Going from Risers to Flat bars?

heh, I went the other way

Tag1 said:

I'm thinking of getting some flat bars for my bike (for the obvious reason), which has the Bontrager Select 25mm-rise on it now. It's definitely a low-riser, so I'm wondering if it will be noticeable going to flat...What are the differences in ride, etc?

Also, is it typical to change the stem-size/angle if going to flats?

Thanks for the help...

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I used to swear by flat bars, but started getting risers.

And yeah, risers are a tad heavier, but I personally like the added sweep and width. I had a lot of trouble finding flat bars that were wide enough for me to get decent leverage with. It's also hard to find a light stem with enough rise to compensate for the lack of rise in the bars.

I have a dually with flat bars and a hardtail with riser bars. Both bikes have been set up with the same geometry measurements for me. That is, the distance from axle to seat, seat to stem, bars to axle etc. I get on either bike and don't notice whether they are flat or riser bars. Makes no difference to me.

Get the height you want, but upgrade from broomstick to sweetsweep!

The On-One Mary is a riser (not light, but worth it IMO), and looks nice flipped (quite low then). If you like bling : a custom Seven Ti with 16º sweep or so for some flex-damping and wrist relief, hmmm...

Risers aren't always an option for shorter folks on small frames - front end can end up too high.

I've tried to like flat bars, but alas, I hate them. Good risers are like 35gms(my lowriser MaxM5s are 135gms) heavier but the advantage for me waaaaaaay out weighs the small weight gain. They feel so much better in terms of overall feel, handling, etc. Thats just me tho.

I put some 2 inch risers I had lying around on my bike the other day - had to flip the stem negative to get the height right. Also trimmed 35mm off each end as they were too wide.

They weren't too bad, the bike felt a little less twitchy on rough downhills and still climed OK.

That said, I still HATE the beach cruiser look of risers and I HATE the negative rise stem but it would be too high for me otherwise, even with a zero rise like I use wth my flat bar setup.

Vida find..

Sideknob said:

That said, I still HATE the beach cruiser look of risers and I HATE the negative rise stem but it would be too high for me otherwise, even with a zero rise like I use wth my flat bar setup.

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But StormTrooper like Vida :ihih: rft::ciappa: :yesnod::lol:

Jake..ut::yesnod: :lol:

Pay Here said:

But StormTrooper like Vida :ihih: rft::ciappa: :yesnod::lol:

Jake..ut::yesnod: :lol:

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Yep - straight bar for Vida allright!!

The biggest difference is the obvious difference in the angles. Risers will have a significantly larger sweep and bend than any flatbar. Also, you will rarely find a flatbar that's wider than 24". Personally, i prefer a flat. I just switched from a 1/2" rise to fully flat on my SS and I love it. But thats just me...

That generalization is generally true.

Twiggyperson said:

The biggest difference is the obvious difference in the angles. Risers will have a significantly larger sweep and bend than any flatbar. Also, you will rarely find a flatbar that's wider than 24". Personally, i prefer a flat. I just switched from a 1/2" rise to fully flat on my SS and I love it. But thats just me...

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The vast majority of flat bars have a shallow sweep and are less than 600mm wide. However, in looking for a wide flat bar for my new 29er, I discovered the Salsa Pro Moto Carbon flat bar. It's 660mm wide and comes in a 5 or 11 degree sweep. And lite!

Bontrager has some 640mm wide flat bars with 12 degrees of sweep - Race Lite OS Big Sweep, even the 600 mm wide ones have 7 degrees of sweep. 175 and 160 grams.

I've recently changed my Syncros Gain Al risers for a Moots Ti flat bar, not exactly light weight at 170 grams for the 25" wide 8 degree bend but still not to heavy. I can definately feel the differance between these and the oversize and very stiff Syncros bars, a little nicer over the rough stuff taking the edge of vibrations and they should also last a bit longer than carbon bars. They also look great on my Titus HCR

Titec hell bent flat tracker

Another good flat bar with sweep is the Titec hell bent flat tracker. It is pretty wide (25.2") and has 9 degrees back sweep and 5 degrees up sweep. Though really you can just rotate it in the stem to achieve any combination of sweep you want.