What's the status of riser road bars in 2026?

[Pistonbroke]

LIGHTCARBON HBR17
This is the one I'd prefere of all riser bars available ATM.

Good bars!

[patliean1]

How are you guys determining both what frame size and riser handlebar size you need when ordering? I need someone to explain it to me like I am 6 years old. Do I just simply measure the cockpit stack and reach in connect with the frame geometry?

Looking at the Avenger R8RS. Not exactly ground breaking stuff but might be a cool an budget gateway bike into the world of riser bars. And could also make for interesting talking points if I bought one in the future.

[Serge_K]

How are you guys determining both what frame size and riser handlebar size you need when ordering? I need someone to explain it to me like I am 6 years old. Do I just simply measure the cockpit stack and reach in connect with the frame geometry?

I've done trigonometry in Fusion 360 because it's easy to draw stack, reach, and angles (seat tube & stem). So it's easy to map a frame, saddle (the offset / no offset seatpost can be confusing), then stem (w angle), spacers, and that gives you coordinates. With riser bars, it's fundamentally just more spacers, so your stem should lengthen as you go higher, w your ass sat on the saddle as the center of a circle.
What idk, is how much stack you can add before the bike itself rides different and you look like a clown (like that guy on that tavelo who got disqualified from that race he won for looking silly).

[Takiyaki]

Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't the reason of the riser bars appearance in the market, because of the Low Stack of the Chinese frames? If so, is there any point to have a riser bar on a bike with "normal stack"?
Maybe to have the handlebar slammed?

It's just another option for fit. No different than different angle stems or setback vs no setback seatposts for example. These will enable a less aggressive fit on a wider range of frames, vs just having to pick only from endurance frames for example.

Right now I am running 130mm Avro bars. So -10 degrees and no rise. I want to raise my front end. Going to a 0 degree stem would get me ~20mm of rise. Then riser bars could net another 20-30mm. If that's too much rise I can play with different angle stems. Just enables flexibility.

I've done trigonometry in Fusion 360 because it's easy to draw stack, reach, and angles (seat tube & stem). So it's easy to map a frame, saddle (the offset / no offset seatpost can be confusing), then stem (w angle), spacers, and that gives you coordinates. With riser bars, it's fundamentally just more spacers, so your stem should lengthen as you go higher, w your ass sat on the saddle as the center of a circle.
What idk, is how much stack you can add before the bike itself rides different and you look like a clown (like that guy on that tavelo who got disqualified from that race he won for looking silly).

This is a great idea. I have been meaning to document my fit and I do a lot in Fusion 360 for 3D printing. I will get to work on this. Super easy.

[Chiyou]

User xenograft shared this tool they created that does what Serge describes (without needing Fusion): https://bikefitr-3af15.web.app/

On the left, you enter all the dimensions of your current set-up. Then, on the right you a) enter the dimensions of the frame you're considering and b) play mainly with the saddle, cockpit and handlebar dimensions until you get the contact points of your new rig to match those of your current bike.

Serge's clown caveats still apply.

[Samuel BMR]

LIGHTCARBON HBR17
This is the one I'd prefere of all riser bars available ATM.

The rise is minimal. Cannot be compared with the REAL riser bars which are like 2 to 4cm
Higher