abhishek_s

Hi all. I ride a GT Avalanche Comp 2019 and overall it's a great bike! I love the quality groupset and it's handling and wide 2.5in tires on the terrible roads (actually the lack of roads) in my city. However as my endurance increases and I ride longer distances on good roads, I find being limited because
1. Not being aerodynamic where the drag is such that I start feeling like sail
2. The flat and wide 720mm handlebar becomes uncomfortable for anything longer than 1.5-2 hours and
3. Fixed hand position leading to numbness and neck/shoulder pain.
I was reading up online and saw this accessory called SQlab 411 Bicycle Innerbarends. and was considering buying it. Has anyone here had any experience with them and would you recommend it? Also are there any other options for any accessories which are under US$50 and can be purchased from the Amazon US website?

Any tips on improving my body position without any additional accessories or changing the tires are also appreciated. Thank you so much!

base2 

In general bars have become so wide that I can't see how anyone could ride more than an hour or two with out neck, shoulder, & upper back issues. Flat bars used to be much narrower. By all means, go with more options that put your hands & wrists more in-line with your shoulders.

When I take my late '90's hardtail out for the occasional 50-60 miler whether gravel or not, I too find myself craving for inner bar ends (or even regular bar ends mounted inboard of the grips.) One reason is to get my palms vertical to place the stress in a different way just to switch things up & allow relief. "Puppy Paws" is another position if the road is smooth enough.

It's not a new issue. Road bike handle bars are shaped & sized the way they are for a reason. Many long hours in the saddle. Flat bars are for leveraging the bike around tough obsticles on more technical terrain where the rider is as often as not standing rather than seated. Mountain bike activities tend to also be for shorter durations than a road bike, as well. It's just different design objectives.

For what it's worth, you should never have wrist discomfort, or hand numbness/tingling no matter how far or long you ride. Moving the bars down &/or further away will take some weight off your wrists and make your core muscles support your torso better. If you get neck pain you moved it too far. Proper fit is a balance between saddle, pedals, & hands

Bike shops tend to sell bikes that place the rider in the most bolt upright position possible. It's a sales tactic. Just like how a car dealership always places the driver seat as far forward & as high as possible. It makes the interior appear larger, roomier, & more importantly places the controls close & within reach.

Before you go out & buy a bike fit or a new stem, a new gadget, or go all out & do a full road bike handlebar conversion with the latest GRX groupset, you might first want to simply flip your stem or adjust the spacers around to move the controls a touch further away. It's free & easy. You can always buy a new gadget in the future.

On another note: 9 & 10 speed road groupsets are cheap right now against the latest 11 & 12 speed offerings. You'd have one heck of a "gravel" bike for cheap if you did decide to do a conversion.

Good luck.
Base2 (who is mostly a roadie)

subgrade

I have generic bar ends mounted in the inboard position on my flat bar hybrid, and it helps a lot on longer rides, both with being able to change hand positions and also with getting more aero.

Another option would be mounting aero bars.

If you are considering switching to drop bars, remember that getting the reach right could prove tricky, since frames designed for flat bars are generally longer than those intended for use with drop bars.

Trakhak

Clip-on aero bars. I've had a set on my Cannondale mountain bike for the last 20 years. All the utility of flat bars, with better aerodynamics than drop bars. Also, cheaper and easier than installing the drop bar, new brake levers, new shifters, and new cables.

Ironfish653

You might want to try a different handlebar shape, as well; a swept bar, with a slightly longer stem would get you a narrower stance, and more natural wrist angle, but keep the leverage you need for the MTB front end.

Swept Bar


H-Bars do the same kind of thing, but with a loop in front of the stem for that 'narrow aero' grip you're looking for



'Butterfly' style Trekking Bars are also a popular mod for touring MTBs. They'll be narrower (and flex a little more) than a swept bar, but offer lots of hand positions.


Something like a Surly Moloko or 'Crazy Bar' seems like it does exactly what you're looking for, but they're more expensive, and AFAIK, not available through Am@zon.

abhishek_s

Thanks base2 Your right. I'm realising that the regular flat bar. Especially the wider ones, are figuratively and literally a pain in the neck! Also I remember how just changing the angle on the brake levers and shifters relieved some pain a few months ago. I think moving the controls a little further away to reduce the effect grip width may help a little. Also placing my wrists over the controls on long empty roads helped a little. If I have some sort of a vertical hand position somewhere near the controls maybe that may give a second option during rides.

abhishek_s

Thanks subgrade For now I may try the generic bar ends too. When you say inboard position you mean that they're mounted after the inside edge of the grips right. Basically between the grips and the controls?

A drop bar conversion is a big expense too. So not considering it right now.

abhishek_s

Thank you so much Ironfish653 for your suggestions with photos! the Moloko and Crazy bars look like good options. After seeing your post I also found out about Jones loop bars and they have very good reviews too. Sadly after shipping and taxes, all these bars will very expensive to get it in my country Smaller bar ends I can get it though friends travelling here. I contacted Surly India and they have it in stock but it effectively costs US$ 108. I'm checking with the others to check if they have dealerships here. Till then, I'm looking at low cost alternatives

Darth Lefty 

On my mountain bike the handlebars are wide, but that’s not the problem. The problem, and it’s one I have had on many different kinds of bikes including motorcycles, is that the grips are angled for the ready position or the attack position, not seated. It’s a compromise, again. I find I can make a pretty neutral and narrow grip inboard of the brakes, around the knob where the bar widens up at the middle. But I don’t feel like I need to use it often and I haven’t ever taped it up. I use my bike a lot on trails, and I feel that I prefer to tolerate the discomfort when cruising. If I were bikepacking or something, I might consider a Jones bar.

subgrade

That's right. I see you recently posted in the bar end thread in the Commuting forum, I have a couple of pictures posted there.

John_E

I am thinking of putting short barends after the grips and came across Sqlabs innerbarends. They look fine but seems to be made out of plastic and $40+ seems steep for such barends. I was wondering if it is that much different than the Origin8 barends which seem to have similar length, angle and made out of aluminum.

tangerineowl

Re the tyres, If a 2.2" is wide enough I'd suggest the Continental SpeedKing Racesport.
Fairly light. They roll pretty fast also. Mount so the chevron pattern is facing forward.

Steve B.

Different hand and arm positions is a good thing in general, but note that becoming aero won’t matter much unless you are regularly achieving steady speeds of 20mph or so.

John_E

You are right. I want bar ends for comfort, having different hand positions. Do you think innerbarends are significantly different than the origin8 pro lite bar ends ?

BikeLite

The sqlabs innerbarends are not like a regular barend, to me. Look at how they have their hands on the sqlabs.

veganbikes

A mountain bike is not a road bike, you could do many things to make it a bit more efficient but in the end you are better off saving for something more suitable for the road. Wide tires are excellent but really wide stuff on the road is not as good for aerodynamics and while it is super comfortable it is also quite slow. Luckily they used a fork with a lockout so you can lock that out on the road but you are still carrying quite a bit of extra weight which will slow you down. One thing you could do to help you out is get a fit, which anyone on any bike should do but it won't completely change your bike into a road bike it will just put you in a more optimal position which will add comfort and efficiency.

If you are looking at a road bike I would probably avoid GT as it looks like their offerings are pretty poor. However there are plenty of other bikes out there that will be more efficient. If you really like flat bar stuff the Specialized Diverge EVO is a great place to look as it is a gravel bike so still clearance for wider tires but not like a mountain bike and much lighter and more efficient.

notthe1freeman

Not for everybody...and certainly not a traditional bar setup but here is my old Hardrock ultra...

kind of like trekking bars, yet the gap allows for fluid access to my basket as well as some pretty aero positions. Of course my bike is definitely no TT or tri bike but it does help in our Pacific northwest storms! Keep pedaling

tyrion

These KOGA Denham bars really interest me: https://www.cyclingabout.com/koga-denham-bars/

I don't know how available they are to you.

John_E

How would you compare KOGA to Jones handlebars ?

Steve B.

I've no experience with these products. I used to use bar-ends, have added them to a bike on occasion, but most of my. local mt. biking is on trails that have narrow tree "gates" (tree's close together) so I don't use them.

tyrion

I haven't tried either, I'm just judging by looks. And Alee Denham's reputation.

veganbikes

Whatbars.com seriously great resource.

But to me Denham for sure. Jones is a neat bar but way way way too swept back. I haven't had significant time on either (Moloko mostly and some VO Crazy Bars which was Denham's first bar alt bar love) but in my time I did not like the Jones bars sam I am but Denham felt right. It felt like it was optimized whereas the VO Crazy bar felt like it was a first draft. Still good and I would ride on them if a bike came with them but the Denham felt like exactly what it was a sort of the V2 from the VO.
I cannot stand super swept back bars personally. The 34˚ sweep felt very comfortable and natural and is inline with other bars I have tried and the Moloko which I own and ride on a bunch.

bwilli88 

I tried this, was ok, went back to a narrower set of bars with out the inner bar ends

81 Centurion Pro-Tour

Stripped it to the bare frame for a thorough cleaning and flat bar conversion.