That's part of the fitting one's bike with drop bars, finding out how various widths alter one relative experience. At first I was drawn the XPLR 46m which is 46cm center-center at the brake levers, and 52cm at the ends. The extra width comes from the sweeping bar ends, not unlike the Dirt Drop does. I found out however that this favored my elbows out and at first I thought it was okay after a while I realized I wanted them in, more inline with my body, so I could bend the elbows and in turn that added some inline stability of the bike itself I was not expecting. With the elbows out it accentuated the steering sensitivity, so every little movement made riding a straight line more difficult. With a more narrow bar, without the sweep, with elbows inline and bent, the effect was immediate, more stable and able to adapt with bumps and road variances with greater ease. That to me, is the beauty of a drop bar sized about the width of your arms extended straight. 42-44cm is about right for me but I go with 44 for the extra room on width of the tops for XL hands. Having drop bars that sweep back 4-6 degrees on the tops and 31.8 diameter is just so natural to ride. Oval or round middles doesn't really matter. On Sunday, September 14, 2025 at 9:29:11 PM UTC-4 Ben Miller wrote:
> Thanks everyone, some really good stuff here! We did a 25 km city loop > today, and yeah, the reach on the Wild Honey bars is a problem. > > Zach, I didn't know about those Griterium bars. That's definitely an > interesting option. I basically did the measurements you suggested.... but > I measured from the tip of the saddle to the stem clamp. I then took into > account the extra width so the stem clamp is actually a bit closer than her > other bikes. What I did not do is take into account the longer reach of the > Wild Honey.... Again, I prefer long reach drop bars, so that seemed right > to me! Opps... I think just getting the reach in the 65-75 mm range would > do the trick. > > Capt. Conway, Those Ritchey Corralitos would be prefect, but she is pretty > adamant about the bars being silver, and I agree with that aesthetic > choice. But such an interesting bar... almost tempted to break out the lye > and remove the black anodizing... almost... Would love to see pics of your > drop bar Hunq! > > Garth, those Skylines do look nice, but I sort of want to get her to try > some wider bars. She did like the Wild Honey's 510 mm width, just felt the > reach was too long. I think 440 mm width with 80 reach might not be the > right move for this build. Though, now I'm thinking about trying them out > for her on her Kona road bike (which currently has bars that are way too > narrow for her). > > Thanks y'all again. I'm currently deciding between the Soma Griterium and > the PNW Coast Gen 2. The PNW bar has 10 mm less reach and 20 mm drop. And > it's also less expensive (even with the 15% off). And it's available in > wide sizes... Will consult Stephanie and report back with what we decide. > > On Sunday, September 14, 2025 at 2:14:13 PM UTC-7 George Schick wrote: > >> Those Skyline bars look a lot like the BioMax bars that they used to >> make. If I hadn't been told what they were I would've been tempted to think >> that they were BioMax. Must be the successor product. And I agree with >> you about the advantages of bars like that - they allow you set everything >> up to your best advantage. >> >> On Sunday, September 14, 2025 at 1:49:31 PM UTC-5 Garth wrote: >> >>> I've been using some Zipp drop bars too. XPLR 70 and an Ergo 80. I also >>> really like the Ritchey Skyline bar, it's black but I don't care as the >>> shape is divine, I think I like it just a bit better than the Zipp Ergo 80. >>> I liked the outward sweep of the XLPR initially, then I didn't. The more >>> straight Ergo series and Ritchey Skyline are just right to keep the elbows >>> in and able to bend properly. The angled drop portion of the Ritchey took >>> me a while to figure how to set the angle. Unlike regular drop bars, I have >>> the angle set for climbing out of the saddle. which puts the very ends >>> almost level. Don't let my attached photo of my Bomba fool you about the >>> bar, it's a130mm stem and I have 44cm bars. The smaller sized Skyline has >>> less drop and reach. see below. >>> >>> In the drops the Skyline just feels so right once you figure out the >>> angle. >>> D >>> on't be afraid to go outside the limiting boxes of "has to be silver, >>> 25.4 bars/stems, must be Nitto, or boutique branded bars/stems, etc.". >>> >>> Looking at Ben's wifes bike, it just needs some short reach bars. I >>> stumbled upon the Zipps looking at the large variety of bars for >>> bikepacking. https://bikepacking.com/index/gravel-bars/ >>> Not really a fan of any of them, but they gave me an idea of >>> possibilities I had not been aware of. Then I realized Zipp makes some >>> others without the sweep(Ergo and even classic), and Ritchey came out with >>> the Skyline bar, which is sized proportionately. The 44cm has 80mm reach >>> and 125mm drop, going down to the 40mm bar has 115mm drop and 70mm reach. >>> >>> https://ritcheylogic.com/bike/handlebars/comp-skyline-handlebar >>> >>> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/4a58c6c1-662b-48c6-920a-42470612fb83n%40googlegroups.com.
