Cycling UK Forum

For my next commuter, I'm looking at straight bars, but on a lightweight cyclo cross frame such as the Kinesis frames. Three questions:

1) Straight bars are rarely "straight". Some have rise to them and some are swept back. Why? Advantages? And is a riser bar, just a swept back one rotated until it sweeps upwards?
2) Cyclo cross bikes "always" seem to have drop bars, but although straight bars will physically fit, should the frame be of a different geometry to a drop bar bike? Or can any differences be compensated for by stem height and length?
3) Am I just worrying unnecessarily and should just get out there and ride?

The back sweep just adds a tad to comfort - means that the hands are angled slightly.

Risers came along at the same time as Aheads - people suddenly rea\lised that they couldn't get their bars up far enough with this new type of headset so they got bars that elevated the hands a bit. Now they have just become the accepted standard for MTBs. If you can get your bars at the right height via stem adjustment/changing then there really isn't any need for a riser bar.

cyclo cross bikes tend to have drop bars as flat bars were banned in competition (worries about bar ends hooking other riders' bars etc). If you change/adjust the stem you can get your hands in the same position. However, you'll have to change the controls for flat bar ones!

3) yep.

Si wrote:Risers came along at the same time as Aheads...

My 1986 Muddy Fox had a riser bar (I've still got the bar although the bike it fitted with a flat bar currently) - well before Ahead - some of that era even had a cross brace bar. Then the style went flat & (relatively) narrow, now its back to wide & riser again. The resurgence of the riser may be as you say or it may just be a style thing (or a bit of both).

Rick.

Nitto do a perfectly straight bar 50cm wide

Graham O wrote:..............
2) Cyclo cross bikes "always" seem to have drop bars, but although straight bars will physically fit, should the frame be of a different geometry to a drop bar bike? Or can any differences be compensated for by stem height and length?......................

You need to get some weight on the front wheel by having your hands a decent way in front of the headset.......if you have a very upright riding position the steering will feel awfully light. You might just get used to it, but I hate it.

RickH wrote:

Si wrote:Risers came along at the same time as Aheads...

My 1986 Muddy Fox had a riser bar (I've still got the bar although the bike it fitted with a flat bar currently) - well before Ahead - some of that era even had a cross brace bar. Then the style went flat & (relatively) narrow, now its back to wide & riser again. The resurgence of the riser may be as you say or it may just be a style thing (or a bit of both).

Rick.

Perhaps I shop have said became popular. As they had been around long before that on BMXs, and, indeed, my Grifter!

531colin wrote:

Graham O wrote:..............
2) Cyclo cross bikes "always" seem to have drop bars, but although straight bars will physically fit, should the frame be of a different geometry to a drop bar bike? Or can any differences be compensated for by stem height and length?......................

You need to get some weight on the front wheel by having your hands a decent way in front of the headset.......if you have a very upright riding position the steering will feel awfully light. You might just get used to it, but I hate it.

I finally converted my Specialised Tricross (I believe it's a cyclo cross type bike) to a flat bar over Christmas 2011. I have noticed the steering is light and on a steep rise, if sitting upright, the front wheel will even briefly lift off the ground (Though to be fair, it used to do this with the drop bars, if riding upright on the flats)

That said, I've become used to it and it hasn't been a major problem

Graham O wrote:1) Straight bars are rarely "straight". Some have rise to them and some are swept back. Why? Advantages?

Hold your hands out in front of you as if on handlebars: wiggle them to see what the range of motion is. I like my hands to be in the middle of that range, not towards one end: hence swept back suits me.
HTH

we are all built differently, so it is just as well that there are so many handlebar patterns to choose from.

A school chum of mine would resolutely pedal with his feet angled at ~30 degrees, i.e. with his heel rubbing the cranks and the toe barely on the end of a flat pedal. I suggested clips and straps. It didn't work; in fact it couldn't work... He genuinely couldn't turn his feet inwards to bring them paralell to the cranks without being in some considerable discomfort.

Similarly my arms don't go perfectly straight, ever. My elbow joint just stops at ~175 degrees.

If we were not all built a bit differently, we'd all be riding the same bikes I expect.

And where would the fun in that be...?

cheers

531colin wrote:You need to get some weight on the front wheel by having your hands a decent way in front of the headset.......if you have a very upright riding position the steering will feel awfully light. You might just get used to it, but I hate it.

That is exactly the sort of information I was after. There are some pictures of the Kinesis Crosslight frame (?) with flat bars, but just because it works for one person doesn't mean it will work for me. I've got a couple of frames in mind, so I'll have to look at and compare measurements with my existing bikes.

I tried a set on my Tricross and the handlng was odd. I suspect it was due to the fact that drop barred bike may have a relatively short top tube compared with a flat barred bike..
I would say it depends on the bike. try an old flat bar first

I had riser bars on my tracker bike in 1977. Been around a long time.

Graham O wrote:

531colin wrote:You need to get some weight on the front wheel by having your hands a decent way in front of the headset.......if you have a very upright riding position the steering will feel awfully light. You might just get used to it, but I hate it.

That is exactly the sort of information I was after. There are some pictures of the Kinesis Crosslight frame (?) with flat bars, but just because it works for one person doesn't mean it will work for me. I've got a couple of frames in mind, so I'll have to look at and compare measurements with my existing bikes.

It comes down to why are you using flat bars.
If its to get your hands well back (close to the headset), you risk light steering.
If your hands will be (about) as far in front of the headset as "on the hoods" steering will be OK....still fairly quick, crossers are race bikes after all.

mattsccm wrote:I tried a set on my Tricross and the handlng was odd. I suspect it was due to the fact that drop barred bike may have a relatively short top tube compared with a flat barred bike..
I would say it depends on the bike. try an old flat bar first

The Triscross has a notably short top tube, compared with either my Giant or Saracen road bike. One of the reasons I realised I didn't like it, as I ended up riding in a upright position, while using the drops

531colin wrote:It comes down to why are you using flat bars.
If its to get your hands well back (close to the headset), you risk light steering.
If your hands will be (about) as far in front of the headset as "on the hoods" steering will be OK....still fairly quick, crossers are race bikes after all.

For commuting, I don't use the drops. Going to work is all downhill, so it's either V brakes or discs, for stopping efficiency, and going home is all uphill, so I want light weight, and V's are lighter. There are many other considerations and I've been through them all and I've come to the conclusion that I want a lightweight responsive bike with good stopping power. So I'm looking at a Kinesis Crosslight T5 frame and forks.