changing bar reach

[nickf]

Looking into going with a Williams carbon bar that has 76mm reach. My current bar is a kore elite with a reach of 96mm. Running a 110 stem. Should I compensate the stem length? Or find another bar? The Williams is good bang for the buck. I'm comfortable with my current setup. Just swapped out to the 110 stem from a 100 and comfort was much improved. What would you recommended?

[nspace]

To me, bars are far more personal than stems, so I would let your bar choice dictate what stem you need to put the bars in the most comfortable place. If it has the bend, drop and allows for comfy hand positions—buy those and add the length with the stem.

[bricky21]

You can't just go by the reach and drop numbers. Different bar shapes along with your preferred bar angle will have your hands sitting in different places on the bar. Example: I have a 3T ergosum which have 89mm reach, and a Deda zero 100 with 75mm reach, but because of the way I grip them the effective reach is only about 5mm further with the ergosum. The easiest way of replicating a position(or getting as close as possible) is to set your bike up on a trainer with the front tire against a wall, grip the drops where they are comfortable and have a helper measure from the wall back to the center of 1 of your knuckles and from the floor up to the same spot. Set up your new bars to your preferred position and adjust them to get the same measurements. It may not be possible to replicate your position down to the mm, but you can get close.

[PoorCyclist]

I found it best is to install it and then make relative + - adjustment to the stem length.
Reach is just one measurement to the extremity in front of the bend, but different bars mount the hood at different spots.

[nickf]

So reach is the bend and not the mounting point of the shifter? These kore bars have a deep bend that I never even use in front of the shifter. I just the flat drop section. So in the end my shifter could fall in line at about the same place as the new bar. I think I got it. Thanks for the help.

[bricky21]

Reach is the furthest point on the drops from the center of the tops, but some manufacturers measure differently Center to center, center to outside, ect. Reach is also effected by the angle of the bars when they're being measured, and there isn't any sort of standard for that either. Even if there was whos to say you or I would want are bars at that angle?

[em3]

For diagram on difference between REACH and DROP see:

http://www.zipp.com/_media/productdocs/ ... IAGRAM.pdf

See also:

http://ruedatropical.com/2009/03/road-d ... -geometry/

EM3