Kilroy1988 

Howdy folks,

My Mercian Campionissimo was due for new bar tape, so I decided to spend some time last night throwing some Velo Orange porteur bars on it to test out. With the old SR randonneur bars I was able to ride a couple of super comfortable century rides last year, but I like the idea of being somewhat more upright to enjoy the scenery. I took a couple mile ride around the neighborhood this morning as I am short on free time at the moment, and immediately noticed that I liked the increased steering control with these bars and felt like I wasn't bending my neck much to be more aware of my surroundings.

However, I must have hit some kind of weird middle ground where I didn't feel much increase on pressure on the seat, but I did notice additional pressure on my wrists from disengaging my core. I am wondering if this is typical for the style of bars and seating position I've acquired... I imagined being able to go out for long rides with these bars and enjoy myself more than with the drop bars, but the wrists are an important thing to consider!

Any experience or suggestions? Cheers!

-Gregory

bikemig 

Drop bars have long been the standard for long distance rides. They provide a number of useful hand positions and they are by and large comfortable. I find that flat bars by and large bug my wrists on long rides. One exception are trekking bars but they look a bit goofy, IMO, on a classic road bike. I'm going to run trekking bars on a '93 Trek 750 I'm rebuilding but that's a hybrid so they'll look fine on that bike.

reroll

After a dozen or so years of riding with drop bars and discovering I spent so much of my time with my hands on the tops of the bars I switched over to fairly narrow flat and flat-ish bars and eventually the Velo Orange Porteur bars became my favorite. However, those bars were less successful on the Surly Cross-Check bike which is notably long on the Reach and short on the Stack, best suited for riding long and low on drop bars, but, once again, Velo Orange provided the solution, their Left Bank bars with about 18cm of reach and 7cm of rise; https://velo-orange.com/collections/...ndlebar-config.


Eliminating pressure and strain on your wrists would involve a strategic change in your riding posture. What works for me is keeping my back fairly straight while leaning forward by bending forward at my hips, not bending my back, to a point where I can almost fully stand on the pedals and develop nearly full power while not using my hands at all for any support, a position where I can simply lift my hands straight up off the bars and steer the bike by rolling my hips slightly to one side or the other. The amount or angle I lean forward is determined by the amount of push my legs need to keep a bike rolling forward, kind of a balancing act, but it works great and is very comfortable for long rides.

52telecaster

Age and arthritis have me riding upright and I have pretty much adopted porteur bars or something similar on all my bikes. I ride a little slower but I think I see a lot more. I tour front loaded and it's just a joy putting in miles.

ehcoplex 

no advice to offer, but that Mercian looks great with the upright bars! Well, looks pretty great with the drops, too..

branko_76 

Your hands are above the headset when on the drop bars and slightly lower when on the "porteur" bars. You are more upright with the latter due to the position of the hand grips.

I wonder if using a shorter stem with drop bars would give you the same upright position? If so, that may be the best of both worlds.

Kilroy1988 

I've thought about that but I've used multiple stems under 90mm and find that it makes the steering too twitchy for my liking!

I just took the Mercian out for a brisk ride around town and it was quite fun! But I think I get the point about the wrists and think that after the weather warms up and I have time for longer rides, I'll probably transition back to the drops.

Thanks for the thoughts (and the compliments) all!

-Gregory

Kilroy1988 

Thank you for taking the time to consider the posture. I stretch fairly regularly and my wife is a yoga instructor, so while I'm out riding I regularly focus on my posture and try to keep my back straight, etc... I had the camera on a timed 10-second shot for these photos and was rusing across my room to get in position. Sorry about the slouching!

-Gregory

bikingshearer 

Or maybe a taller stem which also effectively shortens the reach because of the backward slope of the riser. The Nitto Tallux sold by Rivendell has the long riser of the Technomic with the nicer finish of their nicer stems.

I'm at the point where I wish there was such a thing as stem with Tallux/Technomic height with the adjustable reach from days of yore. Hey, a guy can dream . . . .

reroll

A comfortable wrist angle, yes, that is what the Velo Orange Left Bank and Porteur bars do really well, recommended.

The Porteur bars are somewhat like drop bars but without the drops.

Edit: The VO Porteur bars are classic bars with a very long history in France.

VO Porteur bars; https://velo-orange.com/collections/flat-and-upright-bars/products/vo-porteur-bar-config

René Herse about Porteur bikes; https://www.renehersecycles.com/the-porteurs-of-paris/

reroll

An advantage to keeping your back straight is in how that helps to produce fuller breathing, a belly full of air!

reroll

A Nitto Technomic quill stem I got recently with 60mm reach; https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005M9CZ6Q...roduct_details

sd5782 

83 Trek 700

I have a couple of these style stems. One brand is on Amazon for less than $20. Getting the bars around seat height with an adjustment of perhaps +/- an inch or so is what I have been liking lately. I ride mostly on the tops. When I am in the drops, it is mostly on straight road sections. No fast descents or curvy roads here though. I never really liked the tiller style feel of turning with the swept back bars, but everybody is different. I am building another upright now with 35mm tires on it.

reroll

Just as you do, I found myself with my hands on the tops of drop bars nearly all of the time. Try the VO Porteur bars which work nicely with shorter stems without having the handling of swept back tiller bars and they provide a comfortable wrist angle, almost like drop bars but without the drops.

sd5782 

I should’ve also mentioned that I also ride the corners of the tops a lot. Forward of the corners is also comfortable. This really is a similar position to the Velo bars, except a bit more forward and without the wrist locked into one position. To me, the Velo bars seem to be one position only, while higher mounted drops allow 5 options if one includes riding on the hoods which I really never preferred.

reroll

Porteurs are a type of bar having a number of design variations which for many years got used for different commercial applications involving utility bicycles. They can provide several comfortable hand positions depending on where the levers and whatever else get placed and are narrower than most flat bars which often have only a slight back-sweep angle. Bicycle commuters and tourists nearly always give these bars a high rating and some would not use anything else.

The Golden Boy 

Several years ago I had a few different flat and 'north road' type bars. My hands/wrists would get sore after 7 miles or so- and after that, I was struggling for places to put my hands.

If you do go that route- try those ergon grips- they give you a little "shelf" for your palms- they also have other ones with small bar end handles and either made from cork or brown so they don't look TOO anachronistic.

52telecaster

I think I'm one of those guys. I like my hands on the curves a lot and braking is really easy with old diacomp or new VO levers. My latest bike with raid brakes is a stopping monster.

RCMoeur 

I dropped my drop bars after I let my racing license lapse. Switched to level (no drop) bullhorns on the faster bikes, and mountain-style bars on my more-relaxed bikes, typically with lightweight bar ends. If I need to get aero on descents or into headwinds, the farthest bar-end or farthest bullhorn grip position works well without restricting my breathing. See .sig for link to photos of the bikes.

Added: I just realize two bikes don't fit this general rule. The recumbent has hi-rise bars to support the handlebar bag / fairing, and the chrome cruiser has swept-back cruiser bars - which do have grips for an 'aero' position grasping the bars forward near the stem (and watching the bar-end streamers flutter in the breeze).

I have a set of SR North Road bars I've been holding onto for some time waiting for the "right bike" to install them on. Dunno if that "right bike" is going to show up, given how gruntled I am with my current setups.

Velo Mule

I usually ride on the corners or the hoods of my dropped bar bikes. After trying a diy level bullhorn, I tried Velo Oranges Postino bars. At first it took a little getting used to. I like them now. The one problem is that I have one hand position. I could move the bell and use the curved section. I can't brake from there but there are always compromises.

I like the angle that these bars put my hands in. Not straight ahead like on the hoods and not holding a stick like flat bars.


Velo Orange's Milan bars are similar with about 1" of rise. My hands end up being slightly ahead of the headtube, so steering feels comfortable when you are used to riding on the corners and hoods. The handlebars also are lower than my saddle by about an inch.

By the way, the bullhorn bars didn't work out because I didn't like the look with the cable looping up and forward. The bars themselves were good for me. This could work out with aero brake levers where I think I could route the cables beneath the bar tape.