outweigh that for me.

If one wanted that same situation but lower, the touring bars can be flipped over. So, I’m glad to know about these but at this point I will likely carry on with the touring bars.

Otto

As an aside, threads like this are very interesting to me. There seems to be a restlessness among people, always convinced there must be a better way. They search high and low to create something "perfect" whether it exists or not. And when they think they've found it, something "new" comes along that rocks their world and they begin to question whether that new "something" might make things even more perfect.

I'm not judging anyone here, I'm as guilty as any. But I'm coming to appreciate what I call "perfect enough". I try to not be lured into trying things in an attempt to create a perfect scenario. I try to resist the recommendations of reviewers who laud all of the new gimmicks. Just buy these bars and your hand pain vanishes! Use this stem and vibration is a thing of the past. And on and on it goes.

Marketers are expert at separating us from our money. Of that I am sure.

I think having a healthy amount of skepticism towards "miracle cures" is probably wise, but to reject new ideas or improvements out of hand by assuming it's all gimmickry seems a little reactionary. I know that I've benefited from experimenting with non-traditional bar shapes.

This is great for someone who doesn't want to overhaul their braking system while allowing more hand positions. It's nice to have the option of swapping out flats to 'drops' with minimal effort. Like most of Surly's products, this addresses a niche market.

As OP stated he was considering this handlebar for a fixed Steamroller - I'd say that swapping brake levers among bars on phiksies can generally be a pretty easy job, and that it is switching around shifters on gearies which is the hard part, so the Corner Bar loses most of its raison d'etre on one-gear bikes

Having said that...Bring Back the Fixxer!!!

I guess my hot take is that when you have a good handlebar that you like, you don't buy a handlebar that's designed around the function of switching handlebars.

I guess I would agree that swapping brake levers is easy if he were to position mountain bike style brake levels to the tops of a drop bar. My point it that Corner Bar allows a hooded position without having to actually change the levers. Obv this bar would serve no purpose if he were running a brakeless system - just throw real drops on and call it even.

Has anyone here actually bought one and spend anytime riding with it yet?

I'm intrigued about these for my flat bar ss Cross Check. Would be extra appealing to me if these also had rise like the Truck Stop Bar. Now that would be even weirder looking....

I'm in the process of rebuilding my Cross-Check from a riser bar with sweep to some Surly Corner Bars. They are intriguing, I've set them up with bar end shifters on the horns.

Would be curious to see that!

I will post a photo as soon as I can. I'm still a newbie and need to make 10 posts before I'm able to submit images here.

I've had a few short rides in between a lot of fettling while setting these bars up. Currently the bars are set at a similar height to my saddle, which isn't as comfortable in the hood position as I'd hoped and are just a little low to feel comfortable in the drop position. Since then I have moved the brakes up the horns, adjusted the saddle position, adjusted the bar angle and added a small amount of padding underneath the bar tape. This has achieved a little more comfort but the verdict is still out until i get the chance to test them on a long ride. I will keep riding and adjusting them with the current stem (a BMX stem) to see if I can find the sweet spot, but can see myself in the future swapping out the BMX stem for a goose neck stem to raise them up higher.

FYI - I'm using the 54cm version of the Corner Bar, possibly a bit wide on a Cross Check, although so far have worked out well with regards to the gear cable routing which is running along the flat bar. I also ride with front panniers so I feel the width of the bars helps the stability.

You can post pics to your gallery and link to it.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5542bd0eb6.png

Thank you. Ive posted some photos to my gallery which I presume members can see on my profile?

I ordered the corner bars in size 54cm. They were more than 700mm from bar end to bar end. Way too wide for me.

The 10cm drop is pretty substantial for a flat bar bike, when paired with the extra wide width.

The drops had too much flare for me.

If they were a reasonable width, with maybe less flare, I would have stuck with them.

Yup. Here are a couple of them:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e981a32ec8.png
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6325505a35.png

Im using the Surly Moloko bars. They have a cross bar, but, similar.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3db9f507e6.jpg