General: Best Bars for commuting on a fixed gear, brakeless

Ride what bars make you comfortable....try mustache bars....just put a set on my touring rig and they rock...

Posted By: wes m.I second that. Mustache bars have way more hand positions than major taylors, debatably more than road drops, and all of the positions leave you fairly upright. If those are a little more bar than you are looking for I would suggest flats or risers with a lot of sweep. Maybe straight bars would suit you but I find the palms straight forward "zombie" position" to be lame after about 10 miles.

yea, i'm sure mustache bars would be really comfy, but ur right, thats allota bar lol. I know what you mean about flats with that one position, it gets really old.

Posted By: SkidMarkDepends on whether there are hills. If it's flat, then little risers are going to give you a heads up riding position. Major Taylors only give you two hand positions really so if you are comfortable climbing like Marco Pantani (in the hooks) then you are set.

I've tried moustache bars (too wide), little risers (suck for climbing), chopped and flopped drops (like bullhorns but smaller), and I always go back to my B123's.

those do look sick, the thing is that i kinda dont have a ton of money and it would be really hard to justify replacing my drops with another pair of drops unless it would make a huge difference, which i'm not completely sure it would

Posted By: SkidMarkYou're right about that, it won't be that much different just one more hand position, one for climbing.

I'm assuming that in SF you are doing a fair amount of hills. Try some Soma Urban Pursuit bars. Then you have flat and a climbing position. They are great for skidding. For free you could find some old drops and cut the hooks off, and put them on upside-down. I know this style is like the mark of the nOOb, but they do actually work.

i was thinking about that to, if i was gonna get some pursuit bars i would be willing to spend more money, can anyone suggest anything else?

Posted By: RideEverydayIn my experience, bullhorns are no practical for commuting, they spread you out too much, even with a short stem. I ride road drops just because I like putting my hands on the "hoods" for the most part, and the ergo drops on most bars are a great place to put your hands while descending. I recomend FSA Wing bars, we sell a ton at the shop I work at. Most shops will let you test ride bars anyhow, just ride a ton and see which ones you like.

you work in a shop? does someone there do bike fitting?

you are required to run a shorter stem with bullhorns to effectively place you in the same position/reach as the "hoods" on drops. if you have the stem right, it is going to spread you out the same distance? i rode a 110mm stem with drops and to get the same reach with my bullhorns, i had to get a 70mm stem.

the problem is, most people just switch their bars and always use the same stem. i've seen many a people use horns, drops, and risers all on the same stem. all three of these require different stem lengths because the effective reach of each bar is different. most of these people [that use differet types of bars on the same stem] tend to rarely move their hands from the tops/flats of the bars.

on that note, i totally recommend bullhorns for commutting. they place you a bit more upright than drops which is great for riding in traffic. climbing in them is great in the hooks and i can think of at least 6 hand positions on my bars right now.

i currently use:
nitto rb-021


i vouch for these a million times over.

those bars have 60mm or 2 2/5" of drop. there are bullhorns with more/less drop.
syntace makes a nice bullhorn called the stratos

come in 0, 20mm, and 40mm drop versions. and it has internal routing for brakes, which is a plus.

a million +1 for rb-021's. i use them for everything. other bars i've tried only last about a day before i swap these back on.

Nitto RB-021's are awesome! I enjoyed them a lot when I had them.
But I decided to try out some deda elementi tracks drops and I love them, too.

I have used both for commuting and for longer rides and they are both excellent choices.

I have risers on my beater bike right now and I hate them so much haha. I am buying some soma track drops for them asap.
Risers are fine for my ride to work, a five minute ride, but other than that, they are no good.

I tried road drops with hoods when I test rode a road bike bike the other day. My back liked it a lot, but my hands didn't feel comfortable there and I ended up staying in the drops for the remainder of the ride.

I like my track drops on the street. You don't. That's fair.
Although, I do like the ergonomic bend of road drops. That was a plus.
I guess I like both.

i think it is mostly all most people on here have ever used, so they have become accustomed to it.

wes m: They work the same on the street as regular road handlebars do without brake hoods. You have 3 hand positions: flat, climbing, and in the hooks. Maybe I'm just used to them after using them for the better part of six years.

I get that much skidmark. What confuses me is the nature of the bend. They dont have a true flat section on the top. The part where the hoods would be on road drops is pointed outward at an angle and you have to point your hands down because there is no hood to grip. It seems like your wrists are always cockeyed. I have ridden track drops on the street briefly and those were my observations. I know some have more of a road bend than others, maybe mine were extra bendy. Maybe you guys have more flexible wrists than me.