Disc brakes. Dropper posts. Big tires. Huge gear ranges. We’ve seen road and gravel bikes adopt mountain bike technology again and again. Fortunately, this cross-pollination has made our bikes more capable, more comfortable, and more fun than ever.

Another example? Handlebars. Mountain bike bars have experienced an arms race of ever-increasing width over the past few years. There are geometry reasons for wider bars, but there’s also the nice side effect of an increased feeling of stability and leverage on technical terrain. As we continue to push the envelope of where we ride our road and gravel bikes, why not apply this “wider is better” formula to drop bars for added comfort and control?

Taking this to the drawing board, we developed three wider sizes of our venerable Cowchipper, Cowchipper Deluxe, and Cowchipper Carbon drop bars: 48, 50, and 52 cm (measured at the hoods). Salsa Product Manager Jeremy Christianson says the wider bars make sense for gravel and all-road riding.

“We wanted a bar that would inspire confidence on anything from singletrack to gravel, and the added control is noticeable right away. These would be well-suited to anything from Cutthroat to Journeyman. The extra leverage of a wider bar is also nice for single speeders.”

We’re all for bikes that are capable of more than just one type of riding, and we think wide drop bars help make that possible. The wider Cowchippers, especially with their 24° flare in the drops, are your ticket to increased stability, compliance, and leverage when faced with roads and trails that would have seemed like mountain-bike territory ten years ago. Salsa Product Manager Josh Lavelle has been riding the wider Cowchippers for a few months, and had this to report:

“I’m predominantly a mountain biker, and these are the first bars that have really made me feel at home on a drop-bar bike. The added width makes the move from mountain bike to drop-bar bike more instinctive. From the drops, I feel confident enough to tackle technical descents with one finger on the brake and the other on the dropper lever.”

AVAILABILITY

Ready for a bigger, bolder drop bar? Cowchipper and Cowchipper Deluxe aluminum are available in the full size range now—order through your local Salsa retailer. The expanded sizes of Cowchipper Carbon will be available in early spring.

FEATURES AND U.S. MSRP

Shared Cowchipper Features:

116mm drop, 68mm reach, 24° flare angle, 12° drop angle

31.8mm clamp diameter with 120mm width for use with Salsa Anything Cradle and aerobars

Bar Specific Features:

Cowchipper

6061-T6 aluminum alloy construction

38cm to 52cm widths available in Black; 38cm to 46cm available in Silver

U.S. MSRP $50

Cowchipper Deluxe

7050-T6 series aluminum alloy construction

38cm to 52cm widths available in Black; 38cm to 46cm available in Silver

U.S. MSRP $80.00

Cowchipper Carbon

Carbon fiber construction

38cm to 52cm widths available in Black

U.S. MSRP $215.00