Surly Corner Bar handlebar review £120.00 A great way to add drop bars to your mountain bike without a huge cost
Overall Quality Performance Value What's good? What's not? Buy if... you want to try drop bars on an MTB or hybrid but don’t want to spend a fortune on new parts
The Surly Corner Bar lets you add a drop barto your mountain bikeor hybrid whileretaining all your existing levers, shifters, and drivetrain. If you want toturnyour mountain bike into a gravel bike, this alternative to the best MTB handlebarsis a cheap way to get aero and comfy.
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Surly is renowned for its alternative and often retro-grouchy steel creations, emphasising durability, simplicityand longevity. The brand hasmade interesting bar designs in the past, but the Corner Bar is on another planet.
Surly Corner Bar - Technical details
The handlebars are available inthree widths- 46, 50, or 54cm (tested). The bar widthismeasured at the junction of the bar and end pieces.
Much easier to understand once you see it butwhat you get is a bar with a number of different hand positions (the whole point of drop bars) allowing you to reposition your grip depending on the speed, control, comfort, etc you need at any given time.
The Corner Bar starts out as a 25.8mm diameter CroMoly steel flat bar with a 31.8mm split shim to fit stems with removable faceplates. It then tapers each side over a length of 80mm down to 22.2mm, a standard MTB grip size. There'sabout 90mm of taper down to 22.2mm, then a whopping 150-ish mm of flat ‘tops’ as roadies call them. At the end of the tops,there is a 260mm ‘drop,’which is welded to the top close to its upper end. That leaves 47mm stickingforward as a ‘horn.’
The 'drops' or lower grips are swept back at a sharp angle, aiming to replicate the sweep of a gravel drop bar, which is pushed outwards from the traditional vertical plane to broaden the leverage and allow a more-relaxed wrist angle in the drops. In this regard, they feel close-ish to how a Jones Bar works, with its radical backsweep.
The shim is 60mm wide, leaving you 10mm on either side to affixcycling computers, or other accessoriesbefore the gentle taper down to 22.2mm begins. The taper is pretty long, so you’ll get away with clamping stuff like lights and things that don’t need to be perfectly aligned here - maybe with rubber or tape under. As for weight, the bar weighs in at 792g including the shim.
The horns are where your controls mount. Once thebrake and shifter clamp is installed there’s not much room to actually hang onbutif your hands are large enough you canstill feather the brakes with your last two fingers.You can purchase third-partyhandlebar extenders to increase griporto clamp on gear like lights where they can clear luggage, but usual safety caveats apply.
Using standard bar tape you can wrap the drops, hornsand tops with a single roll. The drops are22.2mm in diameter, meaning you can also slide on a standard MTB grip on them. The issue here is it’s very unlikely you’llbe able to reach the end of the brake leversunless you slide the brakes up the drop instead of down onto the horns. In that case, your shifter might follow and need to be on the lower side.
There are certainly plenty of options to get creative, especially if you have shifters that attach to the brake levers. Some folks use the horn/drop to slide an original 22.2mm Rohloff or Grip Shift on - certainly not something you can do with a drop bar. You can also fit a much longer rubber or foam grip such as the ODI Longneck as opposed to a rigid or lock-on, to avoid wrapping the drops.
Surly Corner Bar - Performance
Changing from a flat or flattish bar to the Corner Bar will inevitably affect your bike fit. You may want to retain an upright position, in which case you might want a shorter or steeper stem, or both. You may be after a more-aero gravelly position, which the Corner Bar might give you using your existing stem
I prefer the brakes and shifter/dropper leveron the hornso when Iuse them my hands are wedged up in the ‘drops.'The54cm versiongives you mid-palm width of 640mm in the drops, so you'reable to reach the levers. That's MTB barwidth and thereby gives you plenty of control through rough terrain. I spent a happy six minutes descending Dunkeld’s Rake’n’Ruin red trail on my fully rigid 3-inch tyre fat bike and felt totally in control with a single finger on each lever. The bar ends measure a whopping 712mm in the largest size, which you might favour on long graveldescents off the brakes at the end of a tough day.
The tops act just like a road bar where you can bimble along without needing to use the controls and putyour hands in different positions. There’s a considerable amount of space for a bar bag - around 40cm depending on how your cables exit the controls.
2022 surly corner bar control mount 2.jpg, by Liam Mercer
The drop is only 94mm - pretty shallow by drop bar standards, and the flare of the drops is over 40 degrees,hence their massive width. You’ll really need to watch doorways with this bar fitted. That short drop and wide flare translate to an easy move from the tops to give plenty of control when needed. What it means for your bike fit, stem choice, etc to get a comfy setup is another matter.
Surly Corner Bar - Verdict
The Corner Bar is a real Vegemite (aka Marmite)component. You’ll either see an immediate fit for what you want to do, or you’lldecry it as the ultimate folly and best way to ruin a perfectly good MTB. If you want to get a feel for drop bar multi-position choice on your MTB without spending a fortune on new parts, at £120it’s a great option.
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Test report Surly Corner Bar handlebar review £120.00 Handlebars It's for people wanting to try out a drop-bar position, using their existing flat bar brakes and shifters. Surly says: Used to be if you wanted to throw drop bars on your off-road rig, you had to fork over your allowance for a new drivetrain and brake levers. We made the Corner Bar so you could conduct all your dirt-drop experiments with your current brake and drivetrain setup. I mean, why spring for the whole buffet when all you want is a salty snack at the bar? Anyway, we made this one out of Chromoly and it comes in three agreeable widths. We’re also including a set of shims. If you don’t need ‘em, stick ‘em in a drawer for later. You call the shots, Boss. Material: ChromolyClamp Diameter: 25.4mmBrake Lever Compatibility: Mountain 22.2mmDrop Bar Equivalent Width: 46cm, 50cm, or 54cmDrop Bar Flare: 41.4-degreesBar Drop: 94mmSweep Angle: 65.2-degreesColour: E.D. coated black Nice welds. Does the job of repositioning the levers and shifters into a drop-bar position. It's steel. It's here forever. Pretty darn hefty. If you like the feel, you'll be comfortable with the multiple positions. Great value compared to the alternative of new levers/shifters. The Corner Bar works really well, to get you low and wide multiple hand positions with flat-bar shifters. Reuse of 22.2mm components. The horns feel a bit short, and with some levers your cables might be in the way of wider bags. Yes Yes Yes A unique proposition, that can convert your flat-bar bike to drops. If you want a gravel bike position on the cheap, look no further. Product purpose:
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