Gus is a sit-up guy and his neck flows like a swan now

[Deacon Patrick]

A bit over a year ago, I received my Gus Boots Willsen prototype. Grant designed GBW with Bosco bars in mind: upright riding with high, close bars. Riding single track this upright on good, solid geometry is transformative, and I loved this aspect of the Bosco bars it came with; I just switched to Wavy and then Jones bars because jouncy, technical descents with parallel handlebars/brakes is low on the fun scale.

Now, thanks to Velo Orange's Cigne stem (swan is so much more elegant than the usual name, so thank you, VO for that! LInk: https://velo-orange.com/collections/stems/products/cigne-stem), I have achieved the upright riding position intended for this bike and wow is it elegant. Everything is in the sweetspot. Climbing has the front wheel less weighted and with the long wheelbase, I can sit up and not flip over backwards, but either spin/cruise up the hills, or shift up and torque the pedals with some handlebar leverage (which is much easier done while sitting than with a lower/forwarder bar). Long, swoopy, descents that wend their way around knolls and down gullies and through meadows and aspen groves on butter smooth trails are flowing poetic elegance and deceptively fast because slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Grin. Those jouncy, technical descents smooth out too, and the bike is free to do its Mongolian thing just by sitting up a bit off the saddle and letting it ride to the flow of bending elbows and knees.

So, to all the new builds of GBWs and Suzies, aim high and close with your bars. Riding with Boscos, even if they aren't your end bar, is a great way to get a feel for what this bike is. And if you ride technical single track and want a more perpendicular bar, the wavy bar and Cigne stem are an excellent combo for achieving Bosco feel with wavy confidence on descents. Note, you'll need the shims to make is happy.

With abandon,

Patrick

www.MindYourHeadCoop.org

www.DeaconPatrick.org

www.CatholicHalos.org

www.ShepherdsandHalos.org

[Deacon Patrick]

Here's a photo:

[A. Douglas M.]

I love it, Deacon. Looks very comfortable.

Also love 4 bottle cages!

Thanks for posting.

Best,

Aaron

[Deacon Patrick]

Thanks, Aaron. You can see the cages with the big water bottles (3) 64oz, (1) 28 oz. in these two posts.

https://deaconpatrick.org/three-days-three-states-three-countries-by-beorn-the-bikepacking-wonder

and

https://deaconpatrick.org/two-midsummer-nights-dream-bikepacking-pikes-peak

With abandon,

Patrick

[Jesse]

Hey DP. I agree with you about parallel-ish bars being not-great on technical descents. I mean, with the exception of dirt drops, but that's a whole other can of worms.

For those that prefer a swept back bar, but still require a confidence-inspiring descending position, what about running Boscos with inline levers in the front? Too narrow up there to be useful for descending, you think? 

[Deacon Patrick]

Too narrow, too far forward, too low for me. You'd lose the sweet spot of upright riding.

With abandon,

Patrick

[Bill Fulford]

I’m quite confused about the handlebar set up with my Gus Boots WILLsen. How would waivie bars with the nitto v4 work. I like a little forward lean as to not have too much weight on the saddle. Tough decisions.

[Alex Wirth- Owner, Yellow Haus Bicycles]

I've got some HUGE albatross bars (66cm wide) custom bent by Blacksheep Cycles (James)

The wide-ness proved to stabilize nicely on faster/rocky descents and I plan on using a Nitto V-4/quill adapter for my Susie Wolbis.  There was a quill bull moose stem in the works but it sadly got scrapped by Nitto due to complexity/PITA factor.

Alex Waiting-ever-so-patiently-for-my-Susie in Rochester, NY

[Dan Vee]

Ahh just checked out your blog story makes me want one of those Bikes

[☆ Paul ☆]

Hello Patrick,

Bike and photos looks amazing. 

Gus has a Threadless headset? What hard piece of wood saddle do you have on there?

And where are you anyway? Looks beautiful.

Paul

[Andrew Nussbaum]

+1 on the Cigne stem and production bars custom bent by Blacksheep. I have a Cigne stem on my Super Grizzly paired to Thomson titanium bars custom bent by James. The combination is so comfortable. 

[John Philip]

[John Philip]

Meant to add that I used a Wavie on my XL using that stem and it's working out well for me.

[Deacon Patrick]

Hey Paul. Aye, at least my prototype has a threadless headset, which I think remains true of the production frame. My saddle is a Berthoud. I live on Pikes Peak.

With abandon,

Patrick

On Monday, June 15, 2020 at 8:22:42 AM UTC-6, ☆ Paul ☆ wrote:

[Andrew Erman]

Great looking bike!  I love it!  Good color!

On Jun 15, 2020, at 9:59 AM, John Philip <japhil...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Monday, June 15, 2020 at 10:02:09 AM UTC-4, Bill Fulford wrote:

I’m quite confused about the handlebar set up with my Gus Boots WILLsen. How would waivie bars with the nitto v4 work. I like a little forward lean as to not have too much weight on the saddle. Tough decisions.

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<IMG_0538.jpeg>

[Mark Roland]

John, what model Teravail on your Gus, and how do you like? I am looking at Honcho 2.6" for my upcoming L Susie.

[John Philip]

Those are Coronados. The bike's only been built a couple of days so not enough miles and varied conditions as yet to really tell, but in the unusually dry conditions we have had lately they roll and grip well.

[Brett Callahan]

My initial response to the Gus photos and info from Rivendell was a huge "meh", but seeing Patrick's and John's built up is really changing my mind.

I still think I'd have a hard time buying this type of bike without discs (said as the proud owner of a Hillborne and Atlantis--I'm not anti rim brake) but these two builds look FUN!

For a bike that seems similar in purpose and execution that does have discs, folks should check out Stooge Cycles. Their buildouts also seem to scream "fun!"

[Ash]

My favorite picture: https://i.snap.as/xEgShbB.jpeg

Cigne stem probably won't be an option for my Susie, but I'm planning to go high one way or another!

[Jason Fuller]

I totally agree that a more moderate sweep and short reach is much better for off-road control than Bosco type bars - I am LOVING the look of your GBW here!  If i were just a foot taller, i'd love to ride that rig!

[Eric Daume]

You could look at the Surly Open bar. It’s 66cm wide and has a general bend sort of like the Alba. I like it quite a bit better, myself. 

Eric

Plain City, OH

On Tuesday, June 16, 2020, Garth <gart...@gmail.com> wrote:

Wider Albatross bars ... now there's a good idea !  One with the larger radius bend like the original 56cm steel ones. I assume Blacksheep does custom bars ? I looked around his website but didn't see any info about it. Well, I tried to navigate the website but it's pretty messed up.

(On a side note rant .... I really hate these "modern" effin' websites that try to look all "minimal" and cute with lots of blank space and large text and images. Are they blind ? Scroll scroll scroll to find a crumb of text... sheesh ....just get to the point. On a desktop browser it's hell ... H-E-double-L . It seems a disease where web designers have lost their minds .... or maybe they never had one. I hope Riv doesn't adopt this asswards leap for their website !)

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[True Golden]

I really enjoy your pics Deacon Patrick.

Hopefully I will get to the Colorado mountains mid summer to visit family. 

Paul in Dallas 

[Patrick Moore]

Now now, Garth, I thought you were totally and Buddhistically in tune with the flow of things. Tsk tsk.

Actually, good on you, man, for getting irritated at stupid things. Snapping at fools is what old fashioned Catholics used to call a spiritual work of mercy.

+ 1 for the Surly open bar -- I used the flat/no rise version, It's a very useful shape without too much sweepback, and it's quite wide -- I trimmed mine, but I just like narrow bars; it's wide enough for normal people.

On Tue, Jun 16, 2020 at 4:41 AM Garth <gart...@gmail.com> wrote:

...