Woodchipper or Cowchipper or...

[whitestone]

I'm looking for some bars for my Genesis Croix de Fer. The current bars (as delivered in 2016 when I bought the bike) are 40cm wide straight drops. I bought the bike as a commuter/winter bike but with the office shutting down four years ago then Covid the bike hasn't been ridden for almost three years until recently.

For a bike that is promoted as a "do it all" bike the bars are ridiculously narrow, in fact when I measured them I also measured my road bike. That has 42cm wide bars! Surely the wrong way round Last weekend I rode along a bit of old railway track that's now a path/cycleway which has a compacted gravel surface, not as fine as forestry fire roads but more forgiving than simple railway ballast. The bike felt really sketchy. Hmm.

So I thought of replacing the bars to make the bike a bit more off-road capable - there's a few lanes around here that make great shortcuts but are much too rough for a road bike. Initial thoughts were either Woodchipper or Cowchipper as per thread title, currently can get them locally at £38. They have 44cm Woodchippers in stock and did a quick line up against the bike this lunchtime. Cath suggested the Alpkit Bomber (£37), there's also the On-One Midge (£25). I'm sure there are others.

A search here for either of the chippers gives a lot of posts in the classifieds - seems that the Woodchippers at least are a bit Marmite with the hood placement seemingly a sticking point for some.

Thoughts, experiences, alternatives would be much appreciated.

Ta

Edit: Oh yeah, I know about whatbars.com

[sean_iow]

I really like my Richey Comp Venturemax. They've got a bump on the hooks which looks odd but is really comfy.

There are wcs and carbon versions if you're feeling flush. The comps are shown as £50 on the Richey website but I'm sure I paid less.

[Bearbonesnorm]

I've had both Bob. The Cowchipper felt only a little different to the more normal drops they replaced (they were nothing special) but the Woodchippers were like night and day and a very different beast. To the point, I tend to view them as 'off road drops' and really need setting up accordingly. For something like a normal drop bar but wider and more flared, I found the Genetic Digest to be spot on. https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m9b0s90p3390/GENETIC-Digest

[whitestone]

Different in a good or bad way?

Hmm, the Digests look like shifter placement is somewhat awkward, especially for riding on the hoods - I suppose getting used to the flare at that point is something you can either cope with or not.

[Bearlegged]

Bomber and Midge are the same, so just get the cheapest if that's what you end up choosing.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Different in a good or bad way?

Not in a bad way but certainly take a little getting used to and feel very much like they're designed to be ridden with hands on the drops.

[whitestone]

Bomber and Midge are the same, so just get the cheapest if that's what you end up choosing.

Interesting. One of the Woodchipper/Cowchipper threads linked to GuitarTed's blog where in one post https://g-tedproductions.blogspot.com/2 ... -bars.html he goes through the history of flared/alt drop bars. It seems that the Midge was/is almost an actual new design being based on, but not being an exact copy of, the WTB Dirt Drop bar. Quite possible that it's now a generic Chinese catalogue bar.

[jameso]

I didn't get on with Woodchippers or the Love Mud bar. Odd shapes. Midges were ok but had a very short hooks section and felt small, a bit too compact.
For a CdF A Cowchipper in the right width or a Venturemax should be good. I think the Digests are better on something with bigger tyres and/or a less road-like overall set up.
I have the same bar as the Digests on a bike, the wider version. They're great if you set them up with the upper section dropping down to the STI like an old school trad bend bar but felt hopeless if set up the popular way, level top into the STI, as the lower section is then really steep. Oddly most brands using them as OE bars do set them up that way. I must be wrong : )

[Bearbonesnorm]

It seems that the Midge was/is almost an actual new design being based on, but not being an exact copy of, the WTB Dirt Drop bar

I've an original pair of WTB Dirt drops and they're quite different to the Midge. As Jame's says, the Midge is very short.

[fatbikephil]

I found the drops on the woodchippers uncomfortable as when you set them up to be comfy on the hoods, the drops are angled down as well as out which led to a lot of wrist pain. Cowbells were much better - just flared drops though. On the fargo I ended up with Dajia far bars as there were wide but the drops turned back so your bar end shifters didn't stick out so much and were much comfier on the drops. Think these are the same as the genetic digests.

The venture max's look good but I ended up with surly truck stop bars on the stragg as I want them as high as possible. Spesh hoves are good as well with 15mm rise.

[Lazarus]

Digest stupidly wide and a great option if you will off road loads but not brilliant for road [ liked the shallow drop but just to wide for me as I do way more road miles on mine

Woodchipper - quite liked it but got good deal on a stupidly light Carbon Roady bars so use them

Happy to sell or lend you both to try out as they are just gathering dust ....really need to do a clear out

[jameso]

^ I found the Digest 48cm felt way too wide for road miles at first, but I stuck with it. Thehoods position is about the same width as a normal bar and when on the drops I can just turn my wrists in and the width is neutralised, but the flare angle and width is far better for a more elbows-out off-road control position. Really good on slippy corners or anything a bit loose. I'm a big fan of the Digest shape now inc for road rides (not fast pace 700 x 25C type of rides, but totally happy on them for anything from winter base miles up to longer audax routes. Having said that, all these bars are bike and rider-dependant.

[Cheeky Monkey]

I've used many of the flared drop bars mentioned already. By far my favourites are the Ritchey Venturemax XL. You may be happier with standard VMs but I like the extra width of the XL version because I too am a bit wider.

I've wanged on about them elsewhere on the forum so in brief - comfy shelf on top, light flare so hoods fairly vert / traditional, shallow hooks and comfy palm-dimple-thingies.

Best wide off road drop bar ever IMO.

[robsmuddygloves]

+1 for the Genetic digest bars. I've got some on my Genesis Vagabond, admittedly I use bar end shifters, but have found they inspire way more confidence going down rough stuff. Bars are a bit of an acquired taste, but the digest bars felt great from my first ride.

[whitestone]

Popped into Alpkit in Ilkley today - confusingly they have two distinctly different bars named "Bomber": different flare; different length of drops; different font for the graphics. Those with the lower flare and longer drops felt OK. No idea which is the current version, unfortunately neither did the staff nor their website

In a different LBS there was a bike with Bontrager GR Elite bars (13deg flare) which felt OK testing in the stand but it may have been the width as much as anything.

[Bearlegged]

In that case, I retract my previous comment!