What’s your favorite flared gravel bar?

[Likes2ridefar]

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[lorenbike]

Originally Posted by ridethecliche

I run 40s on the road bike and honestly used to run 38s when I raced. I think I could afford to go to 42s these days 😁

Wide, as in >46cm at the hoods. Unless you are built like a heavyweight UFC fighter!

[reuben]

I have to say, though, that i find it extraordinarily difficult to come up with any rational justification for buying $300 USD handlebars.

[RunningChoux]

Originally Posted by zennmotion

I like just a little flare and flat tops for my CX "gravel" bike, and Ritchey Butano is perfect. I'd consider it for a road bike too, although I prefer a traditional shape Ritchey Curve for road. Check out the Butano though, I have the less expensive Alu version.

Edit: I see Ritchey updated the Butano with more flare (18deg) and internal cable routing. The older version that I have is 12deg and no cable holes. Hope they didn't ruin a good thing!

Agreed. I’m running the original Butano and feel the same. 42cm hoods and ~46cm drops works great for my mix of road/CX/gravel/smooth MTB trails. Maybe they can try to find one on clearance somewhere?

[Likes2ridefar]

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[Epicus07]

I loved the Ritchey Venturemax but HATED the bio bend. The FSA adventure were nice. I have some Easton EC90 AX that are waiting to go on my next build but I honestly keep looking at the Ritchey Butano. Love that backsweep. Wish it came in carbon.

[muttley]

FSA AGX such a nice design I have them on my Aspero and Revolt

[4151zero]

Originally Posted by Likes2ridefar

Same…it’s why the terra and a bar like the bar just linked at $370!! will most likely never land on my bike.

I agree, ... I was fortunate to have them installed by the previous owner on a recent gravel bike purchase.

I would have never tried them due to the high price, but I can honestly say they really perform well.

[CAAD]

EC70 ax didn't work for me. Ended up going back to the EC90slx bar that's the next size up (42cm) from what I use on the road. The width gives me a little more control. I use my drops a lot while riding and that flare was not comfortable on long road sections.

I always see guys running these crazy flared bars on rides that never seem to use them, always on the hoods. Even on fast technical descents they never use the drops where you would think that flare would come into play, what's the point?

[benadrian]

Originally Posted by CAAD

EC70 ax didn't work for me. Ended up going back to the EC90slx bar that's the next size up (42cm) from what I use on the road. The width gives me a little more control. I use my drops a lot while riding and that flare was not comfortable on long road sections.

I always see guys running these crazy flared bars on rides that never seem to use them, always on the hoods. Even on fast technical descents they never use the drops where you would think that flare would come into play, what's the point?

In addition to my Venturemax bars I also have some EC70 AX on another bike and I've really been liking them. Obviously bars are very personal, but I'm commenting because of something else you said.

It's true, I rarely ride in the drop, but I prefer flared bars. I realized that it's because I much prefer the feelings of the hoods when the brake levers are angled out. Whenever I ride a bike with no-flare bars now, the vertical brake levers just fee a bit odd and uncomfortable now. It's strange because I rode road bars for yeas and was fine.

So while I DO use the drops on fast, technical descents, I'd still run flared bars for the hood positioning, even if I never did fast, technical descents.

Cheers!

[YesNdeed]

I wanted to get weird with my latest gravel build, so I went with super flared Ritchey WCS Beacon bars. That seems to be the unpopular direction in this thread, but I have to say, I love them. At 36° of flare in the drops, this also allows for minimal drop at only 80mm. I spend more time downstairs than I ever did on traditional road drop bars. This gives it more of a mountain bike feel, and adds stability when things get dicey. I’m running a 650B setup with 2.2” knobbies, so this mistress lusts for single track. Crooked levers don’t bother me at all, and I do in fact need them that way with this much flare if I plan on braking and shifting while in the drops. Yes, they may look completely goofy to some. No, I do not care. That is all…

[Likes2ridefar]

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[eippo1]

Originally Posted by RudAwkning

Spank has come out with some flared gravel bars recently that may fit the bill.

https://spank-ind.com/pages/spank-gravel

I'm curious to try these since these have a little bit of flare, but have shoulder issues and don't want to spend the money only to find that they hurt.

Slight highjack, but has anyone with shoulder issues on PL successfully used a flared bar? I find anything that rotates my arm away from my body usually puts undue stress on the hardware holding everything together. But I like the idea of a wider bar at the drops for the control.

[John H.]

Enve AR bar for me- Road and gravel. love the flat top. Also love that the flare is not excessive. I have tried big sweep bars- to me they don't change my position enough vs. hoods.

[YesNdeed]

Originally Posted by Likes2ridefar

I’ve had weird builds in the past; take the On one midge bar. It is similar to the beacon and the drops worked well, however

Call me vain, I just can’t get over the appearance of the shifters and to use the drop effectively the front end needs to be higher than typical making the hoods less desirable for most riding.

I see crazy wide bars on the canals occasionally and they are almost always ridden by someone much hairier than I

Not vain. It’s your bike and it should look how you want it to. My post should not imply that I don’t care how any bike looks. I don’t get many compliments from the racer crew on that build, it has more of a MTB/bikepacking bias, and it closes that gap in my stable handsomely. My shaved leg gravel build is a 3T RaceMax with all the go-fast accoutrements. I’m running road drops on it now because the 3T Superkarmannghia bars weren’t yet available when I ordered it, but those would be my first choice for that build.

On topic, I thought the Beacon bars in all their weirdness should be added to the discussion to balance things out a bit.