What Bars on your Susie Longbolts?

[CW Springer]

I'm fitting up a Susie for my wife and the current VO bars are a bit of a reach with a long stem as well. 

Going to try a shorter stem but do folks prefer the Bosco, Losco, or Tosco on their Susies? She's on an XL with a 90ish pbh.

-CW

[David Ross]

The Granola bars “only” have 15cm of depth. The Riv bars are Generally 20-25cm of depth, so you’ll significantly reduce your reach with something like a Tosco which is c. 23.5cm of depth. (The distance between the middle of the stem clamp and the axis of the two handlebar ends). The best way to do this is to find out where she’d like her hands to be and go from there with either new bars or shorter stem or both.  Your wife is tall, but I’m directionally similar with a 86pbh. I’m 5’11” and am assuming that your wife’s legs are somewhat longer than mine, relatively speaking. If so, she could probably do with a pretty considerable reduction in reach.  I’m on a 57cm Gus with a 50mm BMX stem and a custom swept bar with a depth of 24cm.  I’ve run a Crust Ortho Bar with a 70mm stem and it worked really well. I can confirm that handling is just fine with the shorter stems. 

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[Drew Fitchette]

I'd try to run a shorter stem first too, but I really love the Toscos and Albatross/Billie Bars if you want something to come back a little more. 

I've got Bar68's on my Susie, but I'm running an 85mm Stem on a 56cm frame. 

[derek zeitel]

I'm in the process of building up a new to me 59cm Susie and I'll be using 610mm wide Loscos with a 90mm Nitto Pearl stem. I'm planning on cutting a bit of length of the Losco, looks like 4cm or so. I'd prefer a bar with a bit less sweep than the Losco but nothing else ticked the boxes - I want to use bar end shifters, 25.4 bars so I so do not have to replace the stem, low to no rise and wide. 75 degree sweep would have been ideal (the Losco is 84 degree sweep).

The "upcoming" wider version of the Choco bar was looking like a winner for me but Riv confirmed that project was abandoned in favor of the Bar 68.

Derek Z

Buchanan, NY

[Michael Connors]

Before you cut, check the inside diameter. The Blue Lug description says the bars are made thinner at the ends for bar end shifters.

[derek zeitel]

Michael, thanks for the heads up. This seems like a good opportunity to add that I've had success filing down the metal expansion plug on bar end shifters to fit bars with a smaller than agreeable ID. No issues after years of use in more than one application. 

[Rusty Jefferson]

Bullmoose bar on mine (a 56), it is a Hillibike after all. :-)

May not help your reach though. grips are about 2cm behind the steerer.

Jim in Annapolis

[Steffen]

I rode Tosco bars with a 100mm stem on my 56cm Susie for a while. 185cm and 87 PBH. 
I never had the chance to try either Losco or Bosco bars. I’d assume I would prefer the Loscos for the way they ride, but I would probably still choose the Toscos for their looks.

Trying different stem lengths is definitely the best way to find what works for you. It’s inexpensive or even free if you already have a few stems in your parts bin. Maybe your local bike shop is willing to lend you some for a small tip.  

After a while I wanted to lower my bars and went with Mothbars and a 60mm stem. I’m really happy with the setup now.   

[Steffen]

The picture shows the Tosco bars on a 100mm stem btw. 

[derek zeitel]

Steffen,

Your Susie looks quite close to what I'm putting together. What are your thoughts on the Saber Pros? I'm guessing that is the 2.6 width?

I tried the 29x2.6 Saber Pros about 5 years ago and my pair were woefully undersized on i30 rims - they were closer to 2.3. That said, they were VERY light and supple.

Would love to see a pic with the Mothbars if you have one available.

Lovely bike, take care,

Derek Z

[Richard Rose]

When I built my Gus I went with a 90mm Nitto “V” stem & 580 wide Bosco. The replicated my hand position on my Clem. It was very comfy but not trail worthy in my opinion. I switched to “Albacore” bar (785 wide, 50 degree sweep after the lovely forward sweep. The 35mm stem put the grips almost exactly where the were with the Bosco, albeit further apart. It is perfection.

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 15, 2026, at 6:54 PM, derek zeitel <zei...@gmail.com> wrote:

Steffen,

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/3c511389-071c-4c70-90de-ff5daacddd37n%40googlegroups.com.

[Richard Rose]

The bar/stem is perfect. My typing is not:)

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 15, 2026, at 8:39 PM, Richard Rose <rmro...@gmail.com> wrote:

When I built my Gus I went with a 90mm Nitto “V” stem & 580 wide Bosco. The replicated my hand position on my Clem. It was very comfy but not trail worthy in my opinion. I switched to “Albacore” bar (785 wide, 50 degree sweep after the lovely forward sweep. The 35mm stem put the grips almost exactly where the were with the Bosco, albeit further apart. It is perfection.

[Mike Rossi]

On my 56 lugged Susie I’ve tried boscomoose, but they were just too upright until I bent the ends down a few cm. They felt better but still looked too upright for my taste, so I’m saving them for a future Clem. Losco’s looked and felt awesome to me, but I could never get past the brake cable housing hand rub thing. So I went back to the tosco bars. Like Steffen, I’m using a 100mm stem and my saddle height and bar position is near identical to his although I’m 173cm with a 83cm pbh. On second look, my bars are slightly higher. As I ride past store windows it looks like I’m pretty close to a 45 degree body position. Maybe just a little more upright.

I’ve also tried ramble bars and bullmoose…but tosco bars seem to be my goldilocks.

Mike

On Apr 15, 2026, at 1:59 PM, CW Springer <cwspr...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm fitting up a Susie for my wife and the current VO bars are a bit of a reach with a long stem as well. 

Going to try a shorter stem but do folks prefer the Bosco, Losco, or Tosco on their Susies? She's on an XL with a 90ish pbh.

-CW

<00A0A_a8RSYSC6GD8_0t20CI_1200x900.jpg>

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[Steffen]

You’re absolutely right they are 2.6. They’re mounted on SimWorks Standalone rims and measure 61mm, so they’re actually closer to a true 2.4. I’m running them tubeless and have been really happy with the ride quality. They offer plenty of grip for the kind of trails I usually find myself on.

In the picture it is shown with a 75mm fw33 stem. Just switched to the mentioned 60mm 90-190 stem a couple of days ago. 

[derek zeitel]

Thanks Steffen, appreciate the additional information. I think Kenda has discontinued the Saber Pro, as well as the Booster Pro which was similarly light & supple with a bit more tread yet still easy rolling. The Booster Pro had plenty of fans. 

I have a pair of the 2026 Vittoria Mezcal in 29x2.6 for my Susie build. They are not at all light but everybody seems to love the Mezcal for it's low rolling resistance and the 2.6 width is very high volume.

[Josh C]

I don't have a Susie, but I do have a Gus. I found most of the Riv bars to be quite narrow and upright for the terrain that this bike was made for. I got it with Bosco bars on it and it felt very twitchy and unstable with such narrow and upright bars. I ended up with Jones bars on mine, which I've had on other bikes in the past, & knew I liked. It rides great with the Jones bars...and just think of all of the newbaums tape you could wrap on them...

I don't ride that bike as often as I should, but it's a very stable and capable-feeling bike with these bars installed. 

[Alex Friend]

Hey there!

I have tried a variety of bars on my 56cm Susie and found the most comfortable setup for me to be a bar around 50 degrees of back sweep. I have on it currently the Lekers Leks Albacore bars - 765mm wide - 25mm rise - 51 degree sweep - 22.2mm clamp. They are so comfy wide and you can grab anywhere. I felt going more backswept took away from the handling. I attached a photo with the bars. I have had doom legal drinkers (21 degree sweep) which felt good and Choco moose bars (80 degrees sweep) which really felt like that took away from the handling. 

Cheers and I hope you find something that works for you!

Alex

On Apr 15, 2026, at 3:54 PM, derek zeitel <zei...@gmail.com> wrote:

Steffen,

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/3c511389-071c-4c70-90de-ff5daacddd37n%40googlegroups.com.

[Richard Rose]

At last! Another Albacore on a Gus! It’s really so good, right?

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 17, 2026, at 8:26 PM, Alex Friend <alexfr...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Steffen]

Great looking touring setup Alex! 

@cwspringer

Did you decide on a bar yet? I would love to see the final result. 

[derek zeitel]

Finally wrapping up the build on my new to me 59cm Susie - holy stack height! With a Nitto Pearl inserted as low as it will go, Losco bars are still well above my saddle (this with a PBH of 89.5cm). I generally ride with my bars at or very near to saddle height. Waiting on a rear derailleur to arrive then will ride the current build and see how it feels. If I cannot  get on with the Losco's, may switch to a zero rise bar of which the Wavie is speaking to me the most.

Derek Z

[CW Springer]

I shortened her stem and its better but I'm gonna keep an eye out for some RBW Billie bars.

I think everyone has steered me away from the bosco which was helpful.