Okay. This video is a perfect example of all that is wrong with cycling IMO. Don't use 1x and MTB cassettes on the road. Don't use drop bars on an MTB. Don't do this, only this. People are just too snobby. Do what you want. And let others do what they want.
Tons of respect for Leadville, but the drop bar thing says more about that race than it does about mtb trends in general. This particular race is just more of a chunky doubletrack/dirt road kind of venue and not really a modern mountain bike track - the challenge is in the elevation and the flat out speed. I'm all for weird custom builds for a specific purpose, but I don't think we'll be seeing drops on WC XC bikes anytime soon ;)
I've done Leadville 3 times. Some of the long, straight sections were over 5 miles long. The third time I did it I used clip-ons, because if you get caught in a strong, endless headwind, it will DESTROY your time. If I had to do it again today, I'd put drop bars on my bike since clip-ons are banned.. The race is brutal enough without turning nature into an adversary. And yes, I'd be riding a full-suspension XC bike. I'm telling you, Martyn, that "Headwind from Hell" is something you never forget. It's nature's way of crushing your spirit. My Big Buckle is a survivor's badge of of insanity, obsession, blood, sweat & gears!
Let the people choose and decide what handlebar they want on their bikes - regardless if it's cool or not. The important thing is they RIDE their bikes and enjoy it. Enough of these what's "IN" and what's 'ON TREND" BS 💯 Just ride the bike that works for you 😎
Coming from a "gravel" perspective .. I could totaly understand why you would mount drop bars on your bike for a race like this! Its not only about the "aero thing". Its about the amount of positions you can choose with your hands in a marathon-race like the Leadville. I mean .. In the end everyone is trying to make their bikes as comfy and as fast as they can. And as long as the rules allow it .. Would I put drop bars on my Stumpjumper? Hell No! Do I like the look? Definetly not. The important thing is that everyone has fun and can get the best out of themselves and their material! Stay tuned, ride safe thanks for your content! 🤘
@@ZOB4 Red-pilled JFF rider here. When you leave that Matrix, another option appears-having maximum fun and relaxation. In this case-any bar will get the job done. :)
I build two Pipedream Moxies for my wife and me and put drop bars and Schwalbe gravel tires on hers last year. The slack geo and low bb makes you feel like being in the bike with the drop bars, esp since you can lower the seatpost fully. It’s a blast for city riding and flat trail is much more exciting
The great thing about trends is you don't have to follow them if you don't want to. And if you're not following other peoples trends, then good for you if you want to do something me, or anyone else, doesn't like (like putting drop bars on your MTB for a specific race you think they'd suit).
Not that I ever had ridden such a race, but as a fan of ultra endurance races like the Atlas Mountain Race, I also love drop bars on mountain bikes. Whatever works best for the given tracks!
I bought my first gravel bike a few months ago (been a MTB’er for 30 years) and have slowly blurred it into almost a mountain bike with 1x drivetrain, flat pedals, 50cm wide bars, 2.2” Race King tires. I’ve been riding it everywhere, even on singletrack.
Drop bars, flat bars, riser bars, it doesn’t matter to me what bars you use. Just don’t expect me to always follow the latest fads, I ride what works for me.
@@LaurentiusTriariusI love my drop bar bike for long distance riding. Drop bar bikes tend to be more comfortable than traditional flat bars for long distance riding.
Comments section is weird. Bars are the tip off the iceberg. Keegan and co are pushing the boundaries of the sport, dialling in the right tools for the job. End off. Keegan has been trying to do this for 3 years… the breakthrough is the SRAM AXS tech that enables him, Finsty and co, to deliver the road shifters on gravel bars. Also overlooked is the tyre choice… gravel rear tyres! The size of gears they’re pushing! The bars are just the start of a new direction in bike development. Tomes did do this years ago… thankfully Keegan and co are back on the evolution trail again!
The rider position with the drop bar looks extremely similar to the 90’s mountain bike rider position when we cut our bars down narrow with small bar ends to stay low, narrow and tucked in. Everything comes around 👍🏻
I road the Tour Divide reace in 2013 on curly bars. Great for endurance riding where ther is nothing seriously technical, but I went back to flat bars afterward.
I find it fascinating to watch riders like Dylan Johnson innovate for growth of the sport. His video on the development of his Unbound bike posed a lot of questions on the traditional thoughts of things like tire rolling resistance and aerodynamics. I personally think anyone that can do the Leadville 100 with flat bars is super human, maybe because I'm getting old but over 20 mile on flat bars and my wrists are toast. The lines between Mountain bikes and gravel are definitely blurring now. Based on my experience and the type of riding I do , I just bought a gravel bike with 50mm wide tires. This bike is not far from a drop bar mountain bike but the hand positions are so much more comfortable for long rides in the back woods and fire roads.
I have a 650B hardtail with a gravel drivetrain and an 80mm airfork. And I really love this bike. It is the most versatile bike I have ever owned. You get the comfort of suspension combined with the speed of drop bars, sort of like a "Jack of all trades, master of none" bike. It loses to gravel bike on smooth tracks but wins vs MTB, but the surface is stretchy straight handlebars are just better. I don't see it being superior to an MTB on a cross-country track, but a drop bar MTB is an excellent city bike that you can send almost anywhere.
John Tomac made drop bars and mountain biking cool back in the day. This is just old stuff coming back again. Was cool then, still cool now, but you need to be fast as f…!
I would definitely put Drop bars on my MTB. Although, for anything technicallly, I kinda want my wider bar. So I guess, I would use 580-600mm Drop bars given the current market, but I really want 780mm bars with drops engineered at 420mm for flatter sections.
You'd still be rooting for a mtb in the Tour de France. It's a bit of slamming drops for the heck of it.. take it easy guys, they're all bikes in the end. And your colleagues are just a wall away. Both your paychecks come from the same place too.
I used to have a specialized RockCombo! (I think that's what it was called.) Rigid , 26" as I recall, drops ...it was the worst of all worlds. I eventually gave it flat bars. Gosh I appreciate modern mtbs!
As long as they are wide drop bars, and you don't have any issues with reaching your brakes from a comfortable position on both the tops and the drops, what's the harm?! It absolutely depends on what you're doing, but Surly's Grappler is a perfect example of how this can be done correctly, and the types of activities recommended for this type of bike build. The Leadville 100 may not be a "gravel" race, but it's certainly not a downhill race! Go take a look at some of the courses on races that are advertised as Gravel races, and some of them are surprisingly similar to the Leadville 100! The hardest thing about all these gravel races and XC MTB races is that it's very difficult to determine the optimum bike set up for a race without closely reviewing the race profile, road/trail conditions, and even the weather conditions!
Don't want to take any credit but i was on top of making you guys take a look at the Leadville 100 when i was going to college there in 17/18. One of my old apartment buildings is in the video. Leadville is a great place to visit. It has some better trails on the east side of town along with the ones on the Colorado Mountain College Property. But i feel like anyone who is looking to visit I'd say that its worth a visit for 48 hours. Use it as a stop to get from Summit County (Copper, Brek, Keystone) and use it to get to Aspen or Salida.
Martyn, flared drop bars on MTB look sick. A set of Ritchey VentureMax or On-One Midge bars on a light MTB is drool inducing! You should toss a set on the random tandem.
Leadville is so long that benefits of various hand and body positions given by curly bars are obviously a plus. If I were riding it I’d use a gravel bike. All my bikes have dropper posts so the borders are completely blurred. I have a beautiful Andante hard tail, but I also ride green and blue trails on my Specialized Diverge gravel bike. My Conondale Topstone is actually my “road” bike with 700 x 30 Pirellis. All are tubeless also.
Is the reason they are using drop bars because you're not allowed to use bar-ends any more? - this way they get the weight-forward positioning bar-ends gave you, but without the potential injury in a crash (which was presumably the reason the UCI banned them from MTB competition?)
Even with the UCI rulebook in place, inner bar ends are banned but traditional bar ends are still authorized if riders do need an alternate hand position. And I don´t think the race uses the UCI rulebook where road style drop bars have long been banned by the UCI but in 2022 there was the new addition to Regulation 4.1.040, inner bar ends are banned too.
I don't think that's presumable, I think that just as the UCI road regulations that basically boil down to "a bike that looks like what the board collectively think of as a bike, like what Eddy Merckx rode back in the[my] golden era", MTB rules boil down to something that would look familiar to Fischer and Ritchey. They'll use any excuse they can, but each will turn them back in that direction. If they found out that circular steering wheels or recumbents were safer, they'd find a different reason to stay closer to flat-bar bikes.
Drop bars on road bikes only for me. I don’t have an opinion on gravel bikes ‘cause I’ve never ridden one. I ride “gravel” and fire roads on my flat bar XC bike just fine. Btw Kona Stinkys and Coilers are great. Still have my ‘07 Coiler with all new parts, dropper, 1x etc.
As a hobbyist mtb-er, outright performance isn't my goal so I have gone for control over speed and fitted a set of Renthal motoX bars to my Giant ATX970. Curly bars would destroy my lower back in very short order.
Back in the day, we cut back XC bars to save weight, get more ‘aero’ and generally cause we could! You ride the bike you have or, in the pros case, the bike you need. Aesthetics comes second to performance now
I'd say no you don't need to go for trends, but I get it. I like people watching while on the trail, and I have seen all the sorts of bikes on paved and gravel trails.
Few years back I built a roadbike for winter training and put straight bars on it with mtb brakes and shifter. It was funny how everyone, especially roadies looked at it. Guess it was travesty for them as it is curlies for us 😁 but as a short person, the dropbars just dont feel comfortable for me, so i did it for the comfort, and wider bars just handle better. Racers have to exploit every tech they can get their hands on, if they see gain in drops on specific race, then it is understandable they would use them.
Rich just provided us with the smoothest stunt mug catch yet, much to the relief of Martyn who was about to wear it if it got by. I am telling you England cricket selectors, Rich in the field would definitely be a big advantage.
For me, it's also about comfort. I'm currently going from Gravel to Mountain. I haven't been on a mountain bike in years and honestly I'm more comfortable on my gravel, even on steep, loose single track. I feel like drop bars on my mountain bike would be a great mod. There is a place for it, and yes it still is a mountain bike. I will stick with the flat bars because I know I will get used to it, and don't want to go through the hassle of modifying it. All that said, I think we get caught up in what our tribe deems taboo or not. C-mon, let's just ride bikes and make the experience as enjoyable as possible, given each individual rider.
I think you should replace broken, bent, shady components to ensure rider safety ;) With that said...the Surley Corner Bar does seem like a cross dressing flat bar. Could you just say bar ends are cool again, so we can have others solutions for long epic riders. The power is in your hands GMBN....
I've considered using curly bars on my trail bike before, but havent gone as far as to actually do it 😂 my latest experiment was using bar horns pointed downwards which is almost like having a drop bar. Not bad for climbing and long straights 😅
Maybe they're a new trend around day-long XC races, but they've been around for ultra-endurance races. Lael Wilcox has been doing it for a few years now.
Leadville 100 is a gnarly road race. If I was interested, like many other riders in punchin' out the miles, cadence and watching my power output it would be fun and I see the benefit in drop bars. But I'm not and it's not fun, I leave the sweat for the gym and ride for the smiles.
I’m an OG mountain bike racer from the 90’s and we used to ride with 480mm bars. If the concern is aero just cut the bars down. There’s no need to play roadie on a mountain bike.
I’ve done some of the local trails on my gravel bike and the drop bars were just not enjoyable when it got tight and twisty. Flat bars are my preference in the woods.
Sad really as people were like this with ebikes. Bir if you have been around ling enough there was hate for full suspension, disk brakes, dropper posts, bigger wheels and even frame materials.
Having come from road riding , (i gave up road bikes in the late 90s. ) Now days I wouldn't put drop bars on a road bike. For longer rides it's flat bars and bar-ends.
Yesterday i injured my elbow while riding my bike, so i'll be recovering for the next couple of weeks. It happened on a trail i've never ridden before and i might went into a corner with a little too much risk. I'm still more of a beginner rider, do you have any advice on how get back on track? Should i go straight to the same trail and ride it again, maybe a little more carefuly, or should i maybe get some elbow protection and go back to easier trails, and slowly work my way back to more difficult ones?
Here we go, drop bars on mullets with electronic shifting... all the trickle down tech from racers, which is unnecessary for the large majority of regular riders. Btw, 650B is not "old school", it's rider's preference.
Was only this morning road cc showing people on road and gravel bikes cutting the drop bars off lol they are saying it now feels perfect!😂 well it would it's a near normal bar now
Curly, flat, riser, one piece lycra suits! anything to win guys! Whatever they need to do short of cheating! they'll have aerobars next (if allowed). Great shows, thank you, keep it up!
I just finished mine. For gravel++ it's the best there is. 2 things you don't want to do with it: long descents (less brake control + arm pump) and drops (your hands are too far forward on the hoods). For just blasting over uneven terrain it's so much better than a gravel bike + the position helps a lot in the wind compared to a straight bar MTB. I used to run inner bar-ends on my MTB, but it's absolutely not sufficient to get a decent aero position (and I ran a -17 degree stem already). You need more reach.
Almost exactly 25 years ago i was getting weird looks for my Ritchey 695mm, 30mm riser bars on my freeride winora/haibike haiend2. Today i am ordinary with 780mm, 30mm risers. 🤷🏼♂️ Guess i was sporting endiro when it was just a motorbike thing.
Why dropped bars 😭😭😭🤮 Dare I say I might try it because I race a little xc but I mainly to do trail riding Edit thanks for reading my comment it’s means a lot
I’d love to build me a light FS bike with drops for road/gravel. I wish someone made an Ebike like that. A Trek E-Caliber with a TQ motor, drops and a 28 mph limit would be fun!
In 2016, I put drop bars on my MTB so I could use my turbo trainer, after a long time off the bike due to poor health and injury. It was hard work and bloody uncomfortable and required the removal of my Hope brake callipers. It was a terrible idea and lasted less than three months. Now I have a low bar with bar ends. However, I have been riding MTBs since 1990 and since turning fifty I am officially a 'grumpy old bag', so can do what I like! 🤣
If there are no trails to get the benefit of a wide bar, than having an aero position is much better. If UCI allowed you would probably see more races using drops
Used to ride a Kona Jake the Snake, w/ a super wide drop bar (46), w/ fat 42c wide tires in the early 2000's, essentially a gravel bike before gravel bikes. Had top bar 'frog legs' style auxilary brake levers so you could handle the bike using the upper handlebar (like a mtb), instead of the awkward drops (which suck for off road handling). It was definitely more aero, but for mountain biking, it wasn't great, and ultimately I just stopped with that foolishness.
Similar to the bikes from early mountain biking being revived as gravel bikes, the tracks that they rode are mostly gravel oriented trails. The sport has evolved from just being offroad to requiring technical skills and technology. I know this race started as a mountain bike race, but the I don't think any of the footage you showed made me think it was mountain biking. It was all road or well traveled double track.
I am taking my daughters decade old flat bar bar road bike into a gravel machine . Well maybe not a machine . Now her area it's a bit dangerous to ride the roads . I got some 700 gravel tires 32c . As wide as I can go . I will shorten the stem to 60mm and off the dirt we will go . My next project in the gravel world is taking my 8 year old hardtail and turn it into a gravely type bike . Remove the 120 m fork and replace it with a carbon ridged fork . Remove the dropper . Install 2.1 maxxis aspens exo casing . Desert riding you need protection . I might put a 2.25 on the front . The flat bar is already narrow being in the 600s . I think narrow tires with tough casings can allow for lower pressures . Keegan could ride a unicycle and win the race . I think flat bars give better overall control but wide bars are not useful in a xc race like this. Now we see the the drop bars showing up on mountain bikes . Primary on gravel.. I think we shall see the return of narrow flat bars as what was old will be new again
Lachlan was 4th place, after a puncture, with the flatties and this is not to mention him winning Unbound with the xc bike as well. Keegan is just Keegan lol
Lachy was close to keegan last year using some insane inverted stem as well. His bike is certainly not a traditional mtb build but obviously works pretty well for him.
Mountain Biking needs to do a full about turn!! There have been so many ridiculous fads over the last few years. Mullet Bikes, Long Low Slack Geo, Electric Bikes, Electric Gears, Electric Suspension, Electric Dropper Posts, Upside down bars, Upside Stems, High Pivot Jockey wheel rubbish. And the ultimate fad to end all fads that the majority of people refuse to accept is.....Carbon Fiber!! Yes, the black plasticy stuff that in the real world is weaker than metal that you are all still in denial about.
Like the passion in your comment. Haha, not sure I completely agree on the Carbon, but you are on to something. You are right on the tech mixed messages though. 😮
Steel is definitely real my friend. I do have to agree with you on the rest as well. At the end of the day a bike is a bike and as long as you enjoy it then what more do you need. Happy trails. 👍
I think it's funny how the industry makes it seem like steel for frames is some new, special technology. Back in my bmx days you had to pay extra for an alloy version, nowadays it's the opposite. That said, I need a steel frame in my near future.
Even worse than the drop bars is the road pedals. I nearly though up with that one. When I experimented as a youth (don't judge) I tried road biking but found mtb clipless with stiff shoes to be just as good with the advantage of being able to walk without looking like you shat yourself.
Okay. This video is a perfect example of all that is wrong with cycling IMO. Don't use 1x and MTB cassettes on the road. Don't use drop bars on an MTB. Don't do this, only this. People are just too snobby. Do what you want. And let others do what they want.
yeah think they have a patent on how things should be done :D
Tons of respect for Leadville, but the drop bar thing says more about that race than it does about mtb trends in general. This particular race is just more of a chunky doubletrack/dirt road kind of venue and not really a modern mountain bike track - the challenge is in the elevation and the flat out speed. I'm all for weird custom builds for a specific purpose, but I don't think we'll be seeing drops on WC XC bikes anytime soon ;)
Yeah, it's hardly technical, so drop bars probably make more sense.
I've never read such a spot-on assessment in my life!
Great video has been released of the race!
Seems closer to a gravel race than a XC track. The last thing I'd want to do is hit something chunky with such narrow bars. Too twitchy for me.
I've done Leadville 3 times. Some of the long, straight sections were over 5 miles long. The third time I did it I used clip-ons, because if you get caught in a strong, endless headwind, it will DESTROY your time. If I had to do it again today, I'd put drop bars on my bike since clip-ons are banned.. The race is brutal enough without turning nature into an adversary. And yes, I'd be riding a full-suspension XC bike.
I'm telling you, Martyn, that "Headwind from Hell" is something you never forget. It's nature's way of crushing your spirit. My Big Buckle is a survivor's badge of of insanity, obsession, blood, sweat & gears!
👏 👏 👏
Lets see martyn race leadville on his trike 💯💯💯
@RandyVictory420 what are clip ons?
@@mikeharris9153 tt bars
@@mikeharris9153 Bar ends
Let the people choose and decide what handlebar they want on their bikes - regardless if it's cool or not. The important thing is they RIDE their bikes and enjoy it. Enough of these what's "IN" and what's 'ON TREND" BS 💯 Just ride the bike that works for you 😎
If Leadville started now, it would be billed as a hardcore gravel race. Gravel bikes are 90s mountain bikes and Leadville is a 90s mountain bike race.
Spot on.
Spot on there mate. 90’s style. Don’t think we really want to go back in technology do we ?
No...they are faster.
We'll be back to flex stems and Scott AT4's next
Do you think we will start to see brands speccing bikes like this and calling them 'hardcore gravel'?
Coming from a "gravel" perspective .. I could totaly understand why you would mount drop bars on your bike for a race like this! Its not only about the "aero thing". Its about the amount of positions you can choose with your hands in a marathon-race like the Leadville. I mean .. In the end everyone is trying to make their bikes as comfy and as fast as they can. And
as long as the rules allow it .. Would I put drop bars on my Stumpjumper? Hell No! Do I like the look? Definetly not. The important thing is that everyone has fun and can get the best out of themselves and their material! Stay tuned, ride safe thanks for your content! 🤘
"So nearly nice" will be my new go-to when critiquing my underlings. Thanks, Martyn!
Glad to be of service! 😅
Ignore me Dude. I don’t know what I’m talking about. 😊
The question really is which is more important to you - looking cool, or winning races.
@@ZOB4 Red-pilled JFF rider here. When you leave that Matrix, another option appears-having maximum fun and relaxation. In this case-any bar will get the job done. :)
VentureMax dropbars look way cool on my Cannondale XC. Very fashionable and classic too!
Johnny T was winning DH on drop bars 30 years ago 😂
But surely that’s where they belong. In the past with John T 😊
...and there's a reason he quit using them.😊
He stopped road racing and went right to regular bars.
Reslly cool how he did road racing, xc and downhill
I am surprised the Kona got a Super Nice. As the front brake caliper was just hanging in mid air.
It's got the special Z-link mod 🤭
Drop bar MTB for chilled riding, any place, anywhere.
I build two Pipedream Moxies for my wife and me and put drop bars and Schwalbe gravel tires on hers last year. The slack geo and low bb makes you feel like being in the bike with the drop bars, esp since you can lower the seatpost fully. It’s a blast for city riding and flat trail is much more exciting
The great thing about trends is you don't have to follow them if you don't want to. And if you're not following other peoples trends, then good for you if you want to do something me, or anyone else, doesn't like (like putting drop bars on your MTB for a specific race you think they'd suit).
I look forward every week to the dirt shed show. I love the banter with the hosts and it's just an overall good time.
Not that I ever had ridden such a race, but as a fan of ultra endurance races like the Atlas Mountain Race, I also love drop bars on mountain bikes. Whatever works best for the given tracks!
Tomac did this in the early 90s, downhill even... nothing new under the sun there really, it works...
Keegan knew he'd be solo for a large part of the race. Aero counts.
Rich you need to put this race on you list to race!!!
We think Rich would be keen!
Keen as a bean 😬
@@richardpayne5176 Even I'm keen!
I love the drop bar trend, conveyed a flat bar hardtail hybrid to drops, best thing I did!
I’m surprised there was no mention of Tomac
I bought my first gravel bike a few months ago (been a MTB’er for 30 years) and have slowly blurred it into almost a mountain bike with 1x drivetrain, flat pedals, 50cm wide bars, 2.2” Race King tires. I’ve been riding it everywhere, even on singletrack.
Drop bars, flat bars, riser bars, it doesn’t matter to me what bars you use. Just don’t expect me to always follow the latest fads, I ride what works for me.
Drop bar MTBs are the future of touring/adventure bikes. It's good for bumpy non-technical terrain.
Not that good for anatomical comfort and weeklong rides tho
What? 😂
@@LaurentiusTriariusI love my drop bar bike for long distance riding. Drop bar bikes tend to be more comfortable than traditional flat bars for long distance riding.
Comments section is weird. Bars are the tip off the iceberg. Keegan and co are pushing the boundaries of the sport, dialling in the right tools for the job. End off. Keegan has been trying to do this for 3 years… the breakthrough is the SRAM AXS tech that enables him, Finsty and co, to deliver the road shifters on gravel bars. Also overlooked is the tyre choice… gravel rear tyres! The size of gears they’re pushing! The bars are just the start of a new direction in bike development. Tomes did do this years ago… thankfully Keegan and co are back on the evolution trail again!
The rider position with the drop bar looks extremely similar to the 90’s mountain bike rider position when we cut our bars down narrow with small bar ends to stay low, narrow and tucked in.
Everything comes around 👍🏻
I road the Tour Divide reace in 2013 on curly bars. Great for endurance riding where ther is nothing seriously technical, but I went back to flat bars afterward.
I put drops on a univega mtb back in the mid 80s.
Not for everyone but I loved it the most.
I find it fascinating to watch riders like Dylan Johnson innovate for growth of the sport. His video on the development of his Unbound bike posed a lot of questions on the traditional thoughts of things like tire rolling resistance and aerodynamics. I personally think anyone that can do the Leadville 100 with flat bars is super human, maybe because I'm getting old but over 20 mile on flat bars and my wrists are toast. The lines between Mountain bikes and gravel are definitely blurring now. Based on my experience and the type of riding I do , I just bought a gravel bike with 50mm wide tires. This bike is not far from a drop bar mountain bike but the hand positions are so much more comfortable for long rides in the back woods and fire roads.
I have a 650B hardtail with a gravel drivetrain and an 80mm airfork. And I really love this bike. It is the most versatile bike I have ever owned. You get the comfort of suspension combined with the speed of drop bars, sort of like a "Jack of all trades, master of none" bike. It loses to gravel bike on smooth tracks but wins vs MTB, but the surface is stretchy straight handlebars are just better. I don't see it being superior to an MTB on a cross-country track, but a drop bar MTB is an excellent city bike that you can send almost anywhere.
John Tomac made drop bars and mountain biking cool back in the day. This is just old stuff coming back again. Was cool then, still cool now, but you need to be fast as f…!
I have a designed for drops, rigid MTB, best bike I own by far. So versatile and fun - they are the future of uk multi surface riding.
I would definitely put Drop bars on my MTB. Although, for anything technicallly, I kinda want my wider bar. So I guess, I would use 580-600mm Drop bars given the current market, but I really want 780mm bars with drops engineered at 420mm for flatter sections.
You'd still be rooting for a mtb in the Tour de France. It's a bit of slamming drops for the heck of it.. take it easy guys, they're all bikes in the end. And your colleagues are just a wall away. Both your paychecks come from the same place too.
I used to have a specialized RockCombo! (I think that's what it was called.) Rigid , 26" as I recall, drops ...it was the worst of all worlds. I eventually gave it flat bars. Gosh I appreciate modern mtbs!
As long as they are wide drop bars, and you don't have any issues with reaching your brakes from a comfortable position on both the tops and the drops, what's the harm?!
It absolutely depends on what you're doing, but Surly's Grappler is a perfect example of how this can be done correctly, and the types of activities recommended for this type of bike build.
The Leadville 100 may not be a "gravel" race, but it's certainly not a downhill race! Go take a look at some of the courses on races that are advertised as Gravel races, and some of them are surprisingly similar to the Leadville 100!
The hardest thing about all these gravel races and XC MTB races is that it's very difficult to determine the optimum bike set up for a race without closely reviewing the race profile, road/trail conditions, and even the weather conditions!
Don't want to take any credit but i was on top of making you guys take a look at the Leadville 100 when i was going to college there in 17/18. One of my old apartment buildings is in the video. Leadville is a great place to visit. It has some better trails on the east side of town along with the ones on the Colorado Mountain College Property. But i feel like anyone who is looking to visit I'd say that its worth a visit for 48 hours. Use it as a stop to get from Summit County (Copper, Brek, Keystone) and use it to get to Aspen or Salida.
Martyn, flared drop bars on MTB look sick. A set of Ritchey VentureMax or On-One Midge bars on a light MTB is drool inducing! You should toss a set on the random tandem.
Do you mean "sick" as in throwing up?
Leadville is so long that benefits of various hand and body positions given by curly bars are obviously a plus. If I were riding it I’d use a gravel bike. All my bikes have dropper posts so the borders are completely blurred. I have a beautiful Andante hard tail, but I also ride green and blue trails on my Specialized Diverge gravel bike. My Conondale Topstone is actually my “road” bike with 700 x 30 Pirellis. All are tubeless also.
Is the reason they are using drop bars because you're not allowed to use bar-ends any more? - this way they get the weight-forward positioning bar-ends gave you, but without the potential injury in a crash (which was presumably the reason the UCI banned them from MTB competition?)
We're not sure if the race uses the UCI rulebook if we're honest!
Even with the UCI rulebook in place, inner bar ends are banned but traditional bar ends are still authorized if riders do need an alternate hand position.
And I don´t think the race uses the UCI rulebook where road style drop bars have long been banned by the UCI but in 2022 there was the new addition to Regulation 4.1.040, inner bar ends are banned too.
I don't think that's presumable, I think that just as the UCI road regulations that basically boil down to "a bike that looks like what the board collectively think of as a bike, like what Eddy Merckx rode back in the[my] golden era", MTB rules boil down to something that would look familiar to Fischer and Ritchey. They'll use any excuse they can, but each will turn them back in that direction. If they found out that circular steering wheels or recumbents were safer, they'd find a different reason to stay closer to flat-bar bikes.
Drop bars on road bikes only for me. I don’t have an opinion on gravel bikes ‘cause I’ve never ridden one. I ride “gravel” and fire roads on my flat bar XC bike just fine. Btw Kona Stinkys and Coilers are great. Still have my ‘07 Coiler with all new parts, dropper, 1x etc.
Ashton face was hilarious during the drop bars description omg
Genius 😂😂😂😂
As a hobbyist mtb-er, outright performance isn't my goal so I have gone for control over speed and fitted a set of Renthal motoX bars to my Giant ATX970. Curly bars would destroy my lower back in very short order.
Cheers for showing my Stinky, glad you liked it Martyn 😂🤣
Back in the day, we cut back XC bars to save weight, get more ‘aero’ and generally cause we could!
You ride the bike you have or, in the pros case, the bike you need. Aesthetics comes second to performance now
I'd say no you don't need to go for trends, but I get it. I like people watching while on the trail, and I have seen all the sorts of bikes on paved and gravel trails.
Few years back I built a roadbike for winter training and put straight bars on it with mtb brakes and shifter. It was funny how everyone, especially roadies looked at it. Guess it was travesty for them as it is curlies for us 😁 but as a short person, the dropbars just dont feel comfortable for me, so i did it for the comfort, and wider bars just handle better.
Racers have to exploit every tech they can get their hands on, if they see gain in drops on specific race, then it is understandable they would use them.
Rich just provided us with the smoothest stunt mug catch yet, much to the relief of Martyn who was about to wear it if it got by. I am telling you England cricket selectors, Rich in the field would definitely be a big advantage.
For me, it's also about comfort. I'm currently going from Gravel to Mountain. I haven't been on a mountain bike in years and honestly I'm more comfortable on my gravel, even on steep, loose single track. I feel like drop bars on my mountain bike would be a great mod. There is a place for it, and yes it still is a mountain bike. I will stick with the flat bars because I know I will get used to it, and don't want to go through the hassle of modifying it. All that said, I think we get caught up in what our tribe deems taboo or not. C-mon, let's just ride bikes and make the experience as enjoyable as possible, given each individual rider.
I think you should replace broken, bent, shady components to ensure rider safety ;)
With that said...the Surley Corner Bar does seem like a cross dressing flat bar.
Could you just say bar ends are cool again, so we can have others solutions for long epic riders.
The power is in your hands GMBN....
I've considered using curly bars on my trail bike before, but havent gone as far as to actually do it 😂 my latest experiment was using bar horns pointed downwards which is almost like having a drop bar. Not bad for climbing and long straights 😅
A good looking lightweight xc frameset with a moderate reach with wider dropbar and shorter stem - that's what I really need for my rides.
Maybe they're a new trend around day-long XC races, but they've been around for ultra-endurance races. Lael Wilcox has been doing it for a few years now.
oh that colourway on the YT industries bike is just...catching!
Kona (looks wise) peaked for me with the 1991 gold cinder cone.
I just had my hardtail converted to 700c wheeis with 35c gravel tyres, running SRAM XPLR though...
yes! that's my current plan on my old grand canyon hard tail
Leadville 100 is a gnarly road race. If I was interested, like many other riders in punchin' out the miles, cadence and watching my power output it would be fun and I see the benefit in drop bars. But I'm not and it's not fun, I leave the sweat for the gym and ride for the smiles.
I’m an OG mountain bike racer from the 90’s and we used to ride with 480mm bars. If the concern is aero just cut the bars down. There’s no need to play roadie on a mountain bike.
I’ve done some of the local trails on my gravel bike and the drop bars were just not enjoyable when it got tight and twisty. Flat bars are my preference in the woods.
Sometimes weird bikes are cool bikes. I'm a believer in the right tool for the job and don't like always grouping things into categories.
Sad really as people were like this with ebikes. Bir if you have been around ling enough there was hate for full suspension, disk brakes, dropper posts, bigger wheels and even frame materials.
That Kona's front brake caliper is dangling in the wind. Super choice if you don't need to brake.
Having come from road riding , (i gave up road bikes in the late 90s. ) Now days I wouldn't put drop bars on a road bike. For longer rides it's flat bars and bar-ends.
Yesterday i injured my elbow while riding my bike, so i'll be recovering for the next couple of weeks. It happened on a trail i've never ridden before and i might went into a corner with a little too much risk. I'm still more of a beginner rider, do you have any advice on how get back on track? Should i go straight to the same trail and ride it again, maybe a little more carefuly, or should i maybe get some elbow protection and go back to easier trails, and slowly work my way back to more difficult ones?
I could see gravel width drop bars on xc bikes tbh
I remember Jon Tomac was doing this when I first rode a mountain bike. That didn't last long.
#captioncontest “Hey guys. My mom said I could come play for five minutes, but only if I wore my helmet.”
You're missing Brandon Semenuk....he's the frreeride GOAT...super smooth 👌
Here we go, drop bars on mullets with electronic shifting... all the trickle down tech from racers, which is unnecessary for the large majority of regular riders.
Btw, 650B is not "old school", it's rider's preference.
Was only this morning road cc showing people on road and gravel bikes cutting the drop bars off lol they are saying it now feels perfect!😂 well it would it's a near normal bar now
With trend in drop bars surely obvious solution is bringing back bar ends!
Curly, flat, riser, one piece lycra suits! anything to win guys! Whatever they need to do short of cheating! they'll have aerobars next (if allowed). Great shows, thank you, keep it up!
I’m building a drop bar MTB. Makes it such a fun experience
I just finished mine. For gravel++ it's the best there is. 2 things you don't want to do with it: long descents (less brake control + arm pump) and drops (your hands are too far forward on the hoods). For just blasting over uneven terrain it's so much better than a gravel bike + the position helps a lot in the wind compared to a straight bar MTB. I used to run inner bar-ends on my MTB, but it's absolutely not sufficient to get a decent aero position (and I ran a -17 degree stem already). You need more reach.
Almost exactly 25 years ago i was getting weird looks for my Ritchey 695mm, 30mm riser bars on my freeride winora/haibike haiend2. Today i am ordinary with 780mm, 30mm risers. 🤷🏼♂️
Guess i was sporting endiro when it was just a motorbike thing.
Why dropped bars 😭😭😭🤮
Dare I say I might try it because I race a little xc but I mainly to do trail riding
Edit thanks for reading my comment it’s means a lot
John tomac in the 90's with road bars was the first for XC racing.
I’d love to build me a light FS bike with drops for road/gravel. I wish someone made an Ebike like that. A Trek E-Caliber with a TQ motor, drops and a 28 mph limit would be fun!
I dunno if I’d go curly but I’d definitely try an altbar
Are you choosing curly bars up or curly bars down? 🤔 Let us know in the chat 👇
Curly bars are not a new thing on MTBs. Tomac experimented with them back in his Yeti Cycles days.
Narrow flatbar with barends and TT extensions, please. And courses where it wouldn't be relevant😁
I wouldn‘t put drop bars on my MTB, because i would be terrified on descents😱
In 2016, I put drop bars on my MTB so I could use my turbo trainer, after a long time off the bike due to poor health and injury. It was hard work and bloody uncomfortable and required the removal of my Hope brake callipers. It was a terrible idea and lasted less than three months. Now I have a low bar with bar ends. However, I have been riding MTBs since 1990 and since turning fifty I am officially a 'grumpy old bag', so can do what I like! 🤣
Flat bars at 680mm with stubbie bar ends.. 90's xc for 90's xc course.. .
That Kona Supernice is running the new version of Blake's WiFi brakes. On that note... Has anyone seen Blake recently? 💥
I kinda like it ... i don't see me riding with flat bars but i kinda like the idea... and looks cool !
Please don't. You are the only one who thinks that.
Iv already flipped my drop bars upside down so there drop riser bars keep ahead of the curve 😉
Trail blazing 🔥
Or behind/ slightly on top of the curve as it were? 🧐
If there are no trails to get the benefit of a wide bar, than having an aero position is much better. If UCI allowed you would probably see more races using drops
In the early days I considered drops but ran flats for many years. I’m into high rise bars now. I don’t race.
Used to ride a Kona Jake the Snake, w/ a super wide drop bar (46), w/ fat 42c wide tires in the early 2000's, essentially a gravel bike before gravel bikes. Had top bar 'frog legs' style auxilary brake levers so you could handle the bike using the upper handlebar (like a mtb), instead of the awkward drops (which suck for off road handling). It was definitely more aero, but for mountain biking, it wasn't great, and ultimately I just stopped with that foolishness.
Similar to the bikes from early mountain biking being revived as gravel bikes, the tracks that they rode are mostly gravel oriented trails. The sport has evolved from just being offroad to requiring technical skills and technology. I know this race started as a mountain bike race, but the I don't think any of the footage you showed made me think it was mountain biking. It was all road or well traveled double track.
The front brakes on that last Kona weren't even connected, just dangling by the tire lmao
Drop Bars? Think John Tomac! Funny how you never see drop bars on Moto Cross, Enduro or Trials Motor Cycles.
That fork stand hack would defintely be a bodge with reverse arch Fox
#captioncontest Owen's new One Man West End Show - The Blair Witch Project
Hey..what's wrong with a Kona..I have a dawg primo. Bought new in 2004 and I still love it to this day 🙂. If I knew how to send in a picture I would
I am taking my daughters decade old flat bar bar road bike into a gravel machine . Well maybe not a machine . Now her area it's a bit dangerous to ride the roads . I got some 700 gravel tires 32c . As wide as I can go . I will shorten the stem to 60mm and off the dirt we will go .
My next project in the gravel world is taking my 8 year old hardtail and turn it into a gravely type bike . Remove the 120 m fork and replace it with a carbon ridged fork . Remove the dropper . Install 2.1 maxxis aspens exo casing . Desert riding you need protection . I might put a 2.25 on the front . The flat bar is already narrow being in the 600s . I think narrow tires with tough casings can allow for lower pressures .
Keegan could ride a unicycle and win the race . I think flat bars give better overall control but wide bars are not useful in a xc race like this. Now we see the the drop bars showing up on mountain bikes . Primary on gravel.. I think we shall see the return of narrow flat bars as what was old will be new again
Lachlan was 4th place, after a puncture, with the flatties and this is not to mention him winning Unbound with the xc bike as well. Keegan is just Keegan lol
@@KP-ol3tc He won unbound on a supersix SE though, not an XC bike
@@yutiros5174 hahah no clue how I mixed that up! 🤦🏻♂️
Lachy was close to keegan last year using some insane inverted stem as well. His bike is certainly not a traditional mtb build but obviously works pretty well for him.
Caption contest: when you call in sick to go mountain biking and you see your boss on the trail!
Mountain Biking needs to do a full about turn!!
There have been so many ridiculous fads over the last few years. Mullet Bikes, Long Low Slack Geo, Electric Bikes, Electric Gears, Electric Suspension, Electric Dropper Posts, Upside down bars, Upside Stems, High Pivot Jockey wheel rubbish. And the ultimate fad to end all fads that the majority of people refuse to accept is.....Carbon Fiber!! Yes, the black plasticy stuff that in the real world is weaker than metal that you are all still in denial about.
Like the passion in your comment. Haha, not sure I completely agree on the Carbon, but you are on to something.
You are right on the tech mixed messages though. 😮
4130 steel all the way!!!💪
Steel is definitely real my friend. I do have to agree with you on the rest as well. At the end of the day a bike is a bike and as long as you enjoy it then what more do you need. Happy trails. 👍
I think it's funny how the industry makes it seem like steel for frames is some new, special technology. Back in my bmx days you had to pay extra for an alloy version, nowadays it's the opposite. That said, I need a steel frame in my near future.
@@andyk3643 Very true. I too would also like a steel frame, alloy is great but...
This is just the opposite of what I did in the 70s which was put cowhorn handlebars on my racer so I could ride in the woods and do wheelies
That Kona Stinky--first Super Nice for a bike with its front brake caliper dangling in the breeze?
Even worse than the drop bars is the road pedals. I nearly though up with that one. When I experimented as a youth (don't judge) I tried road biking but found mtb clipless with stiff shoes to be just as good with the advantage of being able to walk without looking like you shat yourself.
Like to try the curl up bars, not as hard on the old back.
#captioncontest Martyn we have a winner, throw me the mug.