Narrow Vs Flared Handlebars
Flared handlebars. They’ve been widely adopted in the gravel riding world, with the wider stance providing greater control on technical terrain—as well as the secondary benefit of getting your hands out the way of your bar bag.
Transcript
00:00 Do you need flared handlebars on your road bike?
00:03 They've been widely adopted in the gravel market
00:06 because they give you greater control over technical terrain
00:08 and you can squish a bag in between the drops
00:11 that bit easier.
00:12 But are we missing a trick, not riding them on a road bike?
00:16 Today, I'm gonna tell you all about it.
00:19 Before we get into it though,
00:20 we should really talk about what effect handlebars have
00:23 on our aerodynamic efficiency as riders.
00:26 You see, I'm not talking about aero bars here,
00:29 ones which have prioritized being easy to go through the air
00:32 with their thick, flat tops.
00:34 No, I'm talking about round, flared bars.
00:36 And surprisingly, they don't actually have
00:39 that big an impact on our CDA.
00:40 That's our coefficient of aerodynamic drag.
00:44 For a rider in a fairly average position on a bike,
00:47 so not too aggressive, not too relaxed,
00:49 85% of aerodynamic drag is going to come from that rider.
00:54 There's only 15% coming from the bike itself.
00:57 So it goes without saying that really,
00:59 the best way to optimize any aerodynamic position
01:02 on the bike is to optimize the rider's position.
01:04 And the handlebar is the first port of call
01:07 when you want to do that.
01:09 It's pretty well adopted now that the aero hoods position
01:12 is the most aerodynamic for riding on the road.
01:15 Now this position is the one where you sit holding
01:18 onto the hoods here, like in this position,
01:21 with your arms at 90 degrees to where you're holding
01:24 onto the bars.
01:25 And this lowers your frontal section
01:27 that's being hit by the wind and allows your forearm
01:29 to come in line behind your wrist.
01:32 You'll see racers doing this more now,
01:33 at races rather than sitting straight on the drops
01:36 because it gives them that lower frontal area
01:38 to be impacted by the oncoming wind.
01:41 Now a narrower handlebar can reduce your CDA even further.
01:47 And where once 42 centimeter bars were common,
01:50 you now see 38 centimeter bars and 36 centimeter bars
01:53 in the Pro Peloton as those racers try and reduce
01:57 their frontal area and their CDA that bit more.
02:00 But of course, it would be a miss to not mention
02:02 that bar width obviously plays a massive part
02:05 in how a bike handles.
02:06 The narrower your handlebar,
02:09 the twitchier the bike is going to feel.
02:10 And that's because the handlebar is simply a lever
02:12 through which you apply pressure to turn the bike.
02:14 And if you apply pressure through a narrower space,
02:17 it's gonna happen that bit quicker.
02:19 Now it is possible to adapt to twitchy steering,
02:22 but not all riders are going to want to do that.
02:24 It's very, very common that riders want to ride
02:27 a nice stable bike and only the pros
02:28 are gonna want the fastest handling possible.
02:32 So why am I talking about all of this?
02:33 Well, that's exactly where flared handlebars come in.
02:35 The principle is you get the narrower top section
02:38 so you can sit on the hoods in a nice aerodynamic position,
02:42 but then the flare out at the drops puts you
02:44 in that nice controlling position for descending.
02:47 Now it's worth mentioning that a standard flared gravel bar
02:52 isn't gonna cut the mustard here
02:54 because they're simply too wide to put you
02:57 in an aerodynamic position.
02:58 You don't really get gravel handlebars narrower
03:01 than a 44 or a 42, whereas on the road,
03:04 you're really looking for a 40 or a 38
03:07 to make the most of that aerodynamic position.
03:10 Now for demonstration purposes,
03:12 I've equipped this bike with a Sousa Cowbell bars,
03:14 which are 38 centimeters wide hood to hood,
03:17 but then have 12 degrees of flare.
03:19 And hopefully you can see from the camera angle,
03:22 you can see that coming out at the back.
03:25 Now, one thing to consider with flared bars
03:27 is the reach and drop and how that might affect
03:30 your position because some riders do like to ride
03:33 with handlebars which have a bigger drop to the drops
03:36 than the shallow ones do here.
03:38 So bear that in mind.
03:39 Now, the downside is, is not exactly like the road market
03:43 is teeming with flared handlebar options
03:46 available for people to buy.
03:47 There are a few notable options,
03:50 including MV's SES Aero handlebar
03:53 that measures 35 centimeters at the hood,
03:56 which is seriously narrow,
03:58 but flares out to 40 centimeters down on the drops,
04:02 giving the rider the best of both worlds.
04:05 A more avant-garde option would be the Spico ABB,
04:09 which stands for Aero Breakaway Bar.
04:12 And this takes the principle of flared bars
04:13 to its logical conclusion, which is it builds in an armrest
04:17 to make sitting in that aero hood's position that bit easier.
04:21 And the hoods are just 32 centimeters wide,
04:24 flaring out to 37 centimeters in the drops.
04:27 Now, you may have seen these bars used in the Pro Peloton,
04:30 'cause they were designed in collaboration with
04:33 and then used by Jan Willem van Schiep.
04:36 And astonishingly, UCI actually haven't banned them yet.
04:39 They're still UCI legal, but at 1,500 euros,
04:42 we wouldn't expect take-up to happen that quickly.
04:47 Of course, there are those that argue
04:49 that flared bars on the road are not the way to go,
04:52 and Zipp are one of these.
04:53 They say that flared bars can mess
04:56 with the brake lever alignment,
04:57 which is supposed to be in a vertical plane.
05:00 And you can see here that the brake lever
05:02 is not on that plane.
05:03 It does flare out in the same way that the drops do.
05:07 They also say that having your hands in that position
05:10 on the hoods is more likely to cause injury,
05:13 and it's not gonna be for all riders
05:15 who might try and force themselves to ride in that position
05:18 and suffer from discomfort.
05:20 That's not to say that Zipp haven't explored
05:22 down this route at all, and they have,
05:24 but they called it out-sweep rather than flare.
05:28 And this is a bit different because the hoods
05:30 and the brake levers sit in a vertical alignment,
05:33 and instead, the drops at the end sweep outwards
05:36 to give a rider a bit more of a controlling position.
05:40 And Zipp has done lots of testing around this,
05:42 and they've landed on five degrees of flare
05:44 and 11 degrees of out-sweep being the optimum orientation
05:49 of relationship between the drop and the hood
05:51 before the ergonomics of the handlebars
05:54 start getting messed up.
05:55 So, are flared handlebars worth it for your road bike?
06:00 Well, if you're trying to optimize your aerodynamic position
06:03 without really affecting the handling of your bike,
06:06 they could be worthy of your consideration.
06:09 However, bear in mind that aren't that many options
06:11 to buy right now, so you could be short-suited
06:13 in the exact spec you're looking for.
06:16 However, we would expect this trend to increase
06:20 as the lines have blurred between the road cycling world
06:22 and the all-road gravel world,
06:24 as we've seen pretty much in every other part of the bike.
06:27 So really, it's a watch this space type of debate.
06:31 So, there you go, a little introduction
06:35 to the world of flared handlebars on the road.
06:38 If you have enjoyed this video, do give us a thumbs up.
06:41 Don't forget to subscribe to the Cycling Weekly channel,
06:43 and if you have any other questions,
06:45 leave them in the comments section below.
06:47 Now, I'll be back soon with some more great tech content,
06:50 and I'll see you then.
06:51 - Should I stop the cameras,
06:54 or are you gonna be ready to go?
06:55 - I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go.
06:56 Shut your mouth, I'm gonna go.
06:58 Am I?
07:00 - Well, are you, or not?
07:01 - Yeah!
07:02 - See, this is what takes up space on a surf.
07:04 - No, pause it then.
07:06 Can't work in these conditions.
07:09 (car engine revving)