Tallux length for Albatross?

[Drew Fitchette]

Hey y'all,

Currently building a 53cm Atlantis from the ground up and wanted an opinion on stem length. I'm going to use albatross bars and was thinking of using the bar mount silver shifter thumbies so I don't have the bar ends coming back at me. 

Any guidance on how long of a Tallux stem to use? 

Thanks!

[DavidP]

How's the top tube length on the bike compared to others you've had experience with? Are you looking to be in a similar position or more upright? Riv recommends starting with an 8-10cm stem, but it helps if you know the kind of reach you're looking for.

Even if you come up with an idea on your own, it wouldn't hurt to call/email Riv and ask for their recommendation for your 53cm Atlantis based on your height and PBH.

For an idea of relative sizing vs drop bars - I recently converted a drop bar bike to Albatross bars and moved to a 40mm longer stem. This is a sporty roadish bike and the grip position on the Albatross bars is more upright than I ever could be on the tops of the drop bar (but still not a very upright position) with the bends being about the same reach as the hoods were before.

A note on shifter placement - the bike mentioned above is shifterless and I enjoy being able to put my hands anywhere from the grips to up at the bends to vary the reach. If I were putting thumbies on these bars I'd put them up inside the bends so as not to spoil that. My Platypus has Toscos setup in a similar fashion.  That said, I don't mind moving my hands to shift. If you have no desire to compromise shifter access for a bit more hand position flexibility then ignore this.

-Dave

[Will M]

Drew, when I built up my VO Campeur with Albotross bars, the Albo's came so far back that I (a) sawed an inch off each end at the grip area and (b) used a 1cm-longer-reach Technomic stem than I'd normally use with drop bars on the same frame.    Still very pleasantly upright seating position.  Just one data point and I'm not sure there's a hard and fast rule; but those Albo's do come back quite a way. --Will M

On Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at 1:47:48 AM UTC-4 Michael Connors wrote:

I tried Albatross bars on my 53 Atlantis using a dirt drop stem and they were too close, so I changed to Wavie bars. The Albatross bars are now on my 1973 10 speed (having the same top tube length as the Atlantis) using a 10cm tallux stem. I found that my hands were often on the brake lever clamps, so I changed to longer ESI grips and moved the brake levers forward.

[Garth]

Stem length depends on your riding position with a given bar in a given frame. Albatross don't have to setup as an upright position, they work great as a forward leaning alternative to Albastache or even drop bars using bar end brake levers which allow for endless hand positions from the top curve on down, unencumbered by levers. You really have to know your frame, how much reach it has available. There's many different Atlantis variations and they can vary a good bit in reach. Myself I would only use such a bar if the frame has a lot of reach, which for the Atlantis that's be either the very first 1999 run or the very recent ones.

Most complaints of any swept back bar have to do with too little reach in the frame itself to begin with and/or stem length.

[Drew Fitchette]

Thanks Dave and Michael! 

I ordered the 10cm Tallux, and I've got ESI grips in my parts stash. I'll start there and see how it goes!

[DavidP]

Sounds good, Drew! Looking forward to seeing your Atlantis all built up!

-Dave