Eric-I had the same experience with my BMC Monstercross, a bike I really like. After five years of drops, I tried a swept back bar and the handling was nervous. A basket and bag on the front helped, but ultimately this setup wasn’t for me and I went back to drop bars. On the other hand my Appaloosa was great with Billie bars, best with bullmoose bars for my riding. It would probably work well with drops, but I can’t foresee ever setting it up that way. My Fargo has been great with drops and a Jones H Bend bar - go figure. Randy in WI
On Saturday, November 22, 2025 at 5:11:02 AM UTC-6 Eric Daume wrote: > Besides fit, I think swept back bars take a certain kind of frame to work > well. But I’m not sure what it is. > > In my case, I tried them on my BMC Monster Cross, and I really didn’t like > the handling with my hands back on the grips. It made the front end much > too light and nervous. Not enough weight on it. > > I started putting some thought into stability vs uprightness vs front > center here, but this is still a work in progress for me: > > > https://bikingtoplay.blogspot.com/2025/09/bike-stability-feeling-vs-rider-position.html?m=1 > > Eric > > > > On Thursday, November 20, 2025, Jay <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Whether drop bars, flat, or swept-back, I believe I've figured out the >> two factors that must be present. First is the bar has to work for the >> rider (size/style/position of the bar, given the particular bike, >> complementing the saddle position, etc.). Second is you have to adapt to >> the bar based on your body/fit needs, and taking into account any trouble >> areas you have (e.g., pre-existing aches/pains or worse). >> >> If you can't adapt to the bar, somewhat easily and repeatably, the bar >> can't work for the rider. For example, I once bought a new mountain bike >> and the stock bars were like 800mm wide. I couldn't adapt to them. I >> don't think I ever could. My road bars at the time were 380mm at the hoods. >> >> What's more difficult is when you have a bar that could work, but it may >> take a long time to dial in the height, reach, tilt, grip selection, >> placement of controls, minor saddle position changes given how upright or >> tilted forward you are, etc. >> >> I've had VO Granola bars on by Fargo for the last 8 months. They're >> still not perfect, but getting there. Last two rides I focused on how I >> contact the bars in terms of my hands/arms/shoulders. It didn't spoil the >> ride, dwelling on this, but I would check in frequently and ensure >> everything felt good and would make corrections, say if my wrist angle was >> awkward and would later lead to post-ride pain if unchecked (as has >> happened many times before). Both rides, zero pain. And they were fun, >> off-road rides. My hope is that I can go on a ride and barely have to >> check in on fit, but for now, maybe it's necessary (for me). >> >> I think age is a factor. When I started riding serious, in my late 20's, >> and probably through my 30's, I don't recall ever having any fit issues. >> Or, perhaps, I had major fit issues but they didn't bother me...until mid >> 40's and up to now. >> >> -- >> > 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/0b0aa28b-8b5c-40a3-947f-758963104915n%40googlegroups.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/0b0aa28b-8b5c-40a3-947f-758963104915n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- 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/e616f3da-af2b-45f1-8441-c3b30071b5den%40googlegroups.com.
