Flat and Alt Bars - comfort and bike-handling

[SprokenBroke]

I’ve spent so much time, effort, and TBH money on this ‘bar trialling that I don’t think I could justify more, but I’d be interested to read how you fared with them.

I was joking. Have you seen how narrow they are?

[SprokenBroke]

Has anyone considered the Koga Denham bars?
https://www.cyclesense.co.uk/m61b0s745p ... bar-31-8mm

I was eyeing those up. They're like the Velo Orange Crazy bar (which they are based on) but without the rise. I'm wondering if there's anything to choose between them. How much difference would the rise make?

[freiston]

Has anyone considered the Koga Denham bars?
https://www.cyclesense.co.uk/m61b0s745p ... bar-31-8mm

I did consider them but decided on the Velo Orange Crazy bar instead, mostly down to availability and price.

[Nearholmer]

I was joking

Yes, and so was I.

[richardfm]

Has anyone considered the Koga Denham bars?
https://www.cyclesense.co.uk/m61b0s745p ... bar-31-8mm

I did consider them but decided on the Velo Orange Crazy bar instead, mostly down to availability and price.

There's very little difference in price now and both seem to be available.

[Nearholmer]

You guys are going to set me off again, because those VO ones do look pretty interesting.

[freiston]

Before deciding on the Crazy bar (v.2), I did look at Alee's web page but that gives the dimensions of the Crazy bar v.1. I understand that the horns on v.1 were longer and straighter but I don't know if other things have changed, particularly thinking about distance between horns and sweep.

I reckon that deciding between the two (Koga & VO), the differences are small but those small differences could be a big difference to some people - I either got lucky or am not that sensitive to the differences. On the other hand, I struggled with the Surly Moloko.

[freiston]

Here's a link that reviews v.2 of the Crazy bar and describes the changes from v.1:

https://bikepacking.com/gear/velo-orang ... rs-review/

[SprokenBroke]

I was considering putting some bog standard riser bars on my Dawes Galaxy. I recently did a weeks tour on a hybrid and it was perfectly fine. I'm so used to the hybrid that when I get on the Dawes the handlebars feel too narrow and I get back pain. The top tube and stem length on the two bikes are about the same so it should work. Those bars with an extreme backsweep might cause problems with stem length.

[Nearholmer]

A further update on this topic:

I was talking this subject over with the guy at the bike shop, and he suggested that I try what he uses on cross country MTB, very wide, high rise bars, on a short stem.

Sounded all wrong to me, but he let me have a set to try on a “money back if you don’t get on with them” basis.

Well, having fitted them, I could instantly tell that I would need inner bar ends, so I fitted the cheapo copy ones that my other half bought for me from Amazon, transposing the L and R ones (I’m sure they’re wrongly labelled, either that or Chinese hands are different!).

The grip position is a smidge above saddle height, but not much. This is with a 2” rise, but that would differ for different bikes and these can be had in up to 70mm rise if you shop around between makes.

On test yesterday, they sailed past the two hours benchmark, where I usually start to find flat bars seriously uncomfortable, and still felt fine after four hours of bumpy old bridleways. Surprisingly (to me anyway), they work for climbing, and despite the short stem, they exhibit no twitchiness. The huge length makes them very good for negotiating rutted byways. No good for going quick on road sections, but that was never the brief.

This is the best so far!

[cycle tramp]

A further update on this topic:

I was talking this subject over with the guy at the bike shop, and he suggested that I try what he uses on cross country MTB, very wide, high rise bars, on a short stem.

Sounded all wrong to me, but he let me have a set to try on a “money back if you don’t get on with them” basis.

On test yesterday, they sailed past the two hours benchmark, where I usually start to find flat bars seriously uncomfortable, and still felt fine after four hours of bumpy old bridleways. Surprisingly (to me anyway), they work for climbing, and despite the short stem, they exhibit no twitchiness. The huge length makes them very good for negotiating rutted byways. No good for going quick on road sections, but that was never the brief.

This is the best so far!

Thanks for posting.. personally, I blame the late 80's and early 90's for introducing stoooopidly long handlebar stems (135 mm ?) at a really low height under the guise of getting more weight over the front wheel...
...I've always thought of straight 'bars as the work of the devil, with their ability to pull the shoulder blades forward outside of their natural position....
..however straight bars can only really do that with a medium or long stem set below saddle height... with a much shorter stem at around saddle height your shoulder blades should stay, more or less in their natural position....
.. further to this, I suspect that with your hands closer to you (both in height and distance) your body adopts its own natural curve, rather than being forced into it..

[Nearholmer]

One thing that’s noticeable is that my back stays pretty much straight, very slightly leaning forward, but straight, whereas the others I’ve tried seem to cause hunching. On a drop bar bike my back is pretty much straight too, just with much more forward lean. So, it could be that not curving the back much is indeed the secret.

[rareposter]

Thanks for posting.. personally, I blame the late 80's and early 90's for introducing stoooopidly long handlebar stems (135 mm ?) at a really low height under the guise of getting more weight over the front wheel...

I remember early days in my cycle club, one of the regulars turning up with some new titanium handlebars, cut down to about 580mm - and mounted at the end of a dead flat 130mm stem. He was ever so proud of them (and we were all very jealous obviously). Looking back on it it's a wonder he ever managed to get around corners, the bar was in a different postcode to the rest of the bike!

MTB geometry was evolving rapidly but ultimately all derived from road biking - however it got to the point of having to cope with ever-rougher / more hardcore terrain as riders pushed the limits while having to accommodate weird weight shifts and body position derived from road but unsuitable for MTB.

Stuff like increased suspension travel made bikes incrementally more capable but it wasn't until the total rethink spurred by the introduction of 29ers that MTBs actually got to the point of properly capable geometry. It's entertaining looking back at 80's / 90's MTB and just thinking "how on earth did we ride that?!"

That said, early 29ers were pretty terrible too, essentially shoehorning bigger wheels into geometry designed around 26".

This is the best so far!

Good work!

[Nearholmer]

I will buy the proper SQLabs inner bare ends though, because these Chinese ones are moulded with a really strange shape where the joint of the index finger sits.

Time to recoup some funds by selling part of The National Museum of Handlebars that I’ve accumulated over the past two or three years.

[freiston]

Before replacing my Moloko with the crazy Bar, I did get the Planet X On-One OG V2 Handlebar, with the intention of fitting inner bar-ends, but gave up on the idea after not being able to get the bar-ends that I had around the bend of the bars enough to give me the position that I wanted. I tried looking for a bar-end that would open up more on the clamp but didn't see anything obviously "better". Do you know if those SQLabs bar-ends open up enough to comfortably get round a bend?

I too have a collection of handlebars and saddles