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Flared Bars-What am I doing wrong here?

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Flared Bars-What am I doing wrong here?

Old 10-29-21, 01:59 PM
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Flared Bars-What am I doing wrong here?

I sweated through the handlebars that came on my Crux, so I decided to take the opportunity to get a set of new-fangled flared handlebars to put on there. In theory, I really like the idea of a flared bar--narrow and aero on the hoods and wide and stable on the drops where I usually descend. However, when I put them on, I noticed that my levers are way farther out than the drop handles, so my fingers have to do a backbend to get to the brakes--its incredibly uncomfortable and I can either cover the brakes or hold onto the bars...or be uncomfortable. Not sure it makes a difference, but the bars I got were PRO Discover 12° flare bars, and I've got pretty big hands.

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Old 10-29-21, 02:02 PM
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Watching. I've wondered about that myself. I like the idea of flared bars, but I also like the idea of always having a brifter within easy reach.
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Old 10-29-21, 03:03 PM
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You're not doing anything wrong, this is how they work. I've never had a problem reaching the levers but I can see how there would be an adjustment period
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Old 10-29-21, 03:17 PM
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As a person with small hands, I appreciate when brake levers point outward a bit. Wonder if there's something you could do when mounting to counteract it.
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Old 10-29-21, 05:49 PM
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I’m basing this entirely on the photo, so it may not be the case, but the levers look like they’re flared even more than the bars. Maybe align them in a more vertical orientation and see if this helps.
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Old 10-29-21, 08:13 PM
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Odd.
My Salsa Cowchipper bars are 24deg of flare and 12deg of drop angle, but I can easily access the brake levers on the hoods or in the drops.

Maybe your SRAM levers are set at a point on the hook of drop bar that is angling them put more than necessaery?
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Old 10-29-21, 08:26 PM
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It kinda looks like the shifters are each on the wrong side of the bar…but that cannot be, can it?
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Old 10-30-21, 06:22 AM
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Something doesn't look right, I think those levers need to be adjusted or maybe switch them around from left to right.
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Old 10-30-21, 06:37 AM
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My 16 deg flared bar doesn't look that far out, granted I have Shimano levers but that looks extreme.

Maybe it has to do with what is referred to "outsweep" in the below pic:


The Easton EC70AX has very little outsweep, whereas the Pro Discover Medium has a bit more.


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Old 10-30-21, 06:42 AM
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Originally Posted by mstateglfr
Odd.
My Salsa Cowchipper bars are 24deg of flare and 12deg of drop angle, but I can easily access the brake levers on the hoods or in the drops.

Maybe your SRAM levers are set at a point on the hook of drop bar that is angling them put more than necessaery?
This is something I considered, but this is where they need to be to be comfortable in the hoods. I’ve thought that maybe I’ve got them too far up the bar where it’s still transitioning into the drops, so the clamp area is more horizontal than the drop grip.

Maybe I need a bar with a flare kinda like this? These are $$$ carbon bars though and I really don’t like spending >$100 on handlebars since they’re mostly disposable for me.

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Old 10-30-21, 06:44 AM
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Originally Posted by wolfchild
Something doesn't look right, I think those levers need to be adjusted or maybe switch them around from left to right.
Lol. They’re not on the wrong sides. I know this is Bikeforums.net, but putting the levers on the wrong side is pretty hard to do when your bike is 1x.
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Old 10-30-21, 10:22 AM
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The reach to the levers can be adjusted on Shimano levers, not sure if that is the case with SRAM levers. If you can adjust the reach that might help. You should also be able to rotate the levers inward a little.

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Old 10-30-21, 11:58 AM
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Originally Posted by Phatman
Lol. They’re not on the wrong sides. I know this is Bikeforums.net, but putting the levers on the wrong side is pretty hard to do when your bike is 1x.
They're on the correct sides, for sure. The issue is that they're SRAM. They angle the lever outward just a skosh, look at a head on shot of a road bike with non-flared drops, and note that the tips of the levers sit slightly outside the lower bend. You could try to reposition the shifter, but I suspect that it will not greatly improve the ergonomics for you.
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Old 10-30-21, 02:55 PM
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That looks odd in that the levers flare a lot more than the drops do. My Cowbells are not like that with the 105 levers I use. The levers flare out about the same as the drops, maybe just a hair more, but not much.
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Old 10-31-21, 09:18 PM
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Looks to me it looks like the hoods are twisted in causing the brake lever to be pushed way outside. I would adjust the hoods vertical and see how that works.
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Old 11-01-21, 08:59 AM
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My SRAM Force mechanical levers stick out to the side more than my Shimano GRX levers do.

That said, the photo in the OP looks pretty extreme. Here is what my GRX levers look like on the Enve G series handlebar:



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Old 11-01-21, 11:59 AM
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Well I just did my third ride on these bars and they’ve got to go. I rotated them out and down a smidge and it made it a little more comfy on the drops, but now they’re uncomfortable on the hoods.





it looks like I need something like what he’s got vvv.

Originally Posted by msu2001la
My SRAM Force mechanical levers stick out to the side more than my Shimano GRX levers do.

That said, the photo in the OP looks pretty extreme. Here is what my GRX levers look like on the Enve G series handlebar:
The Enve bars have the same type of flare/bend that the 3ts have, where it starts out more vertical where the hood clamp is, then goes out from there.



Too bad I can’t really do $300 bars, anyone know of an aluminum bars with that style bend?
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Old 11-01-21, 01:40 PM
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Originally Posted by Phatman
The Enve bars have the same type of flare/bend that the 3ts have, where it starts out more vertical where the hood clamp is, then goes out from there.
I don't think this is true actually. The enve bars are shaped basically the same as your shimano bars. You just need to get a regular non-flared road bar, sram shifters just have too much flare built into their levers for you.
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Old 11-01-21, 01:54 PM
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Originally Posted by shoota
I don't think this is true actually. The enve bars are shaped basically the same as your shimano bars. You just need to get a regular non-flared road bar, sram shifters just have too much flare built into their levers for you.
I don't mean to be a dick, but did you see the pic that I posted from the Enve site?
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Old 11-01-21, 02:00 PM
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Originally Posted by Phatman
I don't mean to be a dick, but did you see the pic that I posted from the Enve site?
No worries, I did see it. You might be on to something. I forgot about the overall shape, not just the flare. I'm still not convinced though, every flared bar I've ever seen creates outward lever angle.


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Old 11-01-21, 02:14 PM
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Originally Posted by shoota
No worries, I did see it. You might be on to something. I forgot about the overall shape, not just the flare. I'm still not convinced though, every flared bar I've ever seen creates outward lever angle.

Posted above. Enve G bar with GRX levers. The levers are on a slight angle but they basically match the shape of the bar, they don't flare out beyond like the OP's:



For comparison, this is what my SRAM Force mechanical/rim brake levers look like on standard road bars with no flare. The SRAM levers definitely stick out to the side a lot more than the Shimano levers do. I've never tried these levers on flared bars, but I have a feeling they'd be poking way out:

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Old 11-01-21, 02:53 PM
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Originally Posted by msu2001la
For comparison, this is what my SRAM Force mechanical/rim brake levers look like on standard road bars with no flare. The SRAM levers definitely stick out to the side a lot more than the Shimano levers do. I've never tried these levers on flared bars, but I have a feeling they'd be poking way out:

Yeah, I think mine did that too with the non-flared bar, but for some reason it wasn't as extreme feeling. I'm thinking its because PRO didn't want a super abrupt transition from the tops to the drops, so they blended the radius some and the hood clamp area is still in the blending zone, not the drop zone and so a tangent taken from the bar at the clamp area (basically a brake lever) shows MORE flare than it would appear. Then add the fact that the SRAM levers are already a bit canted out a bit and you've got an awkward lever position.

I think I'm going to give up on this flare experiment and get the same bar I had before. It bums me out since I like the concept, but I can't be spending hundreds of dollars to try stuff out that will have funny lever ergonomics.
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Old 11-01-21, 03:14 PM
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Originally Posted by Phatman
it's really interesting to see this pic because the bar flare is quite subtle in it. That just isn't a bar that seems to have extreme angles.
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Old 11-01-21, 07:27 PM
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OP, have you tried using the reach adjustment to bring the levers closer in to the bars?
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Old 11-02-21, 06:34 AM
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Originally Posted by chaadster
OP, have you tried using the reach adjustment to bring the levers closer in to the bars?
There’s no reach adjustment on these levers, they’re Apex1. But even if there were, I don’t think it would help since it’s the lateral position, not the reach dimension that’s off.
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