Bars are as personal as saddles. Me, I haven’t found any type of bar — and I’ve tried dozens — as comfortable as the right drop bar (my favorite is the long reach, shallowish drop Maes Parallel in a narrow width).
But for a starting point, make sure your saddle is in a comfortable and efficient position in relation to the bottom bracket: proper (for you!) setback and height and tilt. This “balances” your torso so that you don’t have to hold it up with your arms. Then put the bar, generally speaking, where to use Grant’s criterion, when pedaling you can touch your fingers to the bar without having to use your hands to hold yourself up. All the rest is a matter of experimenting to find what is the best compromise — note! — of comfort and pedaling efficiency and aerodynamics. Read Peter White’s fitting article: https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/fitting.php On Mon, Sep 8, 2025 at 10:28 AM Jamie D. <[email protected]> wrote: > I keep trying drop bars in various forms and fashions and can never seem > to get comfortable. Obviously this is subjective but in your experience is > higher bars with shorter reach the most comfortable? Is there a > 'goldilocks' zone? Any wisdom you could share would be greatly appreciated! > > -- > 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/5ac7e70c-07c8-443f-9b52-dc1eaba550f3n%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/5ac7e70c-07c8-443f-9b52-dc1eaba550f3n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- Patrick Moore Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Executive resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, letters, and other writing services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *When thou didst not, savage, k**now thine own meaning,* *But wouldst gabble like a** thing most brutish,* *I endowed thy purposes w**ith words that made them known.* -- 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/CALuTfgvb-gh5wfJbQXKjVqr_VttefmMDfTyUp%3DboebLoCzOJag%40mail.gmail.com.
