A few things.

I have both Ritchey WCS and Deda Newton shallow drop bars on my two regular bikes. Not much really to split them in terms of shape or stiffness except the WCS has a shorter section of larger diameter bar in the middle (around the stem clamp) which makes getting e.g. tri-bars in the right position for me tricky. The dedas have more oversized bar (i.e. it extends further outward either side of the stem) which makes this easier. Also might be an issue if you hang lots of stuff off your bars.

Question: are the Rotundos really that different in shape from either of these bars? Having played with them in the shop, I can't see any obvious difference.

Setup. I love my shallow drop bars! But they need to be setup right. All this thing about "looking right" is a bit beside the point. You need to set them up so that when holding them in the drops, your wrist forms a natural/comfortable angle (and a strong position). For some people this is close to parallel (i.e. if you have a large drop, flat back, your arms will naturally hang down below your shoulders and a parallel bar is easy to grip). For me, this is very slightly angled up (never measured it but I know what feels right). The best thing about these shape bars is that you've got an awesome sprinting position in the drops, and this hangs on getting the angle right. Beyond that, the drops go where they go (I set them such that braking in the hooks in comfortable). This means some exit rake from the drops to the bar - I'm cool with that, I find that quite comfortable (and the new-shape campag hoods work well like this). Then, finally, what these bars give you is an "up-and-back" position when climbing on the tops, allows you to open your hips up and hang back in the saddle. I find compact bars, in particular, rob you of this position because transitioning from the hoods to the tops results in you going nowhere up (flat transition) and very little back (short reach).

Yes, the Rotundos are different. The angle from the tops to drops is less extreme and the hooks are a larger diameter. The levers sit a bit higher and there is more reach. I love my Rotundos, but couldn't ride the Dedas so I put the 3T's back on.

Thanks! Might have to give them a whirl sometime in that case.

That is not a classic bar. It is an Ergo and bringing the hoods to the hands is pretty standard on those.

Ack!

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