Drop bar to flat bar conversion?

Delish

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Mostly turning and rough terrain but I literally only have one WW ride and one race on the bike and that was the Nittany slick fest on bald tires so I didn’t even notice much else.

No discomfort. I know I should be on hoods and only use drops for steep downs or rough stuff.

Ok. My suspicion is that some fit tweaks could help. I’m a huge proponent of angling your hoods up in cx to neutralize your wrists for better control and comfort. Article from the way-backs: https://www.cxmagazine.com/mechanical-mondays-hoods-up-better-control

It’s an easy experiment to swivel your bars up by 15 degrees.

More time on drop bars... Think about where your elbows are pointing when you are on the hoods? Are they pointed at the ground or out to the sides? Google photos of Tim Johnson to see what I mean.
 

UtahJoe

Team Workhorse
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I tried a flat bar on my cx bike after iggy crashed it and broke my shifter.... Really screwed up the handling... As @Santapez mentioned... I don't recommend it Steve. I just got rid of the cross bike entirely to solve my issues
 

Pearl

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
I tried a flat bar on my cx bike after iggy crashed it and broke my shifter.... Really screwed up the handling... As @Santapez mentioned... I don't recommend it Steve. I just got rid of the cross bike entirely to solve my issues
those 48mm wide bars were amazing
 

Santapez

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I will say, WIDE drop bars are really nice on a cross bike. I've got either 44 or 46 cowbells. They're wide and have a flair (flare?) to them.

Much better feeling due to the leverage than my B bike with normal width bars.
 

Santapez

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Leverage or stability in the choppy stuff?

The leverage leads to the stability.

I'm sure way less aero, but the wider bars are more comfortable just riding anywhere. I think the hand position in the drops is slightly more comfortable with the flair but I also like flat bars that have a lot of back sweep.
 

Pearl

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
44 is wide enough for me and that is "wide", i run that on my road biek as well for the leverage
 
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