Recently acquired some narrower handlebars and wondering which hood position is considered ‘right’, one being what looks like level from the bar to the hood or the other with the hoods slightly rotated towards the rider?
The handlebars are rotated 10 degrees down, this aligns the crosshairs on the front with the hole in the stem faceplate. The bars are Zipp service course SL70 Ergo.
Any input greatly appreciated 🙂
by ben_for_short
12 Comments
Both positions are “right” just for different people. You must find out what feels best for you, or what’s fastest for you, if that’s important.
I prefer like 1st picture, but there is no “right place”
Cycling mostly about “how you feel it”
The first image with the hoods being levelled looks just right. Most people enjoy have a flat/even surface there and its what many bike fitters aim for too. It comes down to personal preference too but I think the bar itself could rotate a bit further towards the front tire. Usually handlebars are designed in a way that when the end cap of the drops is perfectly vertical, the tops are where manufacturers want it to be. From the picture it seems you are a few degree off here. Again, this is personal preference. If you rotate the bar you will have to adjust the hoods to maintain the position in image 1.
It all depends on your measurements. This is why bike fits are so important
1 looks perfect to me. It is not only comfortable up top, but easier to brake from the drops than 2.
1st unless you have small hands or want to make reach shorter.
Also – don’t try to make it parallel to the ground. That would be right for very agressive positions with a huge saddle-bar drop. You have a high-stack gravelbike, so most probably you’ll want to keep the 1st position but increase the angle slightly. High stack + parallel to the ground handlebar combination can mess with your shoulders.
The first picture looks ‘pro’. But what’s really important is how comfortable you are when riding on the hoods. I ride with mine like picture 2, it’s just more comfortable for me.
I personally think mounting it like 1 and then from there turn the whole bar bit upwards if necessary is better than second one where bar seems to point downwards already. also have you tried to turn the hoods inwards a bit? that was a major improvement for me too
I would generally ignore the crosshairs or any other markings on the bars as these are often not printed consistently anyway.
A good place to start is setting the bar angle with the bar ends vertical using a spirit level and then setting the levers at a comfortable angle.
Lots of people like to set up the levers so the transition is “flat” with the ramps of the bars but IME this often means either the bars or the hoods (or both) are in a suboptimal position. Go with what feels good basically.
Why not try it out first? Whenever I want to try it out I just go for my standard 2h ride without any bar tape. Be a little bit more careful because you don’t have that much grip on the bar and do it in the dry.
The first one is more technically correct, but 90% of casual riders will be much, much more comfy with the second position. It’s a very personal thing, so you probably just need to ride it around a bit and see.
Personally speaking, I’d have the first position every day of the week and, indeed, [my own bikes are set a bit lower even than this](https://quad.pe/e/yI4cHBITNw.jpg). It’s a very individual thing though.
Please do keep in mind that riding in the hoods is only one position you want to account for. The second position makes for a really long reach if you were riding in the drops, and since the drops are where you might be when going fast, that seems not great.
Personally I think you could push those levers further down the bar than position 1 even, but rotate the bar slightly up until the hoods are comfortably level again.