Thomson Alloy Dirt Drop Handlebar

The Thomson Dirt Drop alloy handlebar is a decent flared option that gives good control off-road and loads of room for mounting bags if you're bikepacking. It's pretty stiff, though, and won't suit small hands.

For more options, check our best road bike handlebars buyer's guide.

2024 Thomson Alloy Dirt Drop Handlebar - drop detail.jpg (credit: road.cc)

We've already reviewed the carbon version of this bar, and at £135 the alloy Dirt Drop isn't much more than half the cost.

So what's the difference? Well, hardly anything in terms of weight: the alloy bar is a mere 4g heavier on our scales. Some of the extra carbon is probably beefing up the holes for internal routing: this bar doesn't have any of that, so if you're using an older Di2 system – or a bike with full internal hosing – you can probably discount it.

Like its carbon sibling the Dirt drop has a generous 25° flare at the drops, and it's wide to begin with: our bar is nominally 44cm but at the drops is more like 56cm, so you get plenty of leverage to keep your bike going where you point it on trickier off-road terrain.

That wide stance will mean it's not especially aerodynamic if that bothers you on your gravel bike, although the fairly deep 130mm drop will help there. For me it's a bit too deep a drop for a bar like this, and for riding off-road I prefer other bars that are a little less aggressive in the low position.

I had this bar on my Kinesis Tripster ATR for review, which is a bike I tend to use more on the road and less technical trails than I do on more technical off-road; I found the drop position pretty good for that kind of use.

The Dirt Drop maintains its 31.6mm diameter along much of its top run, which has both advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, there's masses of real estate for lights, computers, bar rolls and the like: you're unlikely to run out of room to attach things, if you do a lot of that, and the simple circular section means pretty much anything will fit.

2024 Thomson Alloy Dirt Drop Handlebar - bar detail.jpg (credit: road.cc)

This larger-than-normal diameter for the tops also means it's quite a stiff handlebar, though, and if your hands are on the small side you might find it a bit bulky. I often double wrap my bars because my hands are at the other end of the spectrum, and I didn't feel the need to do that with this bar.

For sizing purposes, at least: off road I think I would have welcomed an extra wrap of tape on the tops to soak up some of the bigger hits. The drops are more forgiving.

Value

At £135 I'd say this is an expensive bar for the performance you get. There's no doubting that it's nicely made, as with everything Thomson, and it's in a similar ballpark to some other bars such as the Zipp SL70 XPLR (which we haven't tested).

Other options from well-regarded brands are a lot cheaper though: Easton's EA70 AX is not much more than half the price, for example.

My personal fave, the Ritchey VentureMax comes in a WCS version that's 20g lighter than this for £40 less, and has a much more usable drop.

Conclusion

If you're really into fixing stuff to your handlebar, or you like a stiff bar, or you have big hands, then this might be just the ticket for you. It's not going to the top of my list, though.

Verdict

Good gravel bar if attaching things is your primary concern, but a bit stiff