Last year, I put some upgrades onto my Cross-Check which among others included different handlebars. While they felt better than the original drops by a long shot, I noticed one big disadvantage: They offered really only one hand position. Riding in the hoods no longer was an option due to the angle of the brake levers, the top section was too narrow to accommodate for my big hands. Back in the fall, I was starting to look for a replacement. Here’s what I ended up with:

I wanted to keep the bars wide, be able to change hand positions as needed and keep my bar-end shifters. This ruled out the WTB Mountain Road Drop Bars since they are compatible with STI shifters only.

Regular MTB bars don’t really work for me, so I was briefly considering ordering the Modolo Dumbo bars. In the end I skipped that idea, because they are rather pricey and would have necessitated a set of Paul’s Thumbies as well as new brake levers.

Thankfully, Salsa came to my rescue by introducing the Woodchippers that promised to be exactly what I was looking for. I ordered them as soon as they became available (in 46 cm width) as well as the Aztec Vibe Wrap. I was also lucky to score a NOS set of Cinelli Spinachis.

All of this went onto the bike a few weeks ago and I’m still surprised how much of a difference it makes.

I now have all the hand positions back I had on the original drops with the added benefit of better leverage due to the added with. The Spinachis add some additional positions that are quite nice to have on those rides exceeding 50km.

So far, I have about 250km on the new setup and it is easily the most comfortable cockpit I ever had. I am very much looking forward for touring and camping this summer.

This is the old setup, for comparison. Here’s the new setup:

Click the image to see it larger size