ruudlaff

Carbon sprint bars (specifically Alpina in my experience)

I have seen a lot of these recently run without bar tape. Is there a reason behind this or is it purely for cosmetic reasons since they've plumped up $200 for a set of bars?

Related side question: how many of you guys are actually running narrow bars these days on your track drops? (38cm or smaller)

carleton

It seems that Scattos are the reference bar these days and they are designed to be used with bar tape and a normal bar tape plug.



Alpinas are unusual because they have the bar end capped, so you can't use a bar tape plug as with normal bars.



I don't understand the design philosophy behind this, to be honest. Maybe they assume that the rider will be using sticky gloves.

I had one of the first sets in the US back in 2011:



I used to like to ride gloveless, so using these sucked. I had to have a sack of weighlifting resin in my track bag to keep my hands sticky.

Regarding running narrow bars, normal is 37cm. 38cm used to be considered narrow before 2012 or so back when roadies were riding 44cm bars and 40cm bars were for track and 38cm was "super narrow". Now 38cm is considered wide for a track bar.

carleton

The differences in the bar widths are not limited to aerodynamics. When you first try a set of 33-37cm bars, the first thing you'll notice is that when you stand to sprint, the bike doesn't want to wave side-to-side. This is because your hands are closer to the center of the bike and when you are pulling with your hands against your feet (on the pedals), you have less lateral leverage. BUT, you maintain the same about of vertical leverage (used to help the foot apply pressure to the pedal).

Waving a bike side-to-side is not a good thing on the track. It's not uncommon to see roadies come to the track and bring that "roadie sprint" with them where they wave the bike side to side like a madman. That sh*t will cause a wreck on the track either by bumping/hooking the bars of the next person or by unclipping a pedal (seen both happen).

Look at the angles of the bikes:


Now imagine being 4 or 5 wide on the track coming down the homestraight and everyone is waving their bike like that? Drama.

So, narrow bars encourages upright sprinting with is safer without losing any power.

ruudlaff

This is an awesome point and shows how assumptions can be completely wrong. I had been looking at narrower bars myself and my major worry had been sprinting and getting out the saddle on them, mostly just because of the unknown of it. But having had a think about what you have said it makes perfect sense from a physics standpoint.

Divebrian

I have the Scatto's and use hockey stick tape on them without bar caps and wear golf gloves. Your hands are literally glued to the bars and they feel really good. I use the 38cm bars as I have really wide shoulders and they still bring my hands in quite a bit. Depending upon brand, I wear either an 2XL or 3XL shirt or jersey. The 38s felt really narrow and weird the first couple of times on them, but now they feel really good....when I go back to the 42's on my road bike, they feel really wide and unwieldy.

I have a set of Look carbon bars that appear to be much the same design as the Alpina as the diameter stays 31.8 throughout the bars and doesn't narrow through the grips. They don't have an end cap on them, but they do have a textured surface molded into them so they give you a nice grip with gloves and no tape.

If you wear a Large or smaller shirt, then I think 35cm may feel funny at first, but end up being a comfortable, efficient grip width.

Huskey

I made the switch to Alpinas about 2 years ago, love them to bits over my Easton EC90's.
Ran them without tape for a bit but didn't like having to wear gloves, So I got some thin adhesive backed cotton tape (very similar to hockey tape) and used that.
I felt alot more comfortable with the narrower bars, felt as if I was able to get more power out easier.
Recently I picked up a 2nd hand set of alpinas for my wife, wasn't sure how she would go as she has only been riding for 2 years (learnt to ride a bike 2 years ago) but she hasn't had an issue with them yet and says she feels smaller and tighter when sprinting, take that as you will.

sarals 

I ride 35MM Scattos on my track bike, and just LOVE them. I use 40MM and 38MM bars on my road bikes. I much prefer the narrow Scattos, I feel tucked in, tight, and in control. @carleton, now that you've mentioned it, my track bike BARELY moves in an OTS sprint! And OMG did you ever get my attention with your comment about that! Now, with the Zipp Vukas, on which I think the bullhorns are 38MM (not sure), it does move. However, I've only used those in standing starts, so bike rocking is not an issue.

queerpunk

bike swinging is more useful at lower RPMs. almost everybody gets out of the saddle and rocks the bike to start a sprint, both on the track and on the road. on the road, people can shift, keep their cadence low, in the rocking zone, and rock all the way to the line - but on the track, once you rock to accelerate, most people drop into the saddle and finish at a cadence that's too high to take advantage of rocking.

carleton

You are right, but I have seen it happen on several occasions (e.g. the start of a final sprint in a mass start race). I've seen hooked bars cause wrecks from it. I've seen 2 unclip their pedals, one resulting in a broken collar bone.

They were all from inexperienced racers where were trying really hard and they associate the swinging with sprinting.

DMC707

Look at Cavendish's lever placement ------ looks like something I would see on a rec. riders bike ----- It obviously works for him though