We’ve tested the widest drop bars in the world: the Curve Walmers and can confirm they’re flippin huge. Also, they’re pretty fun.

Words and Images - James Raison

Curve set comments sections everywhere ablaze when they claimed to have made the “World’s Widest Drop Bar” last year. The claim was true and you can head over to whatbars.com and see for yourself. I’ve had my hands on a set for about 5 months now and I can categorically say that this isn’t marketing hype. These bars are excellent.

THE CURVE LOOP

I want to go on a quick tangent to explain why these bars will succeed and it’s grounded in how Curve, a quite small company, manages to be a big brand. I call it the “Curve Loop”.

Curve manages to sculpt the adventure market by in-housing design, development, marketing, and brand ambassador-ship. They change the market by understanding the market, and designing to fill gaps for products they want to use themselves. Their own staff are big names the adventure cycling scene so their insights into what people need/want are invaluable, and they have the personal clout to then sell what they develop.

They push the boundaries, break the boundaries, then sell the remnants of boundaries back to us in the form of products that aren’t widely available from anyone else. That’s the Curve Loop. They’re good marketers for sure, but it’s backed by good product development.

That was very much the case with the Walmer development where the Curve team wanted a bar for their monstrous new GMX V3 with 700x3.0” tyres. They were so impressed with the 600 mm prototype bars they decided to make narrower versions, whack them onto their gravel Kevin and again loved the experience. The entire bar range was described by Curve’s Adam Lana as “a happy accident that they worked so well on a gravel bike.” Again, it’s the Curve Loop in action.

A UNIQUE INSTALL

One is unlikely to whack Walmers straight onto your whip without overcoming some logistical challenges. The biggest is likely cable and hose lengths. I was effectively moving the shifters 9 cm further apart so my cables and hoses were stretched close to their limit. My talented mechanic - Pete and Bio-Mechanics Cycles and Repairs - let the hose out of a gap in the bar tape to ease the tension and an eventual switch to a shorter stem bought me enough slack to be comfortable. Everything was a little more taut than before though. With some finness, they were soon fitted to the Grove R.A.D.

On bar tape, Curve ships every Walmer with a set of extra long size-adjusted bar tape made by Velo. It’s nicely tacky, plush enough at 3.2mm thick, and feels good in hand. Buying Walmers does mean you’re slightly limited for choice in bar tapes so keep that in mind.

Curve ships some loooooong and grippy tape with the Walmers

I ran the Walmers on my racey gravel rocket Grove R.A.D; a bike that necessarily doesn’t suit the Walmers on-paper but they became a great combo with some adjustments.

SHAPE

The headline grabbing width - 550 mm at the hoods and 700 mm at the flare - has overshadowed the nuanced design of the Walmers. There’s a short 60 mm reach, a shallow 110 mm drop, and a 29° flare. There’s a 7° backsweep on the flats too which brings them back closer to you.

Each bar has the critical measurements marked; width at the drop 700mm, reach 60mm, drop 110mm

The bar diameter is fairly narrow as you get further from the stem. If I had one ergonomic gripe it’d be that. It starts to feel a little narrow towards the hoods. It is, in every other way, ergonomically excellent. Everything feels like it’s where you want it. The flared drops are always within reach, and give wonderful control. I’ve become very enamoured with short reach and shallow drops over recent years and the Walmers bring big-time shortness and shallowness. Basically everything about the Walmers is at the extreme end of the spectrum.

RIDE AND HANDLING

Going to Walmers from just about any other handlebar takes some time to adjust. The original design was focused on Curve’s own GMX so people retro-fitting to their own bikes should expect a learning period and perhaps a setup tweak. Once dialled in, they’re a pleasure to ride with.

That wide Walmer ride position in action

The Walmers have a dramatic effect on steering because your hand input is so far from the steerer. Initially I ran the 110 mm stem specced on the Grove R.A.D. The steering felt dopey as you’d expect. Still, after some runs through technical trails I understood the potential of the bars. I switched to a 90 mm stem after a couple of weeks and it made a world of difference. The front became much sharper; better to thread through switchbacks, and more familiar on the roads. I particularly love the Walmers on rough descents where you need to balance steering and braking. The wider arm position gives excellent control and I felt much more confident over the bumps and smashing through rocky sections.

There’s a few places the Walmers don’t perform well so here’s the lightning round:

Into a vigorous headwind.
Getting my bike in and out of the house. I have to turn the bars 90 degrees to get them through the door.
In narrow bike lanes.
Steaming towards narrow gaps in fences.
Tight, tree-lined single track.
On social media where angry old farts will DM you to say these bars should be banned.

COMFORT

The Walmers are brilliant from a comfort-perspective.

The flare shape is dialled superbly to comfortably sit in for long periods. My preferred hand position was the flare; and I spent a lot of time with my hands there. It’s comfortable on wide open roads, and gives you generous control when you’re descending or need some handling finesse. The swept-back tops are similarly excellent. I’d have preferred the flats to be wider diameter, or flattened off like so many contemporary gravel bars have become but that’s just my preference.

The Walmers offer up plenty of comfortable hand positions but there’s one that gets compromised: the hoods. The blocky SRAM Apex shifters aren’t particularly ergonomic on such a dramatic angle. Not Curve’s fault by any means, but something buyers might have to deal with. The Shimano GRX shifters I’ve been using (on another bike) have fantastic, smooth shaping that would be much better on these bars.

HORSES FOR COURSES

Let’s get this out quickly, the Curve Walmers in the 550mm width I was sent are overkill for most people on most garden-variety-gravel riding.

You need to consider a few factors with Walmers; what does your physiology need and what does your riding demand? There’s 46, 50, 55, and 60 cm. Generally speaking the 55 and 60 cm are going to suit the tall, broad, or the hardcore bikepacking set. The sheer width of the Walmers gives the most bar real estate outside of a flat bar, which is a critical feature for bikepackers. They don’t have to sacrifice all of the bar width to bags, lights, and computers with the Walmers. They’ll still sacrifice a lot of it, but that’s inevitable really. Bikepacking has been paused recently, but I’ve ridden plenty of full-day gravel rides with smaller bags like the Apidura Racing pack or skingrowsback lunch box. I appreciate the Walmer wide because I don’t lose a hand position to the bar straps.

General gravel grinders should certainly consider the Walmers for their shorter adventures. The ergonomics are so damn good. You just need to pick the most appropriate width. I’ve used flared gravel bars in 42, 44, 46, and 55 cm in just the last couple of months and I’ve come to prefer the wider bars. I’d personally take Walmers in 50 cm for a general gravel grinder and 55 cm for a bike likely to get bikepacked on.

WRAPPING UP

I get the Walmer bars. For those riding bikes with the right geometry and on the right terrain they make absolute sense. Bikepackers too will find many virtues with the Walmers. At $189 AUD including bar tape, they’re even solid value. Not amazing, but solid. I think we’ll see more bars in this extra-wide category before long because they have tangible benefits for those who buy them.

They are an extreme product though, and not one that’s easy to fit and dial into every bike. Do your research and assess your requirements before you invest. For those who do, there’s a lot to love about the Curve Walmer bars.

Head on over to Curve’s website to buy Walmer bars.

Disclosure statement: Curve send the Walmer bars for review. It’s not a paid review and we don’t get an money from the sale of Curve gear.