A deep dive into handlebar comparing and more about the Wavy Bar

[M Talley]

Last week I emailed Rivendell for information on the Wavy Bar - primarily what's the angle of it's sweep? The timing is not the best for an answer back - having read about the loss of Roman and filling of Clem orders. So I started a "What's Bar" examination on my own.  it's a deeper dive into the topic than I anticipated - my apologies in advance - Mark. 

With my amateur digital graphic skills I grabbed the Rivbike.com overhead image of the Nitto Wavy bar - de-skewed, re-sized and pasted over some bars of my interest. It seems this illustrates and confirms what was mentioned here ("feel(s) like a wider Jitensha bar"). My last overlay image [overlay 6] was with the Nitto Jitensha with the Wavy. These two bars are quite related! It appears to be the same with some lengthening in the middle section and some additional swept section.

[overlay 1] Riv Wavy Bar to the VO Curvy bar - My first guess was these two would be pretty similar

[overlay 2] VO Curvy and the Jitensha

[overlay 3] VO Curvy and the Soma Dream Riser - My interest is this - bars maybe 30° or less.

[overlay 4] Comparing the VO Curvy to a Fairdale Archer 2 -I had opportunity to sample this bar's 40+ degree hand position (like a Jones bars)

[overlay 5] The Riv WB and the bar I'm riding now Surly Molokos. This overlay suggests the Wavy's sweep is perhaps 35°

I overlayed the Wavy twice - hand position in addition to clamp position

[overlay 6] Lastly -the Nitto Jitensha and Riv Nitto Wavy - very much related

My background (late 1990s) with bars that have a 5° sweep and 560mm wide and using bar ends leaves me not relating to riding challenging trails with a more swept back Bosco-type bar. The influences of gear used in bikepacking does appeal to me. So bars that help keep control when carrying a load in sometimes rough terrain. I' am not at a point where a 700 to 800 mm width appeals but I also haven't cut off the bar I have at 735mm.

From sampling a few bars I've discovered I'm a bit sensitive to the sweep angle of bars. I didn't like the 40°+ degree hand position. It's not natural for out of the saddle climbing and feels like there is less control when descending  I'm currently using a Surly Molokos bar in the mid 30 degree range but I'm curious if I might be more comfortable with even less sweep angle. I might like more of what the VO Curvy bar or the Soma Dream Riser for hand position.

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On the topic of comparison apps - they are great tools:

If I could add a feature to the WhatBars app, it would be the option to overlay the swept hand portion of two handlebars. The clamp overlay bias does not tell the whole story. Knowing you might need different stem length to get a near-equal hand position could be illustrated.

The idea for varying an overlay option springs from the BikeInsights.com's frame comparing app. You can change a complete bike overlay from "Align Bottom Bracket" to "Align Ground" or "Align Axles". (top right corner "settings" with the gear icon).

Additionally you there's a customize feature that lets you also resize a bike's tires. This is helpful when the overlays are biased by "Align Ground" (bottom right corner of the specific bike window - wrench icon).

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Bars list - grouped by sweep angle

 

Name  -  Width  -  Rise  -  Sweep

IN THE 20 DEGREE RANGE

Sim Works Getaround  700mm 10mm 20°

Soma Dream Riser  780mm   50mm  25°

IN THE 30 DEGREE RANGE

Velo Orange Curvy  680mm  0mm  30°

Tumbleweed Persuader  800mm  50mm 30°

Rivendell Bullmoose  670mm 79mm

Nitto Wavy Bar (B2524aa)  660mm 0mm 35°?

Nitto Jitensha  580mm  0mm 35°?

IN THE 40 DEGREE RANGE

Ahearne Map 570m  25mm  41°

Ahearne Map 610mm  25mm  41°

Sycip JJ Bar 640mm  0mm  46°

Sycip JJJ Bar 660mm  0mm  48°

Velo Orange Klunker 680mm  76mm 45°

Fairdale Archer V2  650mm  50mm 45°

Jones H-Bar 660mm  13mm  45°

IN THE 70 to 80 DEGREE RANGE

Rivendell Choco  535mm 14mm  80°

Rivendell Albastache  555mm  25mm ?

Rivendell Albatross  550mm  50mm  74°

Rivendell Billie  580mm 35mm 70°

Rivendell Bosco  580mm  100mm 78°

source for most of these handlebar numbers - http://whatbars.com/

for bike comparisons - https://bikeinsights.com/

careful, these apps can eat up some time!

images above are online here:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mUPgDJzbq97gz5Z49

[Mark Roland]

I guess we're in the Golden Age of Handlebars. It's kind of like shopping for caulk at Home Depot, or jeans at the Gap-- Just waaay too many choices for me.

Thankfully, I'm from the school of thought that believes the software (my body) will, within reason, adapt to the hardware. I'll buy a different bend configuration once in a while just to see what goes there, but mercifully, I don't feel the need to search out the perfect bar. Ymmv, and if so, this is valuable information.

[Benjamin L. Kelley]

Excellent work, I actually just this morning went to What Bars to see if the Wavy was on there and how it compared to the Sycip JJJ that I have on my Steamroller and am very happy with. Comparing the Nitto Jitensha to the JJJ, then going to your overlay 6, I can see the Wavy and the JJJ are pretty close.

I just acquired a Quickbeam(orange, and my first Rivbike!) and am thinking thru what bars I want to replace the VO Rando bars the previous owner has on it.

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