Types Of Road Bike Drop Bars

A brief history of the road bike handlebar by kip mikler and joe lindsey 1890s.

Types of road bike drop bars. Classics have a long reach and a deep drop. The handlebar is a key part of your bicycle as it helps you in maneuvering your bike and also in controlling its speed and direction. Buying a bike can be confusing when you are unsure of what you need. Just as there are many types of bicycles available today a variety of handlebars are on offer as well.

For example drop bars the kind of handlebars you see on racing bikes like the ones in the tour de france allow you to lean forward and travel at incredibly high speeds whereas flat bar handlebars the kind you d see on mountain bikes which are basically just straights pole with grips give you more control when turning which allows you to go off road and over rough trails. After taking a look at the visual differences we put the bikes to the. American racing legend major taylor uses a drop bar and an innovative adjustable stem to achieve a lower more. Compacts have a short reach and shallow drop.

Finding the best road handlebars for your bike can make a huge difference to your comfort help you achieve a better fit and potentially dampen more vibration before it makes its way to your hands. There are several types of drop bars defined by their reach how far forward it curves drop how low the bars go and width how wide the bar is. Simon guides you through the 3 main measurements you should look at width reach and drop as well as the various shapes of bar that manufacturers offer. For those who follow my bike trips around the world you ll know that over the last couple of years i ve made the switch away from drop bars.

Cyclocross brake levers are sized to fit drop style bars and would also not fit a mountain bike handlebar. This all started because i wanted to test some of the new handlebar shapes on the market and let you know whether they re awesome or not. The other common lever grip size is used for mountain and city handlebars including flat bars riser bars some porteur bars etc. These bars have a drop of 77mm and reach of 123mm and feature 3t s egg shaped section at the top of the bar this rolls through 180 at the bar and creates an extension which places the.

On these bars the lever and grip areas have a 22 2 mm 7 8 in diameter. We put two bikes to the test a flat bar and a drop bar.