Controltech Gravel Drop Bars..
08-14-22, 09:31 PM
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Controltech Gravel Drop Bars..
I was checking out the specs for the Whyte Glencoe and noticed that the size XL comes with 48cm bars. Now this is pretty rare to see, as most XL bikes I see come with 46cm (borderline too narrow for me), or even 44cm bars. - ONE FL4 Drop Bars...
Upon some further investigation, I also found these - 50cm bars, with 0° of flare, specially designed for gravel riding! - ONE 500 Drop Bars...
I was looking everywhere for a drop bar that was 48cm, with a flare between 4-6° up until this point. I decided to opt for the 50cm One 500 bars. Here are my thoughts.
- they are just outside of shoulder width, but it feels far better to me than using bars narrower than shoulder width.
- I immediately prefer the feel of no flare at the drops once sh*t gets hectic (I like to push my gravel bike HARD around the bends..)
- I would prefer slightly more narrow, but this width really helps with stability during hairy situations without sacrificing that razor sharp feel.
- the "rise" doesn't really negate from the performance factor, at least not for me. All it does is simply compensate for the above average width.
- you may be wondering how well do shift hoods and levers designed for flared bars, work with these bars. (SRAM Apex here..) it seems as though my wrists bent a bit too far inwards when holding onto the hoods, and a bit outwards when pressing the brakes in the drops. I think a slight adjustment of the hood angle and playing around with wrist /elbow angles should help with this.
- ergonomics in the drops, the quality of the aluminum being used, and the finish is overall quite excellent compared to other bars I've used. They feel perfectly contoured for my somewhat larger than average hands.
All in all, I think One FL4 bars in size 48cm would have suited me slightly better, but I am exceedingly happy with these and refuse to go back to bars with all that crazy flare. For reference the bars I was using previously were Easton carbon bars, which were unnecessarily, painfully stiff, too narrow, but better for me than the stock satori bars that came on my bike as they only had 5° of flare.
Upon some further investigation, I also found these - 50cm bars, with 0° of flare, specially designed for gravel riding! - ONE 500 Drop Bars...
I was looking everywhere for a drop bar that was 48cm, with a flare between 4-6° up until this point. I decided to opt for the 50cm One 500 bars. Here are my thoughts.
- they are just outside of shoulder width, but it feels far better to me than using bars narrower than shoulder width.
- I immediately prefer the feel of no flare at the drops once sh*t gets hectic (I like to push my gravel bike HARD around the bends..)
- I would prefer slightly more narrow, but this width really helps with stability during hairy situations without sacrificing that razor sharp feel.
- the "rise" doesn't really negate from the performance factor, at least not for me. All it does is simply compensate for the above average width.
- you may be wondering how well do shift hoods and levers designed for flared bars, work with these bars. (SRAM Apex here..) it seems as though my wrists bent a bit too far inwards when holding onto the hoods, and a bit outwards when pressing the brakes in the drops. I think a slight adjustment of the hood angle and playing around with wrist /elbow angles should help with this.
- ergonomics in the drops, the quality of the aluminum being used, and the finish is overall quite excellent compared to other bars I've used. They feel perfectly contoured for my somewhat larger than average hands.
All in all, I think One FL4 bars in size 48cm would have suited me slightly better, but I am exceedingly happy with these and refuse to go back to bars with all that crazy flare. For reference the bars I was using previously were Easton carbon bars, which were unnecessarily, painfully stiff, too narrow, but better for me than the stock satori bars that came on my bike as they only had 5° of flare.
08-15-22, 04:24 PM
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08-15-22, 04:57 PM
#3
Drip, Drip.
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I'm wondering why you think Apex levers are designed for flared bars. According to Sram product manager Nathan Schickel, "Sram (and our competitors) produce and design brake levers to work in a generally vertical orientation. You’ve got a bit of play with the levers, but you don’t have the 12 or 24 degrees of flare that some handlebars come in.”
