Moustache vs. Noodle bar reach overlay with pics

[Michael]

Just FYI for anyone who is interested which bar has a longer/shorter reach.

 

As you can see, I laid the 'stache over the noodles, lining up the clamp area of the stache to where the clamp on the stem is and looks like moustaches have a shorter reach than noodles both at the hooks and bar ends by about almost 2cm.

 

Keep in mind that the mouth of the hand (between thumb and first finger) will be behind the metal part of the stache bar hook and not on a hood, like on drops.

 

But will it feel like a shorter reach in real use (that would be good!)?

[NWAJack]

Interesting. I've always heard the reach was longer with the mmustache.

[Michael]

This is a current stock Riv road NITTO 'stache as of March, 2013. I also have an old 'stache and it is pretty much the same.

 

There are other brands of 'staches, and maybe they are longer reach. I think there was/is a NITTO mountain version of this bar, too. Maybe that has a different reach.

 

I think it will be fun to try other styles of bars. I am used to drops, so I am looking forward to trying moustache and Albatross bars to see how they feel.

[cyclotourist]

For me I need a slightly shorter stem as the forward hooks of the M's are too far forward. It's like riding on your hoods the entire time.

Cheers,
David

On Wed, Apr 3, 2013 at 5:00 PM, NWAJack <nwa...@gmail.com> wrote:

Interesting.  I've always heard the reach was longer with the mmustache.

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[gep7...@gmail.com]

There's also this.

[Joe Bernard]

The reality is any technical reach similarities are completely overwhelmed by real-world experience. I've never met/heard-of a rider switching from drops to Moustache Bars who didn't need a shorter/taller stem to make the reach work.

[Kellie Stapleton]

Actual COMFORT for each person will also be determined by stem angle, length, and handlebar height.

[Shaun Meehan]

Also, if you run aero levers on the 'stache bars they provide another hand position that extends beyond the front of the curve.

On Thu, Apr 4, 2013 at 1:48 AM, Hoffsta <tongue...@gmail.com> wrote:

I think you're going to like the Mustache. I have them on my commuter and really enjoy them. Contrary to conventional advice, I use a pretty long stem and run them lower than my saddle. I move my hands all over those things and appreciate the variety of hand positions compared to the Albatross bars I have on another bike.

Sean H

Eugene OR

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[Ron Mc]

when I switched to moustache bar, my new Technomic stem essentially took two inches off the reach of the stem and added it to the height.  

[Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery]

I've met very few who could tolerate M-bars. I think they're horrendous. But obviously some people think they're great. It might be one of those things we all need to try at some point.

[PATRICK MOORE]

John Stamstad beat the 24 hour off road record with them. Me, I rate them in the middle -- I would probably like them for shorter rides were it not for the very sensitive heel of my left hand: they give very good control and torque. Odd, they felt best when positioned low like drop bars.

On Sat, Apr 6, 2013 at 8:15 AM, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery <thil...@gmail.com> wrote:

I've met very few who could tolerate M-bars. I think they're horrendous. But obviously some people think they're great. It might be one of those things we all need to try at some point.

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[Matt Beebe]

I have moustache bars on one of my bikes.    I got used to them and really like them.   As others have pointed out, they are especially good for offroad riding, but I've used them for long distance too.

[RJM]

I have always heard to set up mustache bars with a shorter stem and one that is higher (compared to drops) and it has worked for me in the past. A longer stem makes me feel like I am reaching too far all the time.

 

The one thing you miss out on with mustache bars vs. drops is a good lower position. I find that on drops just having that extra lower position really helps with comfort on longer rides because I can change my back position. It helps with the backache.

 

 

Now, on drops you can get a real nice reach when you use road brake levers. It is almost like getting into a time trial position, but not quite. Helps the back too.

 

I like mustache bars quite a bit but am not running them on any bikes currently. Once I get the Roadeo built up with drops, I was thinking of putting mustache bars on the Hillborne. I really liked the mustache bar when I had my Jamis Aurora up and running with them. They did get comments though.

[PATRICK MOORE]

Funny, for me it was the opposite: the M bar felt most comfortable when positioned low and forward, but I missed the sit-up position of the flats on a drop bar. If the heel of my left hand weren't so sensitive that anything except road drops positioned level with the ground hurts it after a few miles, I'd probably have M bars on the Fargoat least one bike.

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[cyclotourist]

Yes, that's my experience as well. They're great for a couple of hours, but then my body misses the lower hand position to move my back around. They do offer multiple positions, but on a singe horizontal plane. I use them mostly/exclusively for shorter rides and stop/start rough-stuff type longer rides. Under those conditions they're excellent for me. Sustained single position riding isn't so much fun on them though.

The best part is cost of entry is pretty low as people try them and don't like them, then sell them used here!!!

Cheers,
David

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[Kellie Stapleton]

any photos of aero bars on a mustache?

[Ron Mc]

your perception of space must be different from mine

  

I get 5 positions easy, and none of them on the same horizontal plane

[cyclotourist]

horizontal compared to drop bars. There's no true low position on them :-)

Cheers,
David

[Ron Mc]

Fair enough.  Buddy and I rode 32 mi Saturday, half of it through near-downtown and traffic, and 1700' elevation (beautiful park roads along the creek drainages, and lunch at a great Thai restaurant).  The hood position is a good back stretch, and a good aero position with elbows bent and tucked.  There is a good tall stretch with palms on the inner bend of the bars.  There are 3 other positions from the brakes to the bar ends that add control and change back position.  I'm sure it's an age thing, but I had reached the point I couldn't get comfortable on drops, and was constantly changing.   That may have been equally fixed with a tall quill and rando bar, but I'm delighted with my moustache bar rebuild.  

My buddy had quit riding altogether because of cervical strain on drop bars.  He followed my lead, though he has his moustache bars set up completely different, with a high rake, which really drops the bar ends, and that's his aero position.  

[Shaun Meehan]

Gene Oberpriller also won the Chequamegon 40 on a X0-1 with moustache bars. That's Gene-O in the picture weating the red jersey with the two white stripes. In fact, that might be the very bike that he won the Chequamegon 40 on.

 

[iamkeith]

 

I have some new insight into moustache bars - begun, ironically, last week just as this discussion was started. My results seem to be completely counter to most others', and to what I would have expected, so I thought I'd share them. Hopefully I can get some photos to upload, too:

 

I finally picked up my new All Rounder last week during a quick Spring Break trip with the family.  I'd brought a bunch of parts along - including the moustache bars off of my XO-1 - so that I could re-build it to my taste.  I then got a few good days of riding in... before having to return home to the land of snow where I now have to wait another month or so before I can ride again, damn it. 

 

Anyway, despite the similarity in the bikes, some subtle differences in the moustache bar setup has made a HUGE and positive difference for me, and totally changed my opinion.  Like many, I really "wanted" to love them on the XO-1, but could never get comfortable with them.   I much preferred some 48cm noodles that they replaced, and will now be installing some dirt drop bars on that bike.  But I LOVE the moustache bars on the ALL Rounder and now have a different setup theory!

 

Most surprisingly, I used a stem with much longer effective reach than I would have used with drop bars, or than I had used previously with the dirt drops (a true 10 mm vs. a dirt drop yielding approx 80mm horizontally, before reducing even further for a tall extension).  I did this sort of as an experiment, and because it was the most appropriate stem I happened to have available - but I think I totally nailed it and don't have plans to change it

 

This admittedly isn't a complete apples-to-apples comparison, because the All Rounder is a 60cm and the XO-1 is a 55cm, and the top tube on the former is slightly more than an inch longer than the later.  (I didn't know this until I got it.)  But, if anything, you'd think that would mean that I'd want a SHORTER stem, and the opposite seems to be true.  Similarly, my 60cm Rambouillet also has the same 100mm stem reach, with noodles.  But it has a relatively short top tube - very close to the 55cm XO-1 -  and I've honestly always felt like I'm a bit cramped on it.  So... what I take from this is that the moustache bar works best with a stem as long or longer than I'd use with drop bars!

 

Now I only had time for several 3-4 hour rides but, unlike with the XO-1,  was never uncomfortable.  And keep in mind that these were my first rides of the season, other than snow biking, so I should have been uncomrortable anyway.   I'm not sure I can explain why the long reach works better for me, but here is my best attempt:

 

-  By using a stem with a long reach, my main hand position rotated outward/backward and  became something like 9:30 and 2:30, on the curved portions of the bar, where I had access to the brake levers with just my first one or two fingers.  Once I got the angle of the bar right, this fit my hands very comfortably.  (For what its worth, I use gell pads under the tape, to increase the diameter of the bar, too.)  I felt like this distributed my weight just right, relative to the front wheel and, more important, gave me  a wider and more comfortable arm position.  (I'd be curious to know if others have had this experience too but, on the XO-1 with the short stem, I used to regularly do endos simply mounting the bike or "kicking off," if my hands were all the way forward on the apex of the curve.)

 

-  The sides of the bar, where it reaches back toward you, now became my second-most used position and, unlike with the short stem, my hands were still well in FRONT of the steering axis (head tube), so the steering was less twitchy and much more relaxing.    I never liked this position previously.  With the bar at or just slightly above my saddle height, this position is still about as "upright" as I care for. 

 

-  Then, when I gripped the far portion of the curve, or the brake hoods themselves (see photos), I was actually fairly stretched out, which was great for headwinds or hard pedaling - something I had missed with the previous setup, as others have noted. Yeah, it's not the same as a "deep" racer-style drop position but, as an old, converted mountain biker, that's not my thing anyway - that's why I like noodles and Rivendells to begin with.

 

-  Finally, as you can see, I retained the small grips that I'd put in place of the original dummy/stoker lever option, to give me yet another hand position.  I don't often ride here, but it's nice for long rides variety.

 

 

Hope this all makes sense.  Like I said, I'm still trying to figure out why it worked for me - but I think I'm finally a believer. 

[Michael]

Ha! I love the chicken shot. Very cool.

Thanks for the write up and info and pics. Always good to get the right position dialed in.

I am trying that with my Noodle Sam now, but getting left arm tingles and shoulder pain AFTER riding. I suspect it is the longer reach of the Sam than I am used to. The 52 Sam is a longer TT frame than my 55 Bleriot, though I PBH into those sizes. When I ride, it feels fine, but later, I got soreness in shoulder and arm, tingles in hand. Right now I have the bars at max height to shorten the reach. I am at 48cm reach now with the bars all the way up. If that doesn't do it, before getting a shorter stem, I may go to 'staches since I have always wanted to try them and, as the overlay shows, they are shorter reach by a couple cm's which should put me in the zone my body remembers.

If that doesn't work - Albatross bars, which givs a reach variety as long or as short as you could dream of.

If that doesn't work, time to cry and go to the doctor and see what is wrong with me, if anything.