sloar 

And what you like about them. I’ve always used drop bars, but I’m building a LHT and have everything figured out except the cockpit. The Crazy bars have peaked my interest, kinda leaning towards something different than drops. Thanks

Tourist in MSN

I use drop bars and usually suffer far too many headwinds to consider anything that requires a more upright posture. I probably use the drop position about one third of the time.

I used to dislike drop bars and really disliked using the drop position, but I found that after I lost about 15 percent of my body weight, much of that in the beer belly location, that drop bars were much more comfortable to me. Before the weight loss I think I used the drops less than 5 percent of the time.

A friend decided to get rid of his drop bars since he never used the drops. He used bullhorn type bars instead. They are quite similar to riding on drops with hands on the hoods which he did not mind doing. Photo below: Note how he mounted bar end shifters. He made that switch in 2014, still using them that way.

IPassGas

After years of drops, I switched to these. The Ergon grips provide a large flat surface for reducing hand pressure. The GP5 ends with the short inward hand hold allow extension to mimic drops in strong headwinds. Four years since drops, my hands and posture are more comfortable with this configuration. I like mtn type brake levers and there is no interference with various handlebar bags or cables.

GamblerGORD53

Three 80d swept riser steel bars are all I have now, only IGH as well. Shifters are on the TT. I only had one day with an impossible 30+ headwind, went 24 miles. Mine are not too wide, 48 to 53.5 cm between centers. The 48 feels a bit narrow actually. Two of them are from around 1973, the other is off a SS Rudge from the 1950s I think. It seems to be nickel plated.
I do dozens of century rides around home. Never have back aches now. I can use the bends to stretch out, the same as any drop bar. 99% it's my right hand. All 3 of my stems are DIY steel, nickel plated, with two 8mm bolts. Two of them I had to add on a DIY quill extension to the grip area, needs to have 5.5" straight.
Want numb hands??, then use palms down MTB flat bars.

257 roberts

take a look at the Surly Moloko bars, I have them on my Surly Bridge Club and like them a lot

skidder

Some oddball '48cm (!!) drop bars with shallow drops I found on the old Nashbar site. They were Nashbar's house brand. I'd always thought I needed wider bars, these popped up for sale, so I bought them and they feel nice. Most dropbar models I see max out at 44cm, I have seen a few 46cm varieties, so it was odd to see these 48cm bars.

zandoval 

Bull Horns for me... Can't get into the drops anymore...

Steve B.

FSA Adventure bar.

I installed originally on my new Topstone gravel bike, replacing the stock bar which was a 42cm, to a wider 46, which I prefer. Liked the bar so much I installed on my standard carbon road. Very roomy and comfortable bar.

garryg

Denham Bars,,, if you plan on riding off pavement i highly recommend flat bars.

gauvins

[On LHT]. Sqlab 310 with Ergon grips and inner bar ends. (XT Rapid fire shifters and V-brakes)

Excellent position on the Ergons. Very good alternate with the innerbarends. The bar is lower than the saddle, yet zero numbness. ​​​​​Clean setup.

delbiker1 

Velo-Orange Porteur bar, silver or black, black comes in either 22.2 or 23.4. All have 25.4 clamp area.

veganbikes

My specifically built touring bike has Zipp Service Course SL-70 Ergo bars (along with a couple other bikes in my collection) as they are quite comfortable but I have been using the Koga Denham bars and Surly Moloko bars on two other bikes I do tend to ride more than my actual touring bike and I think that is what I really want for touring. I am well sold on the idea of the alt-bar and my back is really sold on it as well.

mrv 

I was use Jones SG 2.5 Loop bars on my RockHopper. Lots of rise & sweep back.

I’m going to try these VO Milan bars this year on my Panasonic mountain cat.



a bit of rise.
some sweep back
narrow enough to get on / off the Amtrak in Ann Arbor. Jones bars were really difficult getting through the door and down the aisle.

Germany_chris

I have Redshift Kitchen Sink bars on all of my bike

Yan 

I used to use some Velo Orange classic bend drop bars (their Nitto Noodle knockoff). They looked good but the excessive reach and drop were simply ridiculous. I changed to Salsa Cowbells. I also have clip on aerobars installed.

muse kidd

Ritchey Ergomax are the most comfortable drop bars I've ever used. Amazing.

BobG

I once tried an alternative dirt drop bar, the "On One Midge". They have a VERY shallow drop with an extreme flare and cant. They did improve comfort in the drop position but that was at the expense of less comfort on the hoods, my primary position. The slanted hoods were just too extreme to ride on for very long.

Like Yan, I changed to Salsa Cowbells, a fairly conventional drop with just a slight flare. I added cross-top brake levers for more powerful braking on steep descents.

mstateglfr 

Salsa Hwy1 bars right now. They are a 26.0mm bar with a compact bend that I have on a few other road bikes. I used them because I had them laying around at the time and had a 26.0 threadless stem in the right length for the build.
If I wasnt using those, I would use some Salsa Cowbell bars most likely.

...just pretty regular compact drops. I havent found them to be lacking in any way- I have 5 distinctly different usable hand positions on compact drop bars and thats always been plenty for maintaining comfort on long rides.

bwilli88 

Lately I have preferred swept back riser bars and have them on most bikes in my stable
BUT, my recent build of my 72 Witcomb I used some randonneur bars with bar-ends.

stardognine

Riser bars with bar ends for me, with an uncut steer tube. That gives me plenty of room for my oddball decaleur stem, with an oversized feeding trough/basket. 😁 I eat a lot riding, and carry a lot of other junk too. 😉

Symox

HAve their ergo 80. Love zip’s aluminum service course stuff. Really well made

elcruxio

After trying out various types of drop bars (too many to count and various alternative types (FSA Metropolis, Denham bar, two Surly alt bars, some albatross bars, porteur types etc) as well as Salsa Cowchipper wides in 48cm width I got to try Deda Gravel 100 drop bars combined with shimano GRX levers that came with my new Bianchi. It was like instant Nirvana. Something I'd never experienced before, ie. total comfort with drop bars. I did my first 200km ride with that bar / lever combo and didn't have a single hand issue.

After trying flared bars going back non flared was a non starter as the narrow drop position just feels wrong after flared bars. That of course meant that I had to get the same bar for my touring bike as well. But I did a small mistake there.

I read somewhere that most men have a shoulder width that fits 40cm bars. So being a bit large in every dimension I though that 42cm bar width would be fine for me. But in the end it turned out that after actually measuring my shoulder width it was 44cm. So the 44cm bar that came with the bianchi was perfect. The 42cm bar I got for my tourer was a bit narrow. Also Sora levers I have on the tourer aren't nearly as comfortable as GRX. So now my tourer isn't perfect but it's good enough. The bianchi is perfect.

I really couldn't get on with alt bars for road use. They feel great initially but after 10-15km they start showing in the shoulders. Terrible in headwinds. The denham bar was especially stupid, because when the bullhorn position is at correct reach, the main position is ridiculously short, meaning I'd be just sitting on the saddle instead of perching on it. The massive reach difference between the positions creates pretty big requirements for the saddle in that it needs to accomodate both a very relaxed position as well as an aggressive position. So it would need to be both wide and narrow at the same time.

Tourist in MSN

Photos???

elcruxio

Of the deda bars or the various others? I may have some somewhere but all my various bike photos have been taken utility in mind so they're pretty scattered.

tcs

I fitted some Soma Condor II bars that I really like. The drops are very shallow relative to other bends.