I need a new handlebar for my road bike (a Giant TCR), but my excruciatingly fussy requirements are making this more complicated than it really ought to be.
It wasn't always this difficult – I was once a blissfully unaware smooth-brained any-drop-will-do man, but lengthy exposure to handlebar connoisseur Simon von Bromley has turned what used to be a simple process into torture.
I have listened to Simon talk at length about the demise of the classic bend drop, the horrors of bars wider than 40cm and the drawbacks of integrated cockpits.
Through what can only be described as Stockholm syndrome, he's infiltrated my grey matter and I now shudder at the thought of a time I once rode with arms spread like a soaring eagle across a 42cm bar. The horrors!
While Simon's attempts to convert me have worked, I haven't gone as far as him (until recently, he had a saved search for the long-discontinued 38cm Fizik Cyrano R1 Snake).
Still, I've got a list of specs longer than a WorldTour rider's stem, and I need your help finding it.
To summarise, these are the specs for my ideal bar:
- 31.8mm diameter
- Black and preferably carbon
- Around 38cm wide, centre-to-centre at the hoods
- However, a bar that flares to 40cm in the drops would be tolerated
- It must have aero tops
- Decent reach at the hoods is a must
- A handsome side profile that will fool friends into thinking I'm a pro
- A little bit of backsweep is preferred
I posed this question to my Instagram followers last week.
The top picks so far are the new Zipp SL80 bar, the Ritchey Butano and the Easton EC90 ALX.
Among those helpful replies, one friend merely wrote: "Calm down, Golidlocks".
A stinging and fair response.
While I'm confident those suggestions would be fantastic, I'm not going to let my friend's words deter me – I have at my disposal the great minds of the BikeRadar audience, which we can count in the millions.
Surely, among you, the bar of my dreams exists. Let me know what you think it could be in the comments and I'll buy whichever gets the most upvotes. Over to you!
