Gabe mentioned above about checking how I hold my head and whether I look ahead by kinking my neck or using my eyes. I usually wear cycling caps, but earlier in the week I went for a long bike ride and decided not to wear a cycling cap. I also paid attention to keeping my chin tucked and looking ahead with my eyes. Three hour bike ride and no pain in that area. I then rode my other bike yesterday practising the same head position and it was also better. This morning I wore a cycling cap and I couldn’t really look ahead with my chin tucked because the brim of the cap was blocking my view so halfway through the ride, I stored it in my bag, but did notice some neck strain. Thanks Gabe for reminding me about that!
Jason I recently switched from bullmoose to choco-moose on my Atlantis. My neck, shoulders, and wrists, especially on thirty- or forty-plus mile rides, have me wondering why it took me so long to embrace the sweep. And to Michael's point, I'm really not any slower.
I was never a drop bar purist, but I do like to go fast and I was certainly resisting the beach cruiser look. Apparently I still had some psychological un-racering to do.
- Sam in West Virginia
On Thursday, June 4, 2026 at 7:19:26 PM UTC-4 michael stallman wrote:
I was curious about Riv's evolution on this topic over the years, so I went and looked through the archives.
The Moustache was designed on a napkin on a plane in 1990, and pitched as a drop bar alternative.
In 2003 Rivendell Reader, the Albatross was the third favourite: "If I had one bike, I'd put drops or Moustache H'bars on it. If I had two bikes, one would have drops, and the other, Moustache. The Albatross bar would definitely go on a third bike, though; and if the other two got swept away by a rogue wave, having an Albatross bar as the only bar wouldn't be a hindrance..." -- G. Petersen, RR29
The Albatross is "the bar I'll ride full-time when I'm super old" (2004-2005 Catalogs).
By 2005, the catalog still offered drops, moustache, and albatross as co-equal options: "Bar position, not shape, is the big deal."
"My tandem and Atlantis have Albatross bars. If I had to pick one bar forever it would be that bar. Plus, we’ve promoted upright sweepy bars more than most expensive bike places […]
BUT, and this is a big thing here, there is nothing inherently uncomfortable about drop bars. The shape is smart, and offers lots of hand positions. The key is to get the bars high enough…"
Bosco is the next leap forward (ca 2013?), with more rise and sweep. "Racers typically ride bars three or more inches below the saddle... Unracers like bars level with or above the saddle."
By 2014 the catalog mentions "Almost every Riv employee has at least one Alb-a-bar bike, and it is usually the most-ridden one."
In 2015, the Rivendell Reader features a short essay by Will: "I’VE ALSO FULLY EMBRACED THE UPRIGHT BAR. I used to think you had to have at least one drop bar bike for “real” riding, a totally ridiculous but pervasive idea. I went full upright after I started doing mixed terrain rides with Rivendell people using Albatross bars, and noticing how little difference it made whether somebody was using drops or uprights. It’s not as if the drop users had to wait at every turn for the slowpoke uprighters to catch up; it made no difference, despite conventional bike wisdom that drop bars make you faster. Older customers of ours have a particularly hard time using something other than drops. To them it feels like giving up, and I wish I could convince more of them to try uprights. If you like drops, that’s cool; I just wish upright bars were seen as a smart for any riding." -- Will Keating, Rivendell Reader 44; Winter 2015
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From Bridgestone years to the present, upright bars went from being an alternative to being the default. Whether that's because some of us are getting older, or because becoming an un-racer takes a long time, I'm not sure. Maybe both.
~Michael
On Tuesday, June 2, 2026 at 8:53:34 AM UTC-7 Mackenzy Albright wrote:
I've found for myself and neck issues it's not exclusively about being upright, it's about minimizing my body's instinct to pull on the bars. Even when upright if my bars are too wide or high I find myself pulling to leverage which ends up making my lower back and neck sore. My most successful setups allow a Graeme Obree type position where I can lean forward, hinging at the hip and engaging my core to leverage, without the use of my upper body except for stability. Swept back bars have been a game changer as it allows a for and aft adjustment and allowing me to keep my upper body relaxed no matter how upright or forward I want to ride.
I’ve found that getting your saddle sufficiently behind the bottom bracket, so that there’s a minimally sufficient bend between hips and torso, takes strain off the shoulders + arms + hands, is more comfortable for the neck, and perhaps takes pressure off the lower back too. The odd thing is that this seems to help relax the neck as well as shoulders, etc. This despite the fact that my bars are, for my road bikes, 3-4 cm below saddle nose, and on the dirt road bike, ~1 cm below ditto.
I haven’t worked out the mechanics of why this is so, but empirical evidence proves it sufficiently for my own case.
But bar above or below saddle: I think that the principle works in either case.
Hey bunchers I find that the most upright with no pressure on hands puts a lot of strain on the lower back… what’s the balance because I also suffer with bad neck pain.
Stephen Cowdrey Tallahassee Fl.
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