My gravel bike came with 44cm bars with a fairly wide flair. I changed to Ritchey Evomax bars last year in 42cm with a modest flair. I just like the feel better and i don't feel lacking in control one bit.

Great review James ,,,,as usual!

@JustRideAdelaide

4 жыл бұрын

haha thanks again Alan!

I’m constantly chasing the perfect bar. My current gravel/groad fave is the Vibracore Spank 12....420mm at hoods,497 at bar ends very shallow,flat tops to rest the palms and transition into the hoods nicely. The foam core dampens the fine chatter nicely...a big recommend.

@JustRideAdelaide

4 жыл бұрын

Ahhh yes I've heard about these. The foam core does sound very cool 👌

@AdrianHansenBikes

4 жыл бұрын

timbo have you tried their Vibrocore rims out? Thinking of building up some Flare 24 OCs, 405g for what’s apparently a super comfy and strong rim is tempting. Plus they’re only about $150 each

Great content as per usual. I'm riding bog standard 40cm Road bars with no flare. I tried the 42 flared bars that came with the bike for a year and just couldn't get use to them, it felt to strange in the drops. I guess it's the roadie in me that prefers "normal" bars.

@JustRideAdelaide

4 жыл бұрын

Cheers Gareth! Well, you're in good company with the road bars. Jason from Gravel Cyclist uses standard road bars as well. I've gotten so deep in the flared bar rabbit hole I want them on my roadie...

They make these bars in 46cm as well. Not quite as wide as Walmers but much better for off road and fitting bags in the front. Ritchey just released a new quite wide bar as well.

44 Salsa Cowbell 2's is what's been put on the Soma, and I didn't find a reason to change that so far.

Running 42s because that's what the bike came with and I haven't felt the need to upgrade yet. 'Gravel' depends so much on where you live. Around here (Essex UK) you're not getting many technical deecents, nor are you going to get long fire roads. Its the odd bridleway here and there, these vary in roughness but are relatively flat. I've never felt a lack of control on the Bridleways here but the narrow(ish) width means it's still fast enough to be a fast winter bike.

@JustRideAdelaide

4 жыл бұрын

Yep, that's fair enough!

These bars are perfect for roadies coming to gravel. I just couldn't deal with the FSA A-Wing bars that came on my Litespeed and switched to these. The semi-flat tops are great for climbing and the flare is just right. My wife ended up getting a set for her Litespeed as well but it would be great if Zipp offered these is a 38cm for smaller riders. What stem would you recommend for riders looking for a little extra damping in their cockpit? I've used the Zipp SL stem and carbon bars on my Bianchi's and Lapierre's and can attest to the stiffness.

I'm just getting here now, better late than never. As you mentioned, I'm looking to experiment with some modest flare and the XPLR caught my eye. I currently have 44cm straight drops on my gravel and I find them to be a good compromise for my 50/50 road gravel riding. Would you recommend trying the Zipps in 42 or 44? I thought the flare might compensate for going a bit narrower.

Are these Zipps measured from the hoods C-C or from the drops C-C? They definitely look interesting. I've been running Cowchippers for the past 6 months but am not a fan of how angled out the hoods are. I was looking at the Cowbells but these Zipps look more appealing. Also considering PNW Coast 48cm at the other end of the spectrum. Thanks!

I'm switching to a wider bar after riding 42's for a very long time. How much did you have to change your stem to accommodate the change in effective reach for your arms?

On my Open, I'm running the 3T Superghiaia in my normal road width of 40cm. I love the fact that the hoods are not rotated. In fact, I think bars with rotated hoods have a design flaw and can't see myself ever wanting such a design.

@JustRideAdelaide

4 жыл бұрын

I LOVE the 3T Superghiaias. I rode them on a Moots and they were fantastic. If they weren't $500 in Aus I'd consider a set for me roadie.

Just wondering aesthetically how the silver zipp would look mounted on a Bossi Grit? Would a black handlebar look better? Regards Mark

In total agreement about softer stems for gravel and offroad! What stems would you suggest for this? I've used Kalloy Unos and Ritchey 4-Axis, which seem like the more well-known ones, are there others that you'd recommend? Maybe a review of different stems in the future? Thanks for the great content, great to hear gravel discussion that isn't just marketing and trend-chasing!

@JustRideAdelaide

4 жыл бұрын

Cheers Adrian, thanks for your nice words! Glad to hear I'm hitting the right notes for gravel content consumers... and I guess cycling content generally. Personally I quite like the Tune Geiles Teil. It's not cheap but it's got a little softness to it which is why I put it on an endurance road build and have shifted it over to use on gravel too. The Thomson stems tend to have a little give in them as well. Just don't go for those silly 2-bolt ones. Holy crap they can't hold a stem to save their life so I'd go for the Elite X4. Weirdly, it's more likely the light and standard round alloy stems that will give more.

@AdrianHansenBikes

4 жыл бұрын

Ride Adelaide thanks for the quick reply! Lightweight stems like the Tune totally make sense, the Thomson is more curious. I’d read that it’s crazy stiff, like a track sprinter stem (check out the fairwheel.com stem review, they did deflection tests on a bunch of stems and charted it)! I guess torsional stiffness isn’t the same as lateral. Stems are weird. And absolutely agreed on the X2s haha, returned that one ASAP. Gorgeous but not very useful

@Volkmannx

3 жыл бұрын

@@JustRideAdelaide Hi, thanks for the review. Neither Tune nor Thomson offer 1 1/4" stems which I need. Are there any other stems with less stiffness you could recommend?

Get the SL version. It's alloy 7050 which is more comfortable.

Wide handle bars are like power steering for gravel bikes. Increases control when it gets serious in more technical terrain but can reduce the snappy road bike feel.

@JustRideAdelaide

4 жыл бұрын

Preeecisely!

@brianwright9514

3 жыл бұрын

But they make my neck hurt like crazy

been looking for a light flared narrow bars. preferred 38cm. any suggestions?

Trade that zipp stem for a shockstop stem and roll on with a smile!

Thanks! How does the wide flare of the Walmer and subsequent hood cant inward effect the actual width for bags? It seems hand position and real estate ON the bar is increased but may be compromised for bikepacking bags? Or are looks deceiving in this case?

@JustRideAdelaide

3 жыл бұрын

They're sooooo wide that it really hasn't been a problem to put pretty large bags on. The size I tested was 55cm and there's still an even bigger one if you want to carry... I dunno... a ladder?

which stem do you use?

Until having ridden bars with flares I didn't realize how much I like them - everyone should at least try those! And that's for me, cycling tarmac and not gravel, coming from carbon handlebars, arriving at the Ritchey Venturemax with 24° (!) *drop flare* and 6° *flare out.* I wouldn't buy any without _flare out_ henceforth. The Zipp's have only the _drop flare_ it seems.

@JustRideAdelaide

4 жыл бұрын

Oh yeah, another person on board the flared bar hype train. It's hard to go back...

@phoebetan7519

4 жыл бұрын

I've got the Zipp XPLR, and I think its 5 or 6 degree flare at the drops and 11 degrees of outsweep (angle away from parallel to the bike at the bottom of the drops, which I think is what you meant by flare out.)

Feedback on sizing? Zipp SC 70 XPLR vs PRO medium flare. Ideally looking for a compact 40cm bar with mild flare/outsweep for light touring. Zipp's is basic aluminum is 42cm. PRO medium is available in a 40cm. Another suggestion in the more road side of the width/ flare?

@JustRideAdelaide

3 жыл бұрын

There's some subtle differences between the Zipp and Pro options. The Pro has a more subtle flare and rounder bend to them. Zipp is a little more flared and shallower to get into the drops - which I prefer personally. As for road options... I don't really have any! I'm only interested in flared bars for gravel. Really though, the world is your oyster with road bars. Anything with a shallow drop would be my choice. One thing to consider for touring is your bag needs. It's definitely worth getting wider bars if you want to use a bag. Even a modestly sized bag will fill up 42cm bars quite quickly.

I think what's often overlooked is what shifters you are using. Curve Walmers and Shimano GRX are not a good match. The tops of the GRX shifters are flat and much better suit to a bar with little flare so the shifter sits more upright. The more rounded hood shape of SRAM or TRP Hylex work fine with the Walmers or Venturemax bars.

@JustRideAdelaide

4 жыл бұрын

Interesting that you mention this. I was using SRAM Apex on the Walmers and they were really blocky and didn't suit being angled well. I've been using the GRX Di2 on other bars and they're superb when tilted on an angle. Which GRX shifters are you rocking?

@andrewg8988

4 жыл бұрын

@@JustRideAdelaide GRX Mechanical. The the top section where the palm sits is a flat shelf. When angled inwards on the Walmers the flat part faces slightly inwards. To me it seems like they would suit the 3T bar that has the levers upright with the flare below. Maybe that kind of bar is the answer. Or maybe just a bar that has less flare.

Do you find that you’re using one of the protone or valegro more than the other? If so which one is your favorite after having done your other review videos?

@JustRideAdelaide

4 жыл бұрын

I'd say I wear the Valegro more but It's basically all about weather. Hot weather means Valegro, cooler weather means Protone. The Valegro is light AF but less comfy than the Protone which doesn't breathe amazingly well. Neither is perfect and I regularly wear both. The hot climate means I tend to wear the Valegro more.

What bike is the Potenza/Centaur setup in the background? :)

@JustRideAdelaide

4 жыл бұрын

That's a Daccordi Furiosa. I found it hanging up in a bike shop for sale. It'd had one owner since 1995 and it was too beautiful to resist. I've swapped out some parts to modernize it but it's still got that beautiful Italianness to it 😍

@thedownunderverse

4 жыл бұрын

Ride Adelaide very nice! Some ppl have all the luck!! PS: hoping to come explore the riding in and around Adelaide this Summer - if they ever let us out of Melb!

I really like the XPLR bars but it looks like our local gravel roads are very different than what you're riding on....the narrower XPLR work great but I'm riding wide/smooth hardpack dirt roads that are pretty straight. I can see that you'd want wider for more gnarly type stuff like in the video. They would appear ridiculous and unnecessary

You're cute , man