Steering and posture together
The handlebar does two jobs at once. It steers the front wheel, and it supports part of the rider’s weight. Changing its shape changes both how the bicycle turns and how the rider sits. Because of that, handlebar history is also a history of riding styles.
The tiller
Karl von Drais’s walking machine of 1817 was steered with a simple pole, called a tiller, that went up from the front fork. The rider held the tiller or rested their forearms on a padded rest in front of the saddle, which also helped to steady the body while pushing along the ground. A tiller is a lever for turning the wheel and little more.
The pedal velocipedes of the 1860s used a similar T-shaped bar, a short crossbar attached to the steering column. Because the front wheel carried the pedals, it had to be steered and driven at the same time, so the bar was used for both balance and direction, and control was limited by the heavy wheel.
The high-wheeler bar
On high-wheelers, the handlebar became a longer straight bar, and later many riders used a slightly curved design called a “moustache” bar because of its shape. The rider sat nearly over the front wheel with the arms stretched forward. A common feature was that the bar was wide enough to give leverage when turning but narrow enough to avoid the legs.
On these machines the handlebar also had the important job of keeping the rider upright, since a stop could pitch them forward. Many high-wheeler riders held the bar tightly on rough roads.
The upright bar of the safety bicycle
With the safety bicycle of the 1880s and 1890s, the rider sat much lower and farther back. Handlebars were typically swept back toward the rider, giving a sit-up-and-beg posture. This design is still associated with traditional roadsters in some countries, and with “city” or “Dutch” bicycles. Upright riding suited riders in ordinary clothes who wanted to see traffic. Its disadvantages included wind resistance and a poor position for climbing hills, but those drawbacks mattered less for short trips.
The “North Road” handlebar, a name connected to British club riders, offered a lightly curved shape with a raised grip. These variants are often described as touring or sport bars of the early twentieth century.
The drop bar
Racing changed things. A handlebar that curved forward and downward, with the ends dropping below the hands’ normal position, allowed a rider to lean forward and reduce wind resistance. By the early twentieth century, drop handlebars were common on racing bicycles, and the shape spread to touring and sports models. The bar offers several hand positions: on the flat top, on the curves or hoods, and in the drops. A rider can change position to rest the hands or to get into a lower, more streamlined shape.
The drop bar also affected other parts. Brake levers and gear shifters had to be designed to be reached from different hand positions, and the bar was usually wrapped with tape or covered with a vulcanized rubber or cork grip for comfort. Over time, makers offered different widths and drop shapes, and the angles became more refined.
Flat bars and mountain bikes
In the 1970s, enthusiasts in California adapted older, heavy bicycles for riding on dirt trails. They used wide, flat or slightly raised handlebars similar to those of balloon-tire cruisers or motorcycles. The extra width gave leverage for steering on rough ground, and the upright posture helped riders look ahead. Flat bars became the standard on mountain bikes, followed by slight upward or backward bends called “rise” and “sweep.”
By the late twentieth century, mountain bike bars were wide, and some included additional bar ends for climbing. The shape influenced hybrid and commuter bicycles, which borrowed the flat bar for its simplicity.
Aero bars and other experiments
Later in the century, triathletes and time trial riders added extensions to the bar that let them rest their forearms and bring the hands together in front. These “aero” extensions were popular in the late 1980s and 1990s, and rules for some competitions have since restricted bar shapes. Other designs include bullhorn bars, which resemble the horns of a bull and give a forward grip, and cruiser-style “ape hanger” bars on some novelty models.
How the bar attaches
Alongside shape, the way the handlebar attaches also changed. For many years, a quill stem was used, a metal shaft that inserted into the fork steerer and was held with a wedge. In the later twentieth century, the threadless system, in which the stem clamps to the outside of the steerer, became common. This made handlebar height easier to adjust at the factory and often reduced weight. Materials moved from steel to aluminum, made practical by advances in aluminum smelting, and then to carbon fiber on some road models.
Continued variety
The handlebar shows that there has never been a single best shape. Riding on rough roads and highways in the nineteenth century favored an upright position, and smoother pavement and racing encouraged leaning forward. Each shape developed in response to a use. The wide range of handlebar styles in modern bicycle shops is the result of those different uses, each fitting its own place in the history of the machine.