Wide, flared gravel bars

Posted by: XXX_er
you probably don't want to park this in front of a starbucks on the narth shore

Everyone is about JJ Bean down here

right, is that the roaster shop they were riding bikes in the loading dock for some vid maybe new world disorder ? Sounds like they wouldn't know the difference at starbucks

So I got a PNW Coast Bar in 480mm. Just built up the bike a couple days ago and managed to get a couple rides in,one gravel and one road. First thoughts are this width, shallow drop and flare feels great for my intended use (60% mixed road, 40% gravel). Feels good and stable on the hoods and drops at speed and feels natural with my should width. Need to experiment with stem length to see the various impacts. 

As it's a new bike with totally new geometry I can't really isolate all the variables.  

If I was bikepacking or spending more time on steeper gravel I'd look at the 520mm but for day-to-day this seems to hit the mark.

Another update as I’ve put a few hundred km on the bike now. 

Ended up putting on a shorter stem (100 to 70) to keep a more comfortable fit and less pressure on my wrists. Will probably go to 80 as I feel I need a bit more stetch. 

Overall am really impressed with the wide and flared bars. It is nice to be able to jump from the hoods to the drops and feel a width difference. Hard to explain but it definitely feels good when dropping into a sustained descent or when riding on narrow gravel at speed.

70? Ain't that twitchy on the tops?

Just replying to this in case you're still considering the cache. I just picked up the steel one and love it. I'm only a few rides in, but coming from a mtb background instead of road biking I'm more comfortable with the slacked out geometry. Its definitely not as racey as something with more traditional geometry, but I'm liking it for off road use.

I was worried about that too actually but it’s not an issue, at least on my frame

I just picked up some 46cm Vibrocore Wing 12 drops. They do come in a more flared version but my bike still sees a lot of road use so this was a better option for me. They have HUGE flat sections that are really comfortable, especially when wrapped in the fattest FatWrap (which is made by a Vancouver guy). This setup definitely sits wider than 46cm would suggest but I could still happily run a 48. Not 100% sure if the Vibrocore is doing anything or if I could even discern that from the thick tape but it all works great so far.