New Handlebar Suggestions

[BobW]

I'm contemplating moving my Sam Hillborne from dropbar Noodles to some kind of upright/swept back handlebar, and to be honest, I am a bit overwhelmed by the various options.  By way of background, all I have ever know are dropbar handlebars; but at 60, I'm thinking the sweptback/upright might be a more comfortable option for my back!!  I like the idea of the aerodynamic benefit of the drops, so wondering what style of upright might offer aero for the occasional headwind.  From what I have read on this as well as a few other forums, the RBW Billiebars seems to get high marks.  I realize bar styles are somewhat subjective, however hoping the vast wisdom of the RBW Owners Bunch might educate me.  TIA!!

[Joe Bernard]

Billies are great for all the room they have from the ends up to the curves. Bosco and Tosco have a long flat section up front for a good aero position. The most important part is to get a really dang long stem to get the bars forward on a bike that was running drops, the reachback is going to be a marked change from what you're used to. 

Joe Bernard

60, bad back and wrists, Boscos! 

[BobW]

Thanks Joe,  any tips for determining the proper stem length??

[Al in SF]

Hi Bob,

Because everyone's different, this will be a trial and error process, but in my opinion the Ahearne + Map handlebar is a great starting point. From there, you can decide whether you need more or less sweep, or any rise. Regarding stem length, as long as you don't have anything too extreme (< 70mm, or > 130mm), I'd start by using whatever stem is on the bike right now and play from there.

Swept-back bars are great! They introduce another way of riding a bike.

On Sunday, February 12, 2023 at 1:30:04 PM UTC-8 BobW wrote:

[Joe Bernard]

I think 13cm is a safe bet, which is the longest you'll find in the Nittos most of use. I have an 11 for my Boscos but it's on a really long Riv Custom designed for them. My completely random guess without seeing your Sam is Billies on a 13cm stem are a good bet; I love my Boscos but they're VERY tall and way back. 

Can you post a pic? 

[Patrick Moore]

+ 1 for the Ahearne/Map and trying your present stem. I'm a dedicated drop bar rider too, but know a little something about upright bars because I've tried so many and didn't like them, always going back to drops. But I have to say that the Ahearne Map bar is the best non-drop bar I've used, and once settled on my Monocog 29er with 9 cm + 17* stem, the same length I'd use for a drop bar, and with Ergon GP something grips, it's actually rather comfortable. I did buy the shorter one and cut 4" off each side, but that's another matter; the bend, the width between the curves, the very slight drop (I installed it with drop, not rise), and the road levers installed at the forward end of the curves (I can brake from the "hoods" all the way back to the bar ends) make it -- well, again, not bad at all. And once more, I tried many, many upright bars and disliked them.

As installed and gripping the Ergons I sit more upright than on the hoods of my other 3 drop bar bikes, but I can lean forward and grip the curves (double wrapped) and even wrap my fingers around the (horizontal) hoods. Not bad at all.

Still, might just try swapping in a 44 cm Specialized "Hover" bar with 15 mm rise to the flats and ramps. (Anyone have one for sale?)

4" trimmed from each end; of the bar 1" trimmed from forward ends of the Ergons, double tape between ends of Ergons and far side of levers. Bell is now more intelligently clamped just forward of the yellow tape. But point again is not cropped bar but the hand positions at ends, along curves, at hoods, on hoods; from comfortably upright to moderately aero.

[Joe Bernard]

Typo: *most of us use. 

You'll note my suggestions are different from the others. I have opinions, there are others, you pick one! 

[Richard Rose]

FWIW; I went from drops to Bosco’s - pure road bike (Richard Sachs) to Clem L. Admittedly there was a time gap between the two. I’d pretty much given up road riding for mtb’s. And, I am almost 68 and three years past back surgery. The Clem & Bosco’s are simply awesome. Into the wind I can tuck a bit but it’s still a battle. But I just don’t care anymore. I go as fast or as slow as is comfortable & just don’t sweat it.

I love the bike/bar combo so much I decided to build a Gus as a dedicated MTB. I am trying to duplicate my position on the Clem, which is proving to be interesting. The Gus has a longer EFT. So, I do not need as long a stem as I have on the Gus (135). I have a 80 on the Gus at present. I think it is 2-3cm too short. In any event the tips of the Bosco’s wind up further behind the steering axis on the Gus due to a shorter stem. I don’t know if that has any effect on the handling of the bike or not? Splitting hairs perhaps. It’s all pretty interesting. But yeah, Bosco’s are awesome from my perspective. If they work with your bike.

Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 12, 2023, at 5:00 PM, Joe Bernard <joer...@gmail.com> wrote:

Billies are great for all the room they have from the ends up to the curves. Bosco and Tosco have a long flat section up front for a good aero position. The most important part is to get a really dang long stem to get the bars forward on a bike that was running drops, the reachback is going to be a marked change from what you're used to. 

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[st nick]

For what it's worth...

I'll be 73 this year and have gone to upright bars on all my bikes.

This is my 3 year old or so Sam Hillborne.

The bar is a Sunlight North Road alloy.

This bar hits a sweet spot for my style of riding.

I'm comfortable up to 40 miles or so with these.

One time I did 70 but that's unusual.

Of course I'm pretty slow so aero is not something I pursue at this stage of my riding years.

Paul in Dallas

[Garth]

I'm a rotten resource for anything to do with near vertical posture riding as it's not my thing. But for leaning forward at say 45 degrees+/- and lower, head well up and have some extra reach back, to me the perfect bar is the Albatross on steel with bar end brake levers and thumbshifters mounted slightly inside of the top curve. Use bar tape, and you'll use it all as you have that much room for your hands to roam. Hands at the outer curve in winds, move them back when more relaxed. I rarely ride with my hand near the ends. I can brake with my hand mid bar. With mtb levers the bars sucked as there was no good place for them, the mounts were always in the way. With the bar end brake levers I can place my hands anywhere along the outer, usable part up to and around the curve.

I dislike mtb levers and hand grips with a passion. Too small, too limiting.

I didn't like Billie bars as they went unnecessarily back and they were too narrow around the curve. I went from Dirt Drop bars to the Albatross 56 steel on my road bike, keeping the same 130mm stem. I have the bars just slightly above the saddle. My bikes have sufficient TT length/reach for me to still be stretched out while leaning forward and up. I only ride bikes with relatively long top tubes/reach. Obviously then, I'm not one to ask about riding vertically, but relay this as riding "heads up, leaning forward" doesn't have to mean riding vertical with huge swept back bars. Think 30-60 degrees forward. I'll also say that I find the whole "riding vertical because of a sense of limitation" to be rather backwards. I found in myself, that by strengthening my core and doing some simple stretches I'm as flexible as I ever was, if not more. I found I had certain leg strength/core imbalances that I never thought about. Only when I realized I was feeling stronger and more apt to lean forward with greater ease did I realize this. So to me, addressing the so-called "limitation" is better addressed within yourself first, rather than looking to the bike to accommodate it. It's like immobilizing your hand from a wound for example. When you take off the bandage, if there's some weakness from non-use/restriction, you don't put the bandage back on to accommodate the weakness the bandage caused, you strengthen your hand.

[dougP]

I'm 73 with the usual back irritations that come with age. I have Map Ahearne bars on 2 bikes. I'd used an upright bar that only had a slight backsweep, & wanted bars with more sweep. I tried Riv's Albatross (highly recommended by many) but they had a bit too much for my taste. I then tried the Maps with a Dirt Drop stem on my 58 cm Atlantis. Seems about right now. I can lean forward a bit if needed but sit mostly upright. Were I to change again I'd try the Billie bars for the long back section, but I doubt I'll fiddle any more.

BTW, bars, like saddles & gearing, are so individual that you'll try a lot of combinations before you settle on one that's right for you. Expect to have some spare hardware.

dougP

[Steve]

Another couple of swept back bar examples to add to the mix. Yep, I also have a collection of stems and bars taking up space in the garage.

First bar: Not a Riv/Not a Nitto, but similar to the Albastache, mounted with a 25mm rise on a 35 deg x 90mm stem (it's a Whiskey Winston). Lots of hand positions and a good range of fore-aft hip flexion. I can get 'aero-ish' on the forward bend.

Second one is a VO Porter on a 70mm Technomic stem. It accomplishes pretty much the same things. The hoods on the levers provide the forward reach.  

[Johnny Alien]

Albastache is the perfect medium. You can keep your brakes an all as well.

[Joe Bernard]

I would argue that Albastache isn't an upright/swept back bar as the OP specified, it's a dropbar with the curves lifted up so the low position is gone. Not that there's anything wrong with that! 🙃

[John Johnson]

Hi Bob!

I agree with Doug that handlebars are a mix of personal preference + bike and body type + riding style. I rode Noodles for a long time on my X0-1 and then switched to Albastache bars (which wasn't that much of a difference, just a bit higher position than the noodles - like staying in the hoods all the time more/less). The immediate benefit was not having to change brakes or cables, I just unwrapped and swapped the bars, keeping the same levers and shifters. On my other bikes I ride Toscos, Jones H Loop, and Bullmoose bars. The XO is finally set up with Albatross bars and I feel like they are a really great middle ground between aggressive (Albastache, Noodles) and very swept back (B/L/Tosco, Chocos, or Billies). I don't have any magic formula for stem length, etc., but I feel like the Albas are a good intro to the world of swept-backitude.

cheers,

John

[Johnny Alien]

@Joe the Albastache bars for sure get you more upright than drops. For someone coming from years of drop usage and looking to get a bit more upright I think its a good next move that also has the benefit of keeping the majority of your cockpit and brake set making it a much cheaper and quicker option. How upright will be dictated by your setup. Most of the people here set up sweptbacks with an angled down stem (requiring a super long stem) with a super long extension. I never understood the part about sweeping back when all you do is extend the stem so far that they sweep back less. On top of that the stem extends so far that the gripping the front area position becomes a stretch. An albastache with a short extension and angled up stem can get you reasonably upright. Just my opinion and at the end of the day handlebars are a bit of a personal thing so what works for one will be a disaster for another. For the record my personal favorite is the losco bar.

[greenteadrinkers]

Gathered from my experience with upright, it's 100% try it and see how it feels. I have a Bosco moose on my Sam, it's extreme comfort and a great all-around upright bar stem combo. There is a spot on the bar that gives you close to the same feeling as riding in the hoods. Another bar I'm using on my mountain bike (Tanglefoot Moonshiner) is a Choco bar with a Blue Lug v5 bullmoose stem. It's a comfortable bar and amazing for climbing, that said, the Choco (in really chunky rock gardens) is a bit narrow and could use another 4 or 5cm of reach so I'm planning to swap it for a Billie bar. My stable is also stocked with a Simple One, which I'm planning to match the Choco with a 90mm Dirt Drop stem, and the Dia-Compe inverse brake levers the V/O sells. Have a feeling that combination could be a great fit for an upright road/fire road single-speed country bike. Another consideration is bar wrap, Grant posted a solution not too long ago about not wrapping cables but using some twine to hold the cables in place after the bar is wrapped. I'd strongly recommend looking into that technique otherwise you might go through a fair number of rolls of Newbaums as you swap bar after bar. Lastly, check out Whatbars.com, a number of Rivendell bars are listed, here's a Choco and Albatross, the Choco has less curve and more reach. I've also found that if you add bar ends you'll gain an extra 2cm of extension.

Hope this helps

Scott

[jad...@gmail.com]

I am 65 and love my Nitto Mustache bars. I can easily do 75 mile rides at a decent pace. 

[Charlie]

I swapped some 46mm Noodles for a Bull Bar a few days ago and am very happy with the results. Not super aero, but the bike feels more capable and is way more fun to ride now. Wish I had done this sooner!

Charlie in Maine

[Drew Henson]

I had some choco bars on my sam which I loved. I recently swapped bars between a crust romanceur and the sam, with rene hearse rando bars going on the sam and chaco going on the crust, but I'm already planning to put upright bars back on the sam. Thinking I'm going to try to the Ahearne+Map bars.

[Eliot Balogh]

When I made my switch I used my current setup as a starting point. I measured from my saddle to the hood position and then swapped the bars and measured to the grips. The bars ended up coming back something like 3-4cm so I added that length to the stem I had on there. YMMV

You can also use whatbars.com to compare the reach of your noodles to many popular alt bars. Shows you the relative change of reach. 

Eliot

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[chintan jadwani]

you could dip your feet by starting cheap ($18) with the (well-made) wald handlebars and see how you like it -

https://www.industrialbicycles.com/wald-products-896.aspx

for inspiration

[Ryan]

Nice X0-1; it's  in lovely shape. 

To the OP: As I've advocated often, Albastache or Moustache bars might work and you can keep your road levers. You could flip them so they're higher if the usual configuration doesn't work. But there is certainly a dizzying array of alternatives  for drop bars out there today for us aging baby boomers. Good luck in your search!

[J S]

I used to use Albatross after switching from drop bars many years ago.  Last year I switched both my Sam and the Bleriot before I found a Saluki to Choco bars. I really like how much straight area I have for my hands. 

[J S]

They look the same on the Saluki