Salsa Moto Ace Short'n'Shallow bars

Salsa's Moto Ace range of drop bars are designed to be an economical option for bikes running a non-oversized stem, and the Short & Shallow is a good all-purpose bar for road riding. It's not that shallow, in spite of its name, but it is comfy and fairly inexpensive.

I fitted the S&S bars to my Raleigh singlespeed conversion, and that meant feeding them through a single-bolt quill stem. The ergonomic shape made that quite a squeeze, although I finally managed to persuade them into place with a bit of puffing and panting and a cold chisel wedging the clamp open. If you have a classic quill stem, best to check you'll be able to get them in.

Once fitted they were comfortable and easy to get used to. The drop is 144mm so it's not the most shallow you can get, but there's a generous amount of the drop behind the tops, which means they're nice and easy to find with plenty of scope for adjusting your grip. The ergonomic section isn't as pronounced a bump as some other bars, which I got on with pretty well. Up top the transition from tops to drops is well designed, with enough room along the tops for hands and accoutrements, and decent support when you're on the hoods.

Stiffness-wise they're not the most rigid of bars, but there's no more flex on the drops than on a lightweight set of Carbon bars. If you do a lot of sprinting or you like a really stiff cockpit, best to look elsewhere. I like a bit of give, so they suited me well. At 306g for the 44cm bars tested they're not especially light, but then at £40 they're not especially pricy either.

Verdict

Good quality standard-clamp handlebars that give a good range of comfy hand positions