Noted to all your points above. For me, due to the gift/curse of being almost as wide as I am tall, 42 has always been too narrow for my shoulders. 46 felt about right for regular drops. Also agree that flare gets a little too crazy. I like about 12 degrees of flare, but only went there grudgingly. Flare does help wrist clearance when riding in the hooks offroad, but it serves no other purpose for me.
As for riding on the hoods, I am trying to consciously wean myself from using that as my default. I go to the hoods climbing but am otherwise trying to break the habit of sitting on them all the time. And for sure, reaaaal wide drop bars feel reaaaal weird on the hoods.
As for sketchy narrow singletrack, that begs the obvious question: are they too narrow for your 760mm or wider flat/rise bars?
June 8, 2022, 8:27 a.m. - Mike Ferrentino
Noted to all your points above. For me, due to the gift/curse of being almost as wide as I am tall, 42 has always been too narrow for my shoulders. 46 felt about right for regular drops. Also agree that flare gets a little too crazy. I like about 12 degrees of flare, but only went there grudgingly. Flare does help wrist clearance when riding in the hooks offroad, but it serves no other purpose for me. As for riding on the hoods, I am trying to consciously wean myself from using that as my default. I go to the hoods climbing but am otherwise trying to break the habit of sitting on them all the time. And for sure, reaaaal wide drop bars feel reaaaal weird on the hoods. As for sketchy narrow singletrack, that begs the obvious question: are they too narrow for your 760mm or wider flat/rise bars?