Fwiw, just a few observations in case they help someone find an ideal bar shape.
For a medium+ size American man (ideal level tt size is 60 c-c), I've got relatively short arms and small hands, and yet my favorite bar of all time is a long reach traditional bend Maes Parallel, precisely because of the long ramps. I install my bars with ends parallel to the ground, and that does effectively shorten the ramps somewhat, since I like my brake levers positioned rather higher than the old-fasiohned "ends of lever even with bottom of hooks" standard, but nonetheless it is the long ramps of the MP -- 115 mm, 20 mm longer than the Noodle. The difference is the relatively shallow drop: 125 mm versus 140 mm. I make up for the longer reach with a relatively short stem: 8 cm (typical effective length and not Nitto length). I switched from short reach (95 mm) large drop (140 mm) Nitto drop bar with agressive hooks* to the Maes Parallels. I compensated by raising the stem from 7.5 cm below saddle to the current 3-3.5 cm below saddle to accommodate an aging neck, but the longer ramps still allow a comfortable aero position on the hoods and in the hooks because of the longer reach, while the middle of the long ramps allow a more upright cruising position and the flats are closer, thanks to the higher stem, than with the earlier one. Altogether the best of all worlds, imo. * Nitto 165? IIRC the Nitto Dream Bar, #176, was a Rivendell modification of the one I have in mind. OTOH, if you want what is effectively a no-reach bar: I installed a Specialized Hover bar on the Monocog because even trimmed and adjusted upright bar (MAP/Ahearne) with Ergon grips were not as comfortable as drops; yet I needed a short bar to compensate for the long top tube. With a 7 cm +30* stem the Hover gives me a riding position rather more upright and relaxed than my already rather relaxed road drop position, though with the Monocog I could probably benefit even further with a miniscule 30 mm or so reach Analog stem, as long as the rise was great enough. The Hover has essentially no ramps between flat and hoods, only enough required by the bends in the tubing. It's pretty comfortable, but even better would be a sufficiently high no-extension stem with -- yep, a wider Maes Parallel. If I replace the Moncog and can't get a custom with short top tube, I'll use an Analog stem and a wide 44 cm Maes Parallel a cm or 2 above saddle. On Fri, Nov 17, 2023 at 12:46 PM Elisabeth Sherwood < elisabeth.sherw...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Modemmisuser, > > Just my $0.02, but as someone who could never figure out the attraction of > Nitto Noodles (I have relatively short arms and small hands, so any > remotely long-reach handlebar will just never work...), I find Soma's > Highway One (Hwy 1) handlebar to be just perfect -- short reach, > shallow-ish drop, comfortable bends. (Absence of pressure on hands in our > cases is probably the result of other aspects of the set-up, though.) > > I've had it on my Saluki, and it's currently on a Bianchi Volpe that's > done up with silver bits. My boyfriend uses it on his Sam Hillborne (2008 > or so vintage) and his Long Haul Trucker. I use STI levers with it; > boyfriend has bar ends, for the moment, on both of his set-ups. Super > comfortable. > > As they say, though, your mileage may vary! Good luck! > > -- Liz > Washington, DC > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgsBL0-EeY-idUBZQMQM6G4VcXrb%3DzwMt8CMG%2BY29_kVgQ%40mail.gmail.com.
