Moustache bars - show me

[Smiley]

Working with a client now and we will build around these Nitto Moustache bars, can u post your favorite rig pics and do you like them bend UP or Bend Down like the fixee couriers bikes. Thanks

[goonster]

I love this picture. This bike belong(ed) to a Riv employee and appeared on their website in the early 00's.

Looks like a dedicated MTB here, but imagine this with touring tires and it would look like a very versatile bike.

http://www.picpile.net/ims/pic_264UD99M/55674.jpg

Moustache bars should always be mounted "down", i.e. so the ends are lower than the center, as shown above. Only this way do you get the correct wrist angle when in the braking position. Bend "up" would be for North Road style, or similar, bars where the brakes are mounted near the grips.

[Ken Robb]

even with or above saddle height with SHORTER stem than for drop bars. I have mine in a Dirt Drop 8cm stem and due to the severe up-angle if it the effective stem length is about 7cm. Of course, this is on my Riv Allrounder which measures 61.5 c-c seat tube with 60cm top tube for a 6'1 rider with 79cm saddle height.

[Ray]

I used to have a couple of bikes set up with m-bars, a fixie and an all-rounder. Definitely the center of the bars should be higher than the ends, not the other way around.

Is your client SURE he/she wants these? Have they USED them before? I found them good for almost nothing, ultimately. For long rides, the lack of a center "on the tops" position got really wearing - you were really aero out front or you had your hands at the wrong angle for much of anything except for wrestling the bike up a steep climb (which the bars, being wide, were really good for). They were OK for short rides and not bad for a city bike, but something like the Prince/Albatross bar is much better for a city bike imho. Any time I found myself out on any bike with m-bars for more than about 20 miles I ended up hating them pretty severely.

M-bars are sort of cool looking, but I'd advise your client to really think about whether that's what they want on a bike they're putting all the time and effort into that they must be if they're you're client!

-Ray

[Ken Robb]

I find several good positions on my bike w/moustache bars but I wouldn't if I did not have the really critical short stem.

[Slonie]

I found them good for almost nothing, ultimately.

Try as I might to like them, this is what I've found as well. I'm about to put the drop bars back on my RB-1...

[tmessenger]

Try as I might to like them, this is what I've found as well. I'm about to put the drop bars back on my RB-1...

I tired them on my cross bike and if you are just putt'n around town they are OK but anything longer or faster I could not get comfy on them.

tm

[Ken Robb]

Will the riders who couldn't get comfy with the M-bars please tell us what stem length they ran and how high their bars were relative to the saddle?

[Smiley]

It is my contention that these bars are just fine BUT you really need to lengthen the stem on your bikes set up of you end up too tall in the saddle. This is what I am finding with my clients fit as its been a combo of TT length and stem length to get the shoulders and hand reach just right. YMMV but to this fitters eye its not just a casual swap out. Any if your keeping track the bars seem more comfortable to the reach because the way you grab these you have more hand in contact with the bar and ergonomically it spreads more weight across the palm of the hands. Her story and I am sticking with it.
So please show me your pics. Thanks

[Brian Smith]

Smiley -
FWIW, you know I ride sometimes with moustache bars.
The bend goes downward, but barely.
The photo of the Riv looks about right, but in my opinion that's way too much tire for that much stem.
Gotta have a horizontal stem extension tube (a rarity on any new build for sure) and gotta have a top tube slope in kind, if it's to visually work.
Visual work is much less important than fit work, so feel free to let the frame and/or stem fall where it may to make your client happy, but designing for moustache bars for a client who is visually picky is something I wouldn't do unless they had the riding and fitness cojones to permit it. Without that, something from OnOne or Jones might work better. Your successful moustache bars client will either be riding them presently or be satisfied with the bars never being exactly right. I have thousands of miles on these bars, and they don't fit my hands. I like them a lot. I think that's unusual, and including them is a design risk. Whether you want to take that risk or not is the choice for you and for your client. Not to be discouraging, but this is not a "what's to not like" handlebar choice.

[markie]

I thought about this before:

http://bikecentric.blogspot.com/2008/01/alt-bars.html

Since then I have started enjoying drop-bars (not bombs).

[Ray]

Will the riders who couldn't get comfy with the M-bars please tell us what stem length they ran and how high their bars were relative to the saddle?
I don't remember the stem length on each bike, but I followed Grant's basic recommendation to shorten it up a good deal. I basically set em up so my hands on the outside of the bar just behind the curve was very similar to my "on the hoods" position on a drop bar, in terms of reach and heights. Which wasn't a bad position except that the bar just wasn't as comfortable as a typical brake hood to hold there and that way. And then there was no "on the tops" position closer and tighter for when you wanted to sit up - all you can do is slide your hands back toward the ends of the bars, which isn't the same by a long shot because of the angle and because they're really wide at that point. There are good positions for aggressive riding, but nothing I could find for more relaxed riding, at least once I got past mile 20 or so.

-Ray

[northbend]

I find mine to be quite comfortable. I've ridden up 170 miles with this configuration. The only time I wish for drops is when faced with a stiff headwind.

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj140/northbend/IMG_1069.jpg