Cycling UK Forum

Hi long time no post, hope everyone here in the touring section is well and looking forward to getting some touring done this year

I've got a spa cycle frame and I've bought most of the bits i need to build my own custom bike. One item I'm struggling with is handlebar choice, everything else is clear cut and I knew what I wanted to make my own bespoke touring bike.

Drops are no no for me, I'm sure people who have them love them and thats fine but from a personal point of view no drops.

My present bars on my present bike are butterfly bars, They are great and i like them a lot but just fancy trying something new, a friend has Jones bars and really likes them but I'm a little put off by that big loop and hanging my barbag way over the front wheel so wondered if anyone here has used any of the Planet X bars and could share their thoughts, namely: On-One Geoff Handlebar, (basically a jones copy)
On-One OG V2 Handlebar, On-One Mary Handlebar, or On-One Mike Handlebar.

I don't have a lot of gear to hang off my handlebars, Classic Ortlieb 6.5ltr bar bag along with a phone mount and small bell are the only items I have....your thoughts much appreciated

Aquila wrote: ↑22 Mar 2024, 4:51pm ... and hanging my barbag way over the front wheel...

I'm not familiar with the bars that you are considering. Could you attach the bar bag to one of the steering spacers? A bracket that does this was discussed recently.

Jonathan

[/quote]
I'm not familiar with the bars that you are considering. Could you attach the bar bag to one of the steering spacers? A bracket that does this was discussed recently.

Jonathan
[/quote]

No I don't think so, the bar bag would have to hang off the front loop of the handlebar, What my friend did was to add an old stem that he cut away but left enough on for the cable on the mounting bracket to wrap around, It works well but is adding extra weight to an already very heavy handlebar.

I have one bike with Geoff bars. The bike came with flat bars which I couldn’t achieve any real milage without some pain. I like the Geoff bars as there endless hand/ body positions. It’s the favoured bike if there is going to be any distance of rough stuff.
I have bar bag mounts on my drop barred bikes but I’ve not bothered with this one. I use a dry bag hung within the ring that’s created with the bars which satisfies my need of easy access to food, money, etc.

I've clocked up many miles using Ergotec AHS bars (eg https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/handlebars/ ... mp-silver/ but other slightly different styles are available). However, the recommended rider + baggage weight limit might exclude them. The Thorn accessory bar https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/accessories ... -mm-0-deg/ might be an option for holding a bar bag, depending on how it is fixed to the bars.

I didn't get on with the Mary bars, the wrist angle wasnt quite right. I have since switched to Ritchey Kyote bars which are much better but they are very wide.

Paulatic wrote: ↑22 Mar 2024, 5:52pm I have one bike with Geoff bars. The bike came with flat bars which I couldn’t achieve any real milage without some pain. I like the Geoff bars as there endless hand/ body positions. It’s the favoured bike if there is going to be any distance of rough stuff.
I have bar bag mounts on my drop barred bikes but I’ve not bothered with this one. I use a dry bag hung within the ring that’s created with the bars which satisfies my need of easy access to food, money, etc.

Thanks, its encouraging that you find them comfortable but I'm still unsure of the big loop in the middle is worth the extra weight as i can't see a use for it and still wonder if one of the other choices would be better suited to me personally

JohnR wrote: ↑22 Mar 2024, 6:34pm I've clocked up many miles using Ergotec AHS bars (eg https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/handlebars/ ... mp-silver/ but other slightly different styles are available). However, the recommended rider + baggage weight limit might exclude them. The Thorn accessory bar https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/accessories ... -mm-0-deg/ might be an option for holding a bar bag, depending on how it is fixed to the bars.

Thank you, those bars are very similar to my butterfly bars.....I may even go back to those if I don't like these types

Mr.Benton wrote: ↑22 Mar 2024, 6:41pm I have since switched to Ritchey Kyote bars which are much better but they are very wide.

Ahh these are very similar to Mike and OG on one bars, which are the two types i'm now mulling over

I’m naturally a drop bars person, but like to have flat bars on my “other bike” for various reasons, and over the past year or two have tried oodles of variations (not butterfly, as it happens) in an effort to get the balance of comfort and power that I seek (long boring thread elsewhere here!).

Most recently, I got interested in the Jones Loop Bars, but looking at the price I decided to try On-One Geoff first.

Personal findings so far:

- On-one Geoff was very stiff, and surprisingly heavy, but the swept-back business and multiple hand positions showed definite promise, but suggested a need for a higher stem/steerer than I had, to get the best out of it. Very cheap experiment, given the low price of the bars.

- On the strength of the potential shown by the above, I bit the bullet and bought the (not at all cheap!) Jones Bars in the 2.5” riser version, butted aluminium. They are lighter (I think), subtly better-shaped, less hard on the hands/thumbs, and the rise made them roughly right without the need for extended steerer or madly rising stem. Still tinkering about, but I’ve now managed to get them so that I can go >2hrs without incipient aches and pains, which is the first time I’ve ever managed that on anything other than drops (which I can go all day on).

The key seems to be getting the slope of the bar right , the height of the lower part of the bar a smidge below seat level, and the stem-length right (I’ve come right down to 60mm, but that will depend on rider and frame). Even tiny variations in setting seem to change the whole feel and destroy comfort, so be prepared to persist/experiment.

Also, be prepared to swivel your knee out on tight bends if you are used to bars that don’t sweep back into the leg zone.

The other thought is that they are designed for Jones’s own frames, which have short effective top tubes by MTB standards, so might not work on a more typical modern MTB, or any other bike with long effective top tube (mine hasn’t). I also have an inkling that they’d probably feel even better, almost like a steering wheel, on a bike with a very slack head-tube (which mine hasn’t).

Please try to ignore the giant psychedelic snail.
PS: if you want the On-One Geoff to try, you can have them for £10+P&P, and I’ve got a set of Ergotec Aerowing, barely used, that I’m sure we could come to a deal over too (nice sweep, and can be set with a nice slope, but found them to be effectively a “one hand position” bar).

I’m not going to be much help as I haven’t tried the ones you are interested in. I switched from butterfly bars to the thorn comfort bars and I liked them so much I kitted my other bike out with them too. I use ergo 5 bar ends.

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/handlebars/ ... be0bf6ef8e

If you were happy with your butterfly then like MrsHJ, I would have thought something fairly conventional would be OK and worth trying. Particularly as you have a requirement for a bar bag (which seems the main problem at the moment).

Any particular reason you are trying these various 'odd' shape bars. Admittedly you might end up with perfection or it could be an expensive exercise in futility.I would start with the obvious.

I ride straightish MTB style bars with Ergons and short bar ends, but that's me.

or it could be an expensive exercise

So very true, as I’ve discovered to my cost!

After well over a decade of using butterflies, I decided I needed something less straight, a bit of sweep to give my wrists a break. I put together a poor-man's Jones - which is an Ergotec Space https://www.ergotec.de/en/products/lenk ... -25-4.html combined with inboard bar ends (on the inside of my brakes). The bar ends on the ends felt unwieldy and liable to trawl any passing shrubbery but they work well inboard, giving me an extra ergo / aero position.

The Space Bar certainly looks like it's less aggressive than a Geoff Bar and doesn't go out too far in front, but is still quite wide. Plenty of space to cut down a little if desired. I ride relatively upright.

I don't have the feeling my bar bag is too far out over the wheel, although I had to scratch my head about how to wind the cable around the double bars to secure the fixing.

Aquila wrote: ↑22 Mar 2024, 4:51pm
My present bars on my present bike are butterfly bars, They are great and i like them a lot but just fancy trying something new, a friend has Jones bars and really likes them but I'm a little put off by that big loop and hanging my barbag way over the front wheel <snip>

There's a version without the loop called the Bend (not used it but having and liking a QR bar bag and looking at new non-drop tour bars I'm looking along these lines too), so you might look at those...

Pete.