[Ray]

I was a big-time Riv guy in the late '90s and tried pretty near everything they pushed for a while. I loved the dirt drop bars and then tried the Rando bars, thinking they'd be as good or better. Hated 'em. Less room on the flats, too narrow on the ramps, less comfortable on the hoods and up in the hooks, and ok on the bottom of the drops.

The dirt drops, otoh, are like a traditional drop bar down to the bottom of the hooks and then just the flat bottom part of the drops flare out about 7 degrees, I think. These bars are perfect for me. Plenty of room on the flats, comfortable on the hoods, fine in the hooks (all just like a typical drop bar so far), but just sub-friggin-LIME on the bottom of the drops. That flare allows you to sprint or climb in the drops with MUCH more leverage and a much more natural hand position than normal drops. Also, it lets your wrists clear the ramps when you're out of the saddle in the drops and rocking the bike back and forth. Once I got used to those, I couldn't happily ride any other drops, and I've tried a bunch of 'em. Then Riv stopped selling the narrower ones I liked and then dropped the dirt drops altogether. And Nitto stopped making them. So I horded a bunch. Those bars just friggin ROCK. But rando bars? I don't see the appeal either.

-Ray