Ritchey's $66 Flared Road Bar Just Got Better — And Cheaper
Ritchey's updated WCS and Comp Streem bars bring 10° flare and aero tops at lower prices. Here's what the $66 vs $120 decision comes down to.
Ritchey just dropped updated alloy versions of the Streem handlebar at lower prices than before. In cycling, that sentence alone is worth pausing on.
The WCS Streem now runs $119.95 — down from wherever it sat before — while the Comp comes in at $65.95. Both share identical geometry: 10° flare, 80mm reach, 120mm drop, and aero-topped sections with 5° backsweep. The difference is material and routing. WCS gets triple-butted 6066 alloy with fully internal cables at 310g (42cm). Comp uses double-butted 6061, skips the internal routing, and weighs 330g. Twenty grams and cleaner cable management for an extra $54.
That 10° flare paired with the compact drop geometry is the real story here. It's a shape that's become standard on gravel bars but still uncommon on road-oriented options. The flare opens your chest slightly in the drops — helpful on longer efforts when you're hunched and breathing hard. The 80mm reach keeps the hoods accessible without a dramatic stretch, which matters if you're toggling between intervals and recovery pace on a Tuesday night crit workout.
Sizing runs from 36/40 to 42/46 (hood width/drop width), so narrower-shouldered riders actually have options. That's not universal. The internal routing on the WCS will appeal if you're running a clean cockpit setup and hate cable clutter, but it does mean more shop time if you ever need to swap housings. External routing on the Comp is faster to service and perfectly functional — just less tidy.
The Comp at $66 is genuinely hard to argue with if you want to try a flared road bar without committing to a $200+ carbon option. The WCS makes sense if internal routing and the weight savings matter to your build. Neither is the bar for someone chasing pure aero gains on a TT rig — the flare trades some wind-cheating for hand position variety. But for long training days where comfort compounds and you're not chasing KOMs, the tradeoff lands in the right place.
