Jay - are you currently using "road" drop bars or "dirt drop" bars? I've never tried the dirt drops myself and the limestone trails I ride are constructed from limestone "tailings," i.e., very finely crushed limestone with a lot of limestone dust in it which has then been compacted with a roller and I ride them with a regular road bike with road drop bars installed. As I said, I've never tried the dirt drops, but they like they might be a good happy medium to what ails you. George
On Wednesday, March 19, 2025 at 11:57:33 AM UTC-5 Jay wrote: > I tried some swept-back bars last year and didn't like them. I've decided > to give them another chance. The bike they're going on is used mainly > off-road, with a lot of short, steep climbs and descents. The surface is > crushed limestone (not MTB trails). > > I'm wondering when I grip the bars where my hands should be in relation to > the front hub, head tube / stem? > > If I'm too upright I think it will be difficult to climb out of the saddle > (I remember it felt hard to get the leverage, but that was a different > handlebar than I'll be trying). If the bars are too far forward, well I > may as well use the drop bars I'll be swapping out. I love drop bars, and > would ride them on this bike in the winter when it's mainly a road bike, > but on the trails (April to November) I want something so when I'm riding > around my body (back, arms, head) are in a better position, in particular > with the descents (when I'm riding the drop bars down a steep hill, I'm > tilting forward of course and when I raise my head it puts stress on my > cervical spine, which is a pre-existing issue). > -- 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 [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/e7eada24-6c85-4283-b315-8ccc337b477an%40googlegroups.com.
