The normal Nitto choices (Noodle, 176 Dream, Marks, Rando, etc.) and the similar (in shape, not saying anything about quality) Compass/Grand Bois and Velo Orange options are the broad range of go-to choices around here, and a lot of people like their classic looks and roomy curves. However, the flip side of flat ramps and roomy curves is that these bars often have a lot of reach and sometimes drop, so if you feel like these might stretch you out too far with your preferred cockpit length (TT length and stem), there's tons of good options in the short reach and drop department. The tradeoff is tighter "ergo" curves on the bars which may or may not jive with your aesthetic sensibilities.
The aforementioned Salsa Bell Lap and Cowbell fit into this category, and both feature drops which are slightly flared. Other "short" bars include the Salsa Pro Road, the Soma Hwy 1 (available in silver with a 26.0mm clamp diameter), and a number of Nitto designs not sold by Rivendell. Check out the Soma online store, which is the retail outlet for Nitto importers Merry Sales (any LBS with a Merry Sales account can also order most of these bars): http://store.somafab.com/nittoroadbars.html If you want to try the short and shallow thing without investing in nice new bars and can work with a 31.8mm clamp for a while, a lot of LBS's that sell contemporary road bikes will often have a "take-off" bin of stock drop bars from current road bikes, from when they are swapped out by customers for a different design. I'm running a pair of Felt-branded generic drop bars at the moment and they've convinced me that I prefer shorter reach bars. Maybe i'll buy something nicer sometime soon. I'm leaving out full-on flared drop bars like the On-One Midge, Salsa Woodchipper, Origin8 Gary V1, Nitto RM-014 and older WTB designs, since in my mind these are a distinct category of bars requiring a completely different cockpit geometry from normal road drop bars to be set up comfortably. On Thursday, September 27, 2012 4:10:59 PM UTC-7, tragicallyaverage wrote: > > Building up a bike and it needs some new drops. Any suggestions? What do > you ride? > I know Noodles of course, and I've tried them in 3 different widths and > for some reason they don't hit home for me. > If you had to put a drop bar other than a Noodle on your Riv/Riv-ish bike, > what would it be? > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/C5w6kNHUzOsJ. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
