

It’s common for riders to clock their handlebar upward in order to get the hood angle where they want it to be.

This setup represents more of a neutral setup, with the bars rotated so that the bottom edge is close to level, and the top of the hoods sloping slightly upward. Brake levers have been steadily trending higher up on the bars in recent years as riders seek more comfortable wrist angles (or, one might argue, in an effort to compensate for too much handlebar drop). That’s the main point to check.” While there are no absolute rules when it comes to how you set up your handlebars and levers, many would say that this setup isn’t quite right. There is a rare exception where riders just prefer that, though. You’ll be too ulnar-deviated, and it won’t feel quite right. Never - and this is where I see a lot of riders make a mistake - set the hoods level to the ground. “You should either have a neutral wrist or the slightest ulnar deviation, so slightly uphill. “In the old-school way of thinking, hoods used to be level, but now it’s about five degrees up,” said Retül co-founder Todd Carver, who has analyzed thousands of sets of rider fit data over the past 11 years. Traditionally, the bottoms of drop handlebars have been set up nominally level with the ground, and the controls installed such that the tip of the brake lever is inline with the bottom of the drop (or with the upper surface of the hoods also roughly level to the ground). Many bike brands aren’t exactly helping in this matter in terms of how new bikes are assembled at the factory.

There’s a good chance this rider would simply loosen the stem bolts and clock the entire bar upward to get the desired hood angle, but then that would compromise other aspects of the fit. Many handlebars come poorly set up straight from the manufacturer, usually with the levers mounted too low on the bar. Before entertaining the idea of replacing your current bar to gain some comfort, you should first make sure that you’re making the most of what you already have. Your cockpit is one area where there’s an especially generous range of flexibility, but there are still some basic guidelines you should follow in order to extract the most performance and comfort possible.ĭrop handlebars seem straightforward enough, but the reality is there is a huge range of adjustment possible, and plenty of ways to get it wrong. Components can be changed at will, there’s ample opportunity to dress things up with a bit of color, and the fit can be tweaked to better suit your wants and needs. One of the most entertaining things about the bikes we ride is how easily they can be customized to our liking.
