Jones H bars on low trail road bike

[Dave Redmon]

I have a Rawland Stag and am considering Jones Loop H bars for it, but I'm wondering if those bars would play well with low trail. Anyone ever try this combo?

[Adam Paiva]

Not specific to the shape of the Jones bar but some people do not like extra wide bars with low trail geo as it makes the steering too sensitive.  I've not tried any on my low trail bike yet.  Here's a thread that may be of interest.  https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/650b/1oxJ0kvNvkM

but I think there are plenty of people that are into extra wide bars and are on low trail.  See Crust's ridiculously wide bars and plenty of examples of people using those on low trail machines.  Not me though, I've tried them though and couldn't get into it.  

[Hunter Ellis]

Following, as I'm thinking of doing the exact same thing for my dad

[satanas]

Provided you have a quiet upper body, then I can't really see how wider bars are going to make steering more sensitive, Parkinson's disease excepted. Re narrower bars, my suspicion is that low trail enables one to still have "responsive" (aka twitchy) handling whilst needing less leverage for countersteering, i.e. if you like that sort of handling narrower bars won't impede it much. One could also argue that wider bars increase stability at low speeds off-road as the forces generated from hitting rocks, roots, etc, are more easily resisted with them.

IMHO, bar width should be chosen to suit personal ergonomics, not because it's trendy or Person X likes or recommends it.

Later,
Stephen

[jack loudon]

I have Albatross bars on my low-trail Nordavinden and ride fairly upright.  I also have Jones Bars (not used at the moment), and think the riding position is comparable to Albatross.  The low trail bike with Albatross bars rides acceptably, even with no front load.  While the handling was steadier with lower handlebars and a front load, it still handled well without the former, just a lighter feel.  I guess you could say that with Albatross bars, the handling was predictably quicker, but with no handling weirdness.  Having said all that, I do have a preference or higher trail, and some of this undoubtedly comes from my semi-upright riding position.  But if you know you like low trail, an upright position should still work.

If you're used to drop bars, both Jones and Albatross bars can feel odd at first, because your hands are placed at or behind the steering axis.

Jack

Seattle

On Tuesday, November 6, 2018 at 8:49:42 PM UTC-8, Dave Redmon wrote:

[Stephen Poole]

Maybe this is one of those "YMMV" things; I've used both drop bars and straight-ish flat bars extensively, but didn't have any issues adapting to Albatross-ish bars (shorter reach excepted), and Jones bars are good too. Low trail is another matter...

Later,

Stephen

[Iamkeith]

Rawland once offered a handlebar system that, in at least one configuration, would have been quite similar to a jones bar. The link below is the only reference i can find at the moment, but perhaps some searching on the wayback machine will yield some ride reports from sean, specific to rawland bikes:

http://twentynineinches.com/rawland-cycles-antler-and-elgokse-stembar-combo/