The previous review that mentions the stem mounting area marked on the bar is incorrect. The stem clamp needs to be located inside the indicated area, it does not need to cover the entire indicated area. So you can use your preferred stem!
This bar ended my quest for a shallow drop bar with minimal flare. The drop section with reminds me of the FSA Omega with a large radius that opens to flat... Super comfy. The flat tops that extend toward the brake lever hoods are a comfortable platform for your hands. I did notice the aforementioned gap between the flat portion and the clamp (under the hood). I just cut a small piece of bar tape to fill it in and let the hood cover it up. Now there's a seamless, comfortable transition for riding on the hoods.
The shallow drops provide an extremely secure position for gravel descents without putting you in an overly aggressive position.
These are the most comfortable bars I've ever used, and allow for great positioning in the hoods and in the drops. Tempted to put them on my road bike as well--it's a pretty similar shape to my vision metron bars, but much more comfortable.
This is my second set of the Zipp Service Course SL-70 XPLR handlebars. The first was given to me by JOM of gravelcyclist.com for review. I loved them back in 2019, and I love them now.
The shape is so perfectly designed for off-road drop bar bike use. I feel like Zipp hired a team of kinesiologists to figure out exactly how people move from the hoods to the drops and back when designing the shape of the bend, the depth of the drop, the angle of flare, and clamping area for the levers. Moving between positions is so natural. The kinesiologists then stuck around to figure out the back sweep angle on the tops. Every position on the bars is perfect and I never feel any discomfort when on them for long periods of time. The terrain in my area is made up of steady river roads punctuated by steep ramps up and down. Being able to naturally move from tops/hoods when climbing one of the steep ramps to the drops when descending gives you a lot of confidence.
Another great feature of these bars is the channel for routing brake hoses and shift outers (should you have them). Internal routing is cool too, but I don't want it on a bike that is primarily used on unpaved roads. With these bars, I don't have to hear hoses rattle in the bars or frame, and I can easily replace headset bearings that see all sorts of dirt. The channel hides the hoses, prevents rattling, and eliminates the need for colorful language when servicing the headset.
These bars are great. Get them and enjoy your dirt road drop bar bike even more than you already do.
The best thing about this bar is the slope and shape of the tops. If you like to climb with your hands on the tops, you'll like these a lot. The issue I have with them is that the wrist clearance when sprinting is not great. I bump my wrists against the corners of the bar behind the hoods when I sprint. If you look at the top view, you'll notice there is a lot of bulk in that corner area. One way they could have fixed this would have been to add a bit more flare, but they kept the drops narrow.
Purchased this bar for a Time ADHX build using Ultegra mechanical. I wanted a bar with numerous ergonomic hand position options (which this has) AND that was mechanical group friendly. This uses a recessed channel under the bar to hide all cables very well before the cables enter my Deda Superbox stem. My prior bar was an Easton EC90 SLX that I've loved for about five years, but this PRO PLT Ergo is even more comfortable. Note that there isn't an internal routing option, but the external cable management is outstanding and doesn't fully show in the manufacturer photos. Long days are much easier with this bar given its compliance and hand placement options.
