Handlebar options.

Handlebars define much of the riding experience. Many bikes on the market were not designed to be ridden for hours at a time, day after day. Handlebars that allow for a fluid transition between postures allow for longer periods of comfortable riding.

Handlebars with just one holding position, such as "flat” bars restrict your ability to change body posture. Adding bar-ends does little to address this.

Sometimes bike designers have made one decision and it causes another to be made for them. Such as Rohloff (the German rear hub maker) gear levers not being suited to drop bars. So a designer that has started with a Rohloff rear 14 speed hub may later on be rationalising a choice of bar that does not offer posture change.

Vivente’s Randonneur handlebar designs have addressed handlebar choice ahead of gear system choice.    

Drop bars.                                    (for an good presentation of drop bar shapes see ruedatropical  )

Riding for a long time in one position gets to be quite uncomfortable. Drop bars offer a choice of hand and posture positions. Because our design priority is to make bikes that are suited to all-day riding, one of our options is drop bars. In theory they are more efficient and more comfortable than straight bars.

Some people think they don’t like drop bars but they may be objecting to the position of the drop bars that they once tried. After all, typical drop bar bikes are made for racing. They are set well below the saddle height.

However, with appropriate frame geometry, a rider does not need to bend to a low position.

Drop bars, in addition to allowing you to move about, offer a way of getting your head down in headwinds.

We offer a choice of gear levers. Our drop bars are selected to best suit the particular shift levers and the “hand styles” of riding with them.  

Drop bars with barend shifter levers.

These gear levers come out from the ends of the handlebars. We use the Randonneur style of drop bar with them.  These bars have a slight upward sweep on either side of the stem and are very comfortable to ride. This curve fits into your hand palm. On most drop bars, if you put our hands on these corners (between the "tops"and the "ramps") you slide forward unless you grip tightly.  Having this higher riding position, right over the gear levers, means gear changing from the higher position does not require you to change your back posture. You just move the hand down to the lever. 

Nitto Randonneur bars - style B135AA. Thanks to QBP in the US for this graphic.

In the drop position on these bars, unlike on several common drop bars, the holding position in front of the bar-end shifters is straight, long and comfortable to hold.

There is a good choice of positions very accessible to the shift levers, one up and one down. In addition there are the brake hoods. These handlebars, in combination with bar-end levers, are great if you spend a lot of time riding.

Drop bars with STI shift levers.

With STI levers the gear levers are in the brake lever assembly.  When you are sitting up you often hold the brake hoods as you can both brake and change gears from there. Being able to move back to the corners offers an extra position. And on the drops there is also a rear and forward position. To suit STI we like Noodle bars.

Originally designed by the Rivendell Bicycle Works in the US for all-day riding, these are made by Nitto in Japan. Instead of a completely straight top section these have a slight bend in the tops to provide a more comfortable upright position. It sounds odd but this subtle rearwards kink where your hands sit gives a more natural hand position and works great for city riding or just general use. Upright riding is unusually comfortable, so the Noodle is a great choice for riding in traffic.

Nitto Noodle bars - style 177. Thanks to peterwhitecycles for the graphic.

With STI levers the gear cable casings may conflict with some handlebar bag designs. Nitto Noodle 177 bars avoid this by having the lever clamp position further apart than on Nitto Randonneur bars.

Trekking bars.

Sometimes also called “butterfly” bars. The term “trekking” was first applied to bikes that originated in Germany in the 1980s.  In Germany it is quite normal for whole families to take their annual holidays on bikes. They need a wide range of hand positions for comfort on these rides that are longer than their normal commuting trips. If you are one of the thousands riding around the Bodensee in Southern Germany you will see this is the most typical handlebar on people’s bikes. Somehow they have been left out of the bike offering in much of the world.  But the Germans are not wrong about these bars. They are great for both commuting and touring.

Trekking bars may be set up either way and on many angles. Our bikes come as on the left. Either way, you can move your back around easily as you will want to if riding for hours. And you have the option of sitting up quite high.

Some critics, often designers defending that they have not offered trekking bars, have argued that these bars might flex due to the distance of the hand position at the levers from the handlebar stem clamp. But users don’t complain and say if there is any movement it is tiny and contributes positively to overall comfort.  Critics also suggest that flexing might be serious on high speed descents. Yet, some of the toughest endurance cyclists, often with big loads, select trekking bars. 

Two examples of people who have had to take both efficiency and comfort very seriously and who chose trekking bars.  On the right, Mark Beaumont in 2008. Mark used trekking bars in setting the round-the-world cycling record that year. On the left, Erden Eruc in Sydney. Eric is riding across all of the continents and rowing across the oceans.