Any thoughts on salsa woodchipper drop bars

Sandman98

Sandman98

Well-Known Member
im converting my specialized carve ss to a gravel cross bike. Im contemplating on a woodchipper drop bars. Any experience on the said bar? I know @Mitch is whipping a bar like that on his ss cross bike. What say you??? Thanks in advance

Sandy

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I have the Salsa Cowbell on my road bike and love them. Woodchipper may work better for off road but I have no experience. Cowbell is just like a compact road bar with a bit of flare.
 
soundz said:
I have the Salsa Cowbell on my road bike and love them. Woodchipper may work better for off road but I have no experience. Cowbell is just like a compact road bar with a bit of flare.
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Thanks! I will check out the cowbell bars
 
I used WTB dirt drops on my SS CX bike when i had it. they dont make them anymore but they are similar to the woodchippers. really comforable in the drops compared to a standard road drop. riding in the hoods was not as good though. just make sure you setup the front end so that the drops are comfortable
 
I'd recco a Cowbell or something similar flare for a road / cross bike. Woodchippers are def suited to rougher stuff and I feel they have fewer usable positions than a Cowbell or traditional road bar.

If you're going to hit singletrack on this bike for any extended length of time, you're going to want to get bars high to make the drops comfy. The hoods may not be especially useful when setup as such. If you have any concerns about steerer length/getting them high enough/brake lever compatibility, it may be better to look at a Mary bar or some sort of alt bar.

I run Cowbell and Pro Road on road bikes. I've run Woodchippers on an MTB, but with just one MTB they were too much of a compromise. Multiple MTBs and you should be all good.

I have a set of low mile road pull BB7's that I'd be willing to part with if you want to get this experiment going!
 
grilledcheeseking said:
I'd recco a Cowbell or something similar flare for a road / cross bike. Woodchippers are def suited to rougher stuff and I feel they have fewer usable positions than a Cowbell or traditional road bar.

If you're going to hit singletrack on this bike for any extended length of time, you're going to want to get bars high to make the drops comfy. The hoods may not be especially useful when setup as such. If you have any concerns about steerer length/getting them high enough/brake lever compatibility, it may be better to look at a Mary bar or some sort of alt bar.

I run Cowbell and Pro Road on road bikes. I've run Woodchippers on an MTB, but with just one MTB they were too much of a compromise. Multiple MTBs and you should be all good.

I have a set of low mile road pull BB7's that I'd be willing to part with if you want to get this experiment going!
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Thanks for the advice. Im just pulling some parts from my other bikes. Im planning the conversion under a budget. Thanks for the offer on the brakes, i do have a mtb bb7 to use and Im on the fence of doing it geared or SS. So far I have a road crank and I just got a 42t chain ring from Kevin here on mtbnj for a 1x10 set up. I also have a RF 36t ring and 10spd derailleur if I want it geared.

My question is. If I use a road crank with 42t, is that gonna be a problem if i rode it on the trails? Due to the fact that the 29er BB is already low. Or should I stick to my mtb crank and use the 36t ring? Thanks in advance
 
You're probably going to want a drop-bar mtb stem, and a brief search didn't turn up much. Basicallly, they rise straight above the steerer and then curve forward for a small amount of reach. Your mtb gets its reach from the stem, and your drop bar will provide the reach, so you'll want a shorter, higher stem, as Grilledcheeseking said. Like this:

http://mombat.org/MOMBAT/Bikes/Images/PottsDropLD.JPG
 
Sandman98 said:
Thanks for the advice. Im just pulling some parts from my other bikes. Im planning the conversion under a budget. Thanks for the offer on the brakes, i do have a mtb bb7 to use and Im on the fence of doing it geared or SS. So far I have a road crank and I just got a 42t chain ring from Kevin here on mtbnj for a 1x10 set up. I also have a RF 36t ring and 10spd derailleur if I want it geared.

My question is. If I use a road crank with 42t, is that gonna be a problem if i rode it on the trails? Due to the fact that the 29er BB is already low. Or should I stick to my mtb crank and use the 36t ring? Thanks in advance
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Cool. In that case, make sure your drop bar brake levers have the correct pull (long) for BB7 MTN calipers.

If riding SS, I'd want to focus on getting the gear right first, then clearance second. 42T isn't so bad - people used to (ha, or still do) ride 44T on triples. You can always change to the other crank.
 
grilledcheeseking said:
Cool. In that case, make sure your drop bar brake levers have the correct pull (long) for BB7 MTN calipers.

If riding SS, I'd want to focus on getting the gear right first, then clearance second. 42T isn't so bad - people used to (ha, or still do) ride 44T on triples. You can always change to the other crank.
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I have an apex and force shifters. Is that gonna work? If not I will stick to SS and I have a cane creek shifter. I will try the 42t 1x10 set up first with a mtb RD sram x7 and then change it if I want to go SS. Thanks for your input
 
Sandman98 said:
I have an apex and force shifters. Is that gonna work? If not I will stick to SS and I have a cane creek shifter. I will try the 42t 1x10 set up first with a mtb RD sram x7 and then change it if I want to go SS. Thanks for your input
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To work with either of those brake levers, you're going to need the road BB7 calipers, as opposed to the mtn BB7's.
 
I purchased the woodchipper bar and finished my conversion. I used my BB7 mtb brake calipers and with some adjustments I finally dialed it in. I also put a barrel adjuster for my rear dérailleur so i can fine tune it. I ended up using a 36t chain ring instead of a 42t which is not gonna work in my frame. Test rode it today and it was a blast. time to hit some dirt and gravel roads.
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I call it CROSS-Breed. All I need is a frame bag. Does revelate design have a frame bag that will fit this frame?
 
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