choco-moose versus bullmoose

[Jim S.]

Hi,

I was wondering if any mtb riders might chime in the merits of one bar over the other for a Hunqapillar? The wisdom of this board is appreciated, as always.

Jim S.

[dstein]

I am actually interested in this as well. I'm curious to hear how any choco owners in general like their bars, and more specifically do you find yourself using the flats (with that nice little curve) or is that too narrow or uncomfortable and you find yourself using the grip area more.

[HunqRider]

I just installed the Choco-Moose bars on my Hunqapillar after years of riding with Noodle drop bars, but I don't have the brakes or derailleur cables set up yet.  I will do this later in the week and then get back to you with a ride report.

[drew]

i had regular chocos on my hunq for a couple of days with a 13cm stem. didnt do any trails with them, but here are my thoughts. 

found them to be most like a flat bosco, in that they come back really far. reg chocos are pretty flexy, more flexy than ive ever experienced in a bar. i wanted these for rough stuff and touring, so they were a no go already on that front.  i assume choco-moose is less bendy, but the moose version comes back even further.  like albatross bars, my hands want to go further up away from the ends, and the choco allows for this position nicely. the body position i ended up in, for me, was weird. body leaned over but my arms felt almost straight down and above my knees. raising them solved that problem, but then i didnt feel as aggressive as i like (which is not very much)

i should also say that the straight front part of a bar near the clamp is never a useful position for me, though maybe it is for you. i guess i dont like the loss of leverage. noodles, albatross, mustache- ill use the swept back part and the curve and the hoods, but rarely put my hands near the stem clamp, so that part doesnt do me much good anyway. the curve on the chocos wasnt super useful to me either. less comfortable than an albastache curve (more comfortable than an albatross curve). 

[HunqRider]

I finished putting the Choco-moose bars on my Hunqapillar and got it out for a short ride.  Installed them about halfway between 'max height' and 'slammed down'.  What a fun improvement over the Noodle drop bars!  I haven't had that much fun on the bike in a while.  Really enjoyed the upright feeling, I was able to see so much more than having my head down.  Much better for my back and posture too.  After 18 miles, I thought that all the extra weight being put on the sit bones might cause some discomfort, but there was none.

In terms of hand positions, I found that I used the normal grip area most of the time, and then would occasionally move the hands forward to the horizontal area near then stem when climbing, to lower my center of gravity a little and put me a little further forward.  Otherwise, when climbing, it is so upright that I felt like I was too far back on the bike.  The horizontal hand position felt very similar to the top position on my Noodle drop-bars.

I found that I wasn't able to use the 'intermediate' hand position on the bars, where the bars curve.  On the right side, my shifter is mounted there, but even on the left side where it is open, I didn't like the feel.

On the road at higher speeds, I noticed no overlap between my knees and the handlebars, but at low speeds, there is some overlap, which could be a problem if you do any off-road slow speed technical riding.  Shouldn't be too much a problem for me, but I could see where normal non-curved mountain bars (like the Bosco bar) would be better for that type of riding.  It could also be that my frame is on the small side for me.  (I'm 5'10", with the 54cm frame).

Overall, very happy with the Choco-moose bars, an excellent upgrade for me.  I had been thinking about getting a 'fat bike' for a while, and almost decided to go for something like the Surly Ice Cream Truck, which looks like a ton of fun.  But rather than drop the cash on a beast like that, I decided to alter my current ride instead.  Still waiting for my new fatter tires to arrive (Thunder Burts), which should the make ride even more fun.

I attached some photos of the bike, one pre-Choco-moose and one post Choco-moose.

[Lungimsam]

Sounds like a fun ride! Upright is cool for the easy looking around!

What's the story behind the front brake cable hanger? I don't usually see them there. But looks really nice!

[HunqRider]

On Saturday, March 19, 2016 at 6:54:21 AM UTC-7, Lungimsam wrote:

Sounds like a fun ride! Upright is cool for the easy looking around!

What's the story behind the front brake cable hanger? I don't usually see them there. But looks really nice!

Regarding the fork-mounted front brake hanger, it's a long story.  I had been using Paul Minimoto brakes, which are linear pull and do not require any brake cable hanger, so I had removed the hanger that had been mounted at the headset.  I removed all the smaller headset spacers, and replaced them all with one big 25 mm spacer, which results in a super clean look.  Then I got these new brakes, the Tektro CR720, to accommodate wider tires (the Minimotos only can handle tires up to about 40 mm width).  So I needed a brake cable hanger again.  Rather than mount it at the headset, I just went with the fork-mounted version.  I had also read that using a headset-mounted hanger can result in brake 'pulsing', due to the long length of exposed cable between the hanger and the brakes, acting like a bow and arrow.  The fork-mounted version is supposed to eliminate this problem.  I have had cantilever brakes in the past but I was never happy with the braking power, so I felt that maybe the fork-mounted hanger would be helpful.  After 2 rides, I can say that it works great, good stopping power.

Getting back the choco-moose bars, one thing I really like about them is that I can leave most of the bars exposed, and it still looks good.  I was toying with the idea of wrapping the horizontal portion near the stem, but I am finding that to be unnecessary, since I almost always ride with gloves anyway.  More shiny bare metal = higher bling factor.

[Lungimsam]

True 'dat!

The mini motos are interesting. Aesthetic of cantis but without the need for a cable hanger. Very cool.