Delighted
“I put a Soma June Bug bar on my newest bike and am delighted with it. All six hand positions are comfortable and intuitive. I am over 70 and can no longer crouch like a racer, so I like the wide and shallow drops. This bike is set up primarily for riding rail trails. It uses an Alfine 8-speed hub with a Jtek shifter on the bar end. Brake levers are Dia-Compes for small hands that I bought nearly 30 years ago. I have large hands but these levers fit the tighter bend better than larger levers.
http://twofootartist.com/surly-cross-check-trail-bike/”
-- Wesley E.
On my Long Haul Trucker
“ I've just had them a couple of days and haven't done any long rides yet, but so far I like them a lot. The riding position is very different. Instead of being on the hoods, the 'neutral' position is in the drops, which are not as low as normal drops. From there I can easily reach the shifters, or slide up to the hooks to reach the breaks. It feels very stable. I can stand in the drops and even ride one handed in the drops, something I could not do with my old bars.
The hoods still work fine as a comfortable place to reach the breaks, and I can still stretch out 'over the hoods' which I like to do a lot. I can still sit up with my hands on the tops although there isn't as much straight bar before they start curving in, as with normal drop bars. So there still are plenty of positions for moving around a lot, which I do often.
Since these bars are most commonly used as off-road drops, I rode up into Bald Hill park on my way home today and tried out the easy trail. I would have to say they work great. Climbing in the drops was great, but for extra power I could go to the hoods. Descending in the drops was great. I felt like I had lot's more control then when I did the same trail with my old bars, and I took the downhill much faster. (http://bike.paullieberman.net)
-- Paul Lieberman
Single speed set up
“I bought these for my singlespeed niner. Set it up with my BB7 brakes and the Soma brake levers. I got tired of my riser bars and wanted something different. This is perfect for monstercross, drop bars for full niner tires. Switched to barcons to make it work.”
–– K.B., SF, CA
I just want to say how much I love this bike
“The bike is composed, comfortable, and fast. I've got a few centuries under my belt on that thing and it has been awesome. I'm talking about spirited group rides with my friends on full carbon rigs. I also spent a good amount of time on that bike with 35mm slicks riding gravel in the headlands, and again, it is awesome. The higher stack really lends itself well to gravel riding. Often, all-road bikes are too low to get comfortable on chunky gravel. If you are too low on the front end of the bike over rough terrain, you'll end up hurting your back and shoulders. With the Smoothie, the higher stack allows you to get further to the back on the bike and unload your hands, which makes chunky gravel, even single track, very manageable on 35mm tires. One thing I've thought is great about the Smoothie is that it has maintained good handling characteristics through a wide range of road tires. Going between the 28s and the 35s didn't really change the handling that much. The trail number at 28mm is 58.7, while at 35 its 60.8. I have not felt this change. The bike handles great with both tire sizes. On my Enve Melee, going up to a 35mm makes the front end feel weird, also, toe overlap. No overlap on the Smoothie with 35s.”
-- Mike L., SF
