Sorting through some handlebars for a touring setup. I usually like a 42cm bar and have several but wanted to try a Randonneur bend, difficult to find that wide. Well, I got an SR out of the co-op's dumpster and it's stamped 42 and measures it but the bar narrows quite a bit at the levers so the width I like is not where I'd be spending most of my time, on the levers. Comparing it to another foundie (like a freebie, only different) shows them very close in width at the ends but not in the middle. Photo angle shows more of a width difference at the ends than actually exists.
Looking at my Cresta GT, the project in mind, its Randonneur bar is also a 42 but a different configuration with much greater width at the levers than the SR bars have. Rats! I was hoping to yank this original bar/stem/levers combo and park it while I use something else on the bike but if the bar is the best of my bunch but I want a different stem and aero levers then I have to take it all apart. Nothing is ever simple.
*edited for more pix*
So here's the Cresta with its stock 42cm Randonneur bar with the setup I'm planning to use, a normal 42cm drop bar on a Technomic stem. This one is slightly wider at the levers but the stock ain't bad by comparison.
And here is the found SR 42cm Randonneur bar compared to stock; more rise and even narrower at the levers, which I feel somewhat negates its width. The flare does make the SR as wide as the stocker at the ends but I'm afraid it'll feel cramped riding on the levers.
