For the past several years, the gap between gravel and XC mountain bikes has been ever narrowing. Taking it a step further, we’ve seen many riders creating their own drop bar mountain bike setups for endurance races like the Leadville Trail 100. Combining the aerodynamic and comfort benefits of drop bars with the suspension and geometry of an XC mountain bike certainly makes sense on some courses. But it seems Life Time didn’t see it that way, and they announced a ban on drop bar setups at Leadville moving forward.
With a name inspired by the infamous Leadville race, 5DEV’s new Shredville Flatbar XC Hood Mounts are a workaround for Life Time’s drop bar ban. These new mounts slide onto your flat handlebar, providing a way mount drop bar hoods, levers, and shifters on your flat handlebar. According to 5DEV, this allows “seamless integration of drop bar hoods that gives you brake access from both positions.”
The new Shredville Hood Mounts are undoubtedly a novel approach to getting a best-of-both-worlds cockpit setup. While the hoods appear to be mounted at a relatively extreme angle, it looks like it makes it fairly easy to get a more aero position with the hands extended in front of the flat handlebar. At the same time, the rider still has the option to use the standard grips and flat bar hand positions for control and handling in more technical terrain.
Or as 5DEV puts it, “Optimize your position on the road, then keep flooring it through the chunky stuff without missing a beat. The clock isn’t slowing down, so you can’t afford to either.” With drop bars banned at Leadville, it’ll be interesting to see if the Shredville mounts catch on, and what other aero hacks riders come up with this year. We’ll definitely be watching.
Weight, Pricing, and Availability
The claimed weight of the Shredville mounts is 135 grams for the pair, and they are compatible with handlebars with a standard 22.2mm grip diameter. They retail for $199.99 and are available now through the 5DEV website.
