Flat bars in their most aggressive form ask your wrists to hold a position they don't naturally rest in, and on rides longer than the morning commute, that adds up. Ritchey's Comp El Camino handlebar takes the opposite approach with 35 degrees of backsweep, 750mm of width, and 50mm of rise — geometry that rotates your wrists into a relaxed grip and lifts the cockpit into an upright posture better suited for mixed-surface exploration than racing singletrack.

That much sweep and rise changes what the bike does as much as how it feels. The wider 750mm platform gives leverage for slow-speed handling on loaded touring rigs and around-town errands, and the rise opens up your chest enough that long days in the saddle don't compress your breathing. There's also a practical side to the width: more usable real estate between the grips for a handlebar bag, a feed pouch, a light, and a computer without everything fighting for the same inch of clamp space.

Construction is double-butted 6061 aluminum, which thickens the tube walls at the clamp area and thins them through the sections that see less stress. The 31.8mm clamp diameter is the standard for modern stems, so dropping this onto an existing build doesn't require swapping anything upstream. The matte BB Black finish keeps the look subtle, which matters on commuters and tourers where a polished cockpit can feel out of place. If you're running a flat bar and dealing with hand numbness or wrist fatigue, the El Camino's geometry is the kind of change you feel within the first ride.