What are your thought on narrow drop bars and where can I find them?
(And for anyone reading, sorry in advance for writing so much text):
I've seen some guys in the pro peleton use super narrow handlebars, notably Jan Willem van Schip (32cm on the tops and flared) and Dan Bigham (27 cm very flared). They are like much narrower than the most common bars on the market (360mm seems to be the narrowest I can find) and they also seem to be flared probably more so nowadays also accommodate the 350mm rule (measured at the drops). The flared shape also gives a wider with at the drops for better sprinting and descending/cornering of course.
Those bars dan bigham uses in this picture seem to be pretty flared out, more than most gravel bars: https://www.cyclingtips.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Wattshop-narrow-r...
While I do not really care about the UCI, I still don't want to go narrower than 350mm on the drops I think because I still want some width so I can have more leverage and control when using the drops. I both ride gravel and road, but the gravel roads I ride and potencially race at are mostly smooth gravel which is fine with a narrow bar. I have found an interesting article about a gravel racer who uses ultra narrow bars which can be read here
https://www.bikeradar.com/features/pro-bike/rane-roatta-custom-cannondal...
His bars are custom made by cutting wider flared alloy bars and welding them together, something I cannot do myself, I'm no expert. These bars are also ultra narrow at the tops (25cm with flare to 35cm) and the hoods are turned in to an ultra high degree, more than I probably would do tho. Interestinly his stem is a whopping 200mm, on a gravel bike!
I'm not that crazy though with the 200mm stem. I'd also go for an alloy bar, much less prone to breaking and much stronger and cheaper than carbon I think. Aero bars are in my opinion not worth it (for me at least) as a narrow body position seems to be way more effective. The saved width of the bars also means less frontal area, which seems to make a bigger impact on aerodynamics than just making a surface more aero, right, or is my theory off? Also, just look at time trial exyension bars, they are super narrow after all for a reason (but not road legal though).
If anyone knows, where could I find such narrow flared bars?
Any thoughts? Would track drop bars be an option, but can you clamp brakes to them? The thing is track bars are not really flared at all (sadly). Any experience where to get them? Big thanks already.