Forget Noodles: here's the bar for you

[PATRICK MOORE]

http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/bikes/merlin-freeman-rb.html

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Patrick Moore, Albuquerque, NM, USA
For professional resumes, contact Patrick Moore, ACRW
http://resumespecialties.com/index.html
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Patrick Moore, Albuquerque, NM, USA
For professional resumes, contact Patrick Moore, ACRW
http://resumespecialties.com/index.html
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[Michael]

For people with 6 foot long arms. I see that 40 or 50mm stem on there, too...ha ha!

[Steve Palincsar]

On Wed, 2012-11-14 at 21:51 -0700, PATRICK MOORE wrote:
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> http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/bikes/merlin-freeman-rb.html
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Looks a lot like the Philippe Professionel, a reproduction of which is
available as the Grand Bois Maes Parallel
http://www.compasscycle.com/handlebars_gb_maes_para.html

[Don]

I have the Grand Bois Parallel Bars on two bikes and will attest to their excellent attributes. IMO these are much preferred over the Noodle Bars. Expensive but worth the price.

[Matthew J]

Jan Heine will probably want to strangle me for writing this, but I kind of wish the Parallel Bars would come with the Nitto crest.  I use cloth bar tape and kind of like the dressed up look with the crest.  The bars of course are excellent.

[Michael]

Anyone know what's the measurement for the drop?

I love my Noodles, but a shorter drop would be great.

 

 

[Jeremy Till]

Nice ramp length but how would you ever ride in the drops?  Seems like you'd have to do some kind of gymnastics to be able to reach the brake levers from the drops without your forearms hitting the upper corners.  Unless of course they're heavily flared and we just can't see it from the side.

On Wednesday, November 14, 2012 8:51:39 PM UTC-8, Patrick Moore wrote:

[PATRICK MOORE]

They do look rather like the wholly excellent Maes Parallels, but the reach seams quite a bit more than the MP's 115 mm. It does indeed make you wonder how you'd get your hands into the hooks.

What interested me was how the design seems to almost obviate the need for a stem extension -- the bar has so much reach that it almost seems that you could have an integrated, no reach stem like those on rod brake roadsters! Or does the photograph somehow distort the bar's reach?

As to the crest, I can only say that the finish of the MPs is so good that it makes the Noodles look like cheap, Chinese-made OEM bars in comparison -- and I'm not kidding. It is the nicest finish I've ever seen on a bar, bar none (hah!).

I do like the Noodles, too, if sufficiently narrow, at least for applications where I want the flat of the bar higher: the deeper drop allows a still aero position, and of course the Noodles, too, have a nice, though shorter, ramp. I wonder now how I felt comfortable on 185s for so many years.

The Maes Parallels come in (IIRC) 37, 38 and 39 at the hoods and 39, 40 and 41 at the ends of the hooks. Reach is 115 mm and drop is 125 mm. Noodles, for contrast, 96 mm reach and 140 mm drop -- odd, the ramps seem longer, but perhaps that's because I've been using Noodles with very long-hood Tektro levers.

[Don]

". . .it makes the Noodles look like cheap, Chinese-made OEM bars in comparison-- and I'm not kidding. It is the nicest finish I've ever seen on a bar, . . . ." Ditto. The reach of the handlebar in the photo appears to be much longer than the reach on the Maes Paralles.

[Matthew J]

Agree the Parallel bars have a wonderful finish. I still want a crest though!

[Allan in Portland]

Those are a riot. But I think they might be upside down. :-)

On Wednesday, November 14, 2012 8:51:39 PM UTC-8, Patrick Moore wrote:

[BSWP]

Courtesy of BikeSnob NYC, these sweet bars:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33350670@N08/4227575870/

- Andrew, Berkeley

[Bill M.]

Inverted Lauterwasser!