Thanks all for really helping me explore this, and provide real insights.
I sense now that the feasibility is not there without a lot of trial and error, if at all. And I think that combined with the inherent compromises of having 'one bike for all' means it is a dead end.
Thanks
I did this with a fixed gear bike - worked great if you can deal with FG. Nothing on the handlebars made switching easy - well for the street I often put a front brake on. ;-).
For me, I use one bike to rule them all. Wide-ish handlebars, and a quiver of wheels/tires does it for me. I wouldn't go through the hassle of changing bars (issues mentioned above, but a jones bar (flat bar) or a wide (flared?) drop bar would be a decent compromise if I really, really didn't want to have 2 bikes. But, having 2 bikes makes it so much easier to grab and go...
I can relate and appreciate our consolidation You mentioned you leaned a bit more towards drops. Have a look at the widest , drop , flared MTB bars For me I leaned more I leaned more flat and dialed these in as the horns / inner ends give me a i hoods position This is the most comfortable set up I have ever had I don’t feel changing bars out is a real opti on for grab and go , one ATB set up
That is a cool idea. bonus points for creativity. I've thought about that, glad to see how it works.
Ultimately my solution to that is to use wide bars. I just experimented with that over the weekend, but find that wide drop bars can be pretty nice on a gravel bike. I still scratch my head on the idea of ugly flared bars, but putting that extra width up on the top can give you the best of both worlds - between flat and drops.
There are some OEMs out there going extremely wide on their gravel bikes.
Following on the most recent posts: you might check out the InnerBarEnds from SQ Labs. They're designed to sit between the grip and the brake lever on flat bars (they make one version that works with any grip, and one that replaces the fixing hardware on their own grips). The feel is quite similar to having hands on the brake hoods of a drop bar, although unlike the road hoods these bits aren't a good position for climbing. And hydraulic brake levers are easy enough to activate that one can use the brakes from that InnerBarEnd position (but not with quite the same as control as from the grips).
on for grab and go , one ATB set up