Picking out handlebars and saddles for Tommaso's bikes is like buying clothes…for someone else. It’s a personal fit area that requires a lot of attention. There are a couple points of contact from human to bike that are critical for the product guys to get right. The seat and the handlebars are the ones I concern myself with most. Most customers have an idea of what pedals they want to use so I don’t lose too much sleep over that area. For me the focus is the hands and saddle area. For today we are going to look at road handlebars.
Most road handlebars come in 3 common widths: 400mm, 420mm and 440mm measured center to center at the ends of the bar where the tape plugs are inserted. Of course some manufacturers measure “center to center” and some “outside to outside”. Yes, there are wider and narrower bars but these three are the most common. The old rule of thumb being bars that match the width of your shoulders are the right bars for you. Generally we divide the bars up along the frame sizes that best suit the size of the rider. Smaller bikes get smaller bars. Big bikes get the bigger bars. Easy enough.
Then there’s the little issue of clamp diameter. There are two popular sizes on the market, 26.0 and 31.8 (a.k.a oversized). The theory being that the larger diameter of the tube will allow for less material and yet still be safe and light. Kind of like the slender tube diameters of a steel road bike in relation to the fat tubes found on an aluminum bike. Some have added that the extra material allows for better clamping as well.
Oh wait, now there’s the bars bend to consider. Ergo, anatomical, classic, traditional, compact, and a couple other buzz words to descried the shape of the bar and mainly the drops (the area your hands visit when you are sprinting or really getting low and producing power. The three common hand positions are tops, hoods and drops. The tops area is to the left or right of the stem. Tops are a good place to be when you are climbing. The hoods are the rubber-coated area on the shift/brake levers. This is the most used area as your hands are able to shift and brake as needed. The drops are the lower part of the bar. I prefer an “anatomical” or “ergo” bend as it fits my hand better. I like to grip the bar like a weapon. Lance Armstrong prefers a traditional bend (or so it has been reported). It seems to work pretty well for him.
Not done yet, now there is the “drop.” This is the distance from the bottom of the drop (as it return to horizontal position) to the top of the bar. Like the bend, the drop is an area of careful consideration for many riders. A shallow drop makes for a less dramatic change from hoods to drops. A deep drop makes a bigger change in position and also takes more material so the bars are usually heavier. I prefer a shallow drop as I leave my stem pretty low and a deep drop is too much.
Did I mention reach? Well reach is how far out the bar reached before curving downward. This is an often over looked measurement but can be just as important as stem length. A centimeter here and there adds up. If your shifters seem to be just out of reach a shorter stem or smaller reach can help make for a better fit and feel.
Steel, aluminum or carbon? Most people jump right to carbon and that is OK. Carbon is light, tough but unfortunately pricey. A lot of pros prefer to use aluminum bars. The rigors of the road dictate they need the strength of aluminum. With the higher occurrence of crashes in the pro peloton an aluminum bar will come out fighting. A stress riser from a crash on a carbon bar is a glaring question mark that will keep you wondering. Steel bars are rare as they are far too heavy and are usually found on bikes that are sold in places you can buy 10-pound barrels of pretzels and detergent.
As with most things cycling specific the information could go on for another couple pages. I hope this brief overview gives you a better understanding about road handlebars and the thought that Tommaso Bicycles puts into getting every part right.
Thanks for reading and enjoy the ride!
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