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Flared gravel bars - hood position?
For those of you who have converted from conventional drops to flared "gravel" drops I'm interested in knowing how you positioned your shifters. Further up or lower down the bend than conventional bars? Or more or less the same position? I realise much of this will be dependent on bar geo but wondering if there's a rough guide. It's difficult to work out without a lot of wrapping and rewrapping, and bar tape is expensive these days!
On a related note, what about turning your shifters in? It seems to me that on my new bar (Ritchey Venturemax) it's going to be essential to rotate the shifters inward in order for the lever to clear the bar under heavy braking?
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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10 comments
FWIW my Giant Revolt has mildly flaired bars and the hoods are in roughly the same position as traditional, a slight turn in, nothing drastic.
As this bike is my winter road bike and my off road gravel bike it probably makes sense. I'm not someone who uses the drops themselves but it does seem the slight angle change is a comfortable position, not noticed any difference aside from that, though the bike is more stable than my Defy.
My trick for experimenting with lever position is to wrap the bar with old inner tube until you've decided. It stays on surprisingly well. In fact, although it looks pretty terrible, it works nicely too - a bit of cushioning, quite grippy when dry.
wrap the bar with old inner tube
Good info! I've been thinking about this
Thanks, that's a great tip. With Shimano levers in particular I find you do actually need the bar taped and the hoods rolled down to get clean shifts, that little grey cover for the exposed cable channel is vital and needs holding flat.
My GRX shifters do not work with the hoods rolled back - I had a panic when having a fiddle the first time.
Or just don't wrap the bars at all, at first. Position the levers where you think they should be then go for a ride round the block to fine tune position. Wrap afterwards.
To answer the original question I don't think bars being flared affects lever position in any particular way.
I understand his concern - if you have long travel, the brake lever can end up travelling alongside and outside the drop - usually because the brake is not properly adjusted, but if you end up with a problem you don't want to be bottoming out by hitting the drop. I'm not conscious of the handles on mine being aligned more in line with the drop, but the GRX brakes on my flairs are better than the old Ultegra (both hydraulic) and the travel is much less.
Not helped by the fact I'm running cable discs. And am also tiny-handed so I have the reach adjust on the levers maxed out. Will see how things go and report.
I've noticed that the recent hydraulic Shimano levers are designed a lot better. When I had my 4700 Tiagra with long drop brakes, there were two problems, no leverage on the long drop rim brakes and reaching to get a good grip on the levers was a problem. The GRX provide loads of surface, even on a long scary gravel descent. I've not got big hands and used to struggle, even though I play bass, which needs reach and develops some strength.
I guess it depends on how long a ride you need to be reasonably sure of the position. I used old tubes on my 1988 steel bike, where the bar and levers are very different in shape to a modern set, and I've changed somewhat as a rider since I last rode it much. I also suffer a bit from numbness in my hands, so need quite a lot of time to decide if things are just right.
Have to admit that there's a conflict between how it looks and how comfortable it is to ride as well...