11 November 2025
Road and gravel bikes have undoubtedly become significantly faster in the last few years. Aerodynamic and enhancements in comfort have contributed to this, along with improvements in wheels and tires. For PRO’s product development team, the focus has been to enable you to ride faster by creating cockpits that empower efficient positions on the bike, because there is nothing that captures the liberating joy of cycling like going fast.
Aerodynamics, Ergonomics, Flare, and Reach all impact your comfort on the bike. Drop-bar road and gravel riding has evolved in recent years, and PRO’s cockpit offerings have changed accordingly as bike design has shifted to meet the needs of riders. Road racing bikes have become longer and more aerodynamic, while endurance bikes have become more capable, blending technology from elite racing with proven comfort-improving designs. Gravel has matured as a segment with increased differentiation between racers, endurance riders, and gravel touring. To meet these divergent needs, PRO has created a range of road and gravel handlebars and stems, and invested in education to help you find the right combination to create the cockpit that empowers your performance.
Though aerodynamic profiles do offer an advantage, the most significant gains are achieved by getting your body into the most efficient position possible. The PRO product design team has shown that the Pursuit position is the most aerodynamic and efficient, reducing your frontal area while still enabling flexible riders to produce power for long periods of time. Allowing you to hold the hoods while supporting your forearms with a broader top, the Pursuit position creates a horizontal arm position. This has been shown to be the fastest position in both wind tunnel and track testing.
It is, however, not possible for everyone to hold that position for a long period of time. The longer reach of PRO’s aero handlebars, like the PRO Vibe Aero Carbon Handlebar, which also includes a 10 degree forward sweep, enables more people to hold a Pursuit position more comfortably, empowering you to put more power through the pedals. A larger support area, like the PRO Vibe Aero Carbon Handlebar offers, also provides support closer to your elbow, reducing the energy required to balance yourself in the Pursuit position.
Aerodynamic handlebars, like aero frames, typically feature flattened tubes, which by their very nature require more materials to create. Material technology makes it possible to create lighter aero components, but they are still not as light as products designed from the ground up to prioritize lightweight. The PRO Vibe Superlight Handlebar, for example, is as light as possible. Rounded tops are, by their nature, lighter, but also offer greater comfort for riders who like to ride with their hands on the tops.
Endurance road bikes are often optimized for ergonomics. Ergonomics are highly personal, however, and you might well have to update the factory-fitted components on your bike to perfect your bike fit. PRO’s ergonomic components are ideal for enhancing the comfort of your endurance road bike. The shorter, more upright style of the frame means that you may need a longer stem to complete this build. You could also benefit from a bar like the PRO PLT Ergo Carbon Handlebar. The tops are of PRO’s ergonomic handlebars are shaped to match the natural curvature of your hand and feature a slight down and backsweep to allow for a neutral wrist position. This is also the reason for an 8 degree backsweep in PRO’s latest generation mountain bike handlebars.
Handlebars have become narrower in recent years, and though the UCI’s 2025 update for the 2026 season’s rules will enforce a minimum width, riders not taking part in sanctioned races will still undoubtedly demand narrower bars. To provide an aerodynamic frontal area without sacrificing safety on descents, PRO offers drops with flare. The broader flare usually ties in with gravel bikes being set up to conquer increasingly rough terrain. The PRO Discover Aero Carbon Handlebar, for example, which is ideal for gravel racers, features just 12 degrees of flare. The PRO Discover Alloy 30 Handlebar, which is best suited for bike packing and more extreme underbiking adventures, boasts 30 degrees of flare.
Road handlebars now offer flare too. The PRO Vibe Aero Alloy Handlebar, for example, has a 6 degree flare; while the PRO Vibe Aero Carbon Handlebar has a 10 degree flare. For handlebars with compact bends, flare has the added benefit of allowing for a natural hand position in what would otherwise be a cramped space. Gravel handlebars, in the PRO Discover range, in particular feature a shallow drop to ensure that the riding position is similar between the tops, hoods, and the drops. This choice of hand positions aids comfort and allows you to find a position which works for you on the terrain you are taking on at that very moment. A compact drop also helps keep weight off your front wheel when descending, which is particularly important when taking on loose gravel road descents.
With race bikes getting longer stems have naturally become shorter, to help you achieve the perfect bike fit. Endurance bikes, with their more upright design, could be made more racy with a longer stem, meanwhile. Gravel bikes have also trended longer, drawing on the slacker head angles of mountain bike design to help create a machine which is stable at speed on rough terrain. As such, you will likely require a shorter stem on your gravel bike than on your road bike. PRO has you covered with the Vibe, PLT, and LT stems for your road bike and the Discover stems for your gravel bike.
The PRO Vibe Stems are optimized for a single direction, created to be lightweight and, in the case of the PRO Vibe Aero Stem, aerodynamic. They offer various angles and lengths, usually from 80 to 130 millimeters. The PRO PLT Stem provides a wider range of lengths, from 50 to 130 millimeters, as well as a flippable design. Available in two angles, either ±6 or ±17, the PRO PLT Stem is a bike fitter's dream due to the range of solutions it provides. The PRO LT Stem also features a flippable design, and offers ±6, ±17, and ±35 degree angles in 60 to 120 millimeter lengths. PRO’s robust Discover gravel stems are 3D forged and CNC machined from AL7075 alloy. The PRO Discover Stem 10 has a flippable ±10 degree design, while the PRO Discover Stem features a flippable ±6 degree angle.
PRO’s design philosophy is driven by cyclists. Every member of staff is a keen rider, and the product development team in particular uses the needs that they see arising through personal experience, as well as industry trends, insights gained through working closely with the Shimano product development teams, and through a deep connection to the cycling community to identify potential new products. New products are designed and tested using computational fluid dynamics, and the first round of testing is done with 3D printed products on an indoor trainer. Prototypes are then comprehensively tested in-house before the products are sent for industry-standard testing before being finalized.
This process ensures that you can ride with confidence knowing that your choice of PRO cockpit has been optimized to allow you to experience the liberating joy of cycling.