For those that don't know, I now work for Alpkit after many years of them looking after us for bikes and bikepacking stuff.

In a meeting today, the subject of the ideal handlebar came up.

Affordable, alloy and not too heavy are your starters.

Are there any bar concepts that you wish existed?

Angle of sweep, sticky out bits etc.

Ta Rich

I've been on the lookout for something swept, but not the extreme that Jones Loops have. Around 12 or 16 degrees. Shouldn't look out of place on my AM/trail bike so no 30mm/45mm rise either (that would raise them too high). So far I've only found SQ Lab 30X and Syntace Vectors. Both are a bit spendy to try as an experiment.

I often place my finger and thumb around the brake lever housing for a bit of respite. Maybe some kind of spur around there?

Oh, and ask Neil where my Broken Road is...

macinblack wrote:I often place my finger and thumb around the brake lever housing for a bit of respite. Maybe some kind of spur around there?

TOGS?
https://togs.com/

I was going to suggest bar ends that can be clamped on without having to be slid along the bars (e.g. a hinged or two-piece clamp). That way they could be fitted anywhere inboard. They could also be fitted to the front loop on a Jones/similar bar.

Some quick thoughts.

Something between the Confucius and Jones bars in terms of sweep, say 30 or 35 degrees sweep.
Bull horns in the same angle as the swept paert of the bar. Think along the lines of the Jones cut out bars but with the front part angled up.
A better harness mounting system than straps, integrated clips or similar.

Spooky, I was thinking about this today while putting some bars on my bike. I have ideas, I shall do a doodle and forward it.

Luxys.

If I could choose

10 ° backsweep, 5 ° upsweep.
20 and 35 mm rise options.

Some prefer high bars and little spacers, some prefer more spacers and a low rise...

780 mm, so it can be cut down if needed.
I ride one 780 bar (cut from 800 mm - on the ssp - leverage helps to grind uphill) and all the others are 760 mm. I'm 182 cm, ape like posture.
For me it's the sweet spot.
I think you have a good idea what I ride - not very 'british'...
Due to multiple wrist injuries and the way I ride 12 ° and more don't work for me. If my wrist was okay and the riding a bit tamer, I'd probably be on 12 - 16 ° backsweep. As Scotroutes already said, such options are really expensive. Could be interesting to provide an alloy option...

Invest (time... lots of time and testing) in the right amount of compliance. The former RF Sixc felt too stiff for example.

macinblack wrote:Maybe some kind of spur around there?

Summin like dat?
https://r2-bike.com/TOGS-Lenkerhoernche ... -Flex-Togs

Oh... too slow

Thanks. Keep 'em coming

Some alloy 'groovy luv cycles' please 720mm wide.25mm rise, 17 degree sweep and cut and shut construction rather than bends

A slight alteration to my velo orange Casey crazy bar but I don't know how to achieve what I'd like as I'm not certain what it is I want to change lol the angles or tube shapes just need a bit of manipulation , other than that it's great :)

My personal faves are a pair of carbon OG's which I got when I worked at PX. They only bought 1 batch which sold out very quickly. I seem to remember Brant telling me that he'd stumbled across a golf club manufacturer during a trip to Taiwan. They also made the Knuckleball XC bars and could vary the carbon layup to offer various levels of flex. My OG's refute the saying
" light, cheap, durable, pick any 2" they are also pretty comfortable. That said, I wouldn't use them on a gravel bike but flexy flared drop bars at a decent price would sell.

Yep I’d take a ‘narrow flare’ carbon drop bar too.

Carbon flared drop bar which has a decent 24 degree flare, nice 44cm width at the hoods, short reach and drop, say no more than 70mm reach and 116mm drop so is open enough that hands dont feel cramped but short/not low to help getting as upright as possible. Ie a carbon cowchipper.

A carbon altbar copy of the Soma Osprey, which is a copy of the Jones (non loop) h-bar. No one does this bar in carbon. Planetx came close with the carbon OG bar.

Oh and Rich, whilst you are on, a decent aftermarket fork for the Camino Ti eg one that will take a 700c 45mm tyre with more space than the present one and has mudguard and light mounts (I have nagged Neil about this!). And a carbon fork for the Broken road as well. Cheers Andy

Something carbon, answer 20/20 shape but with a loop for luggage mounting and aero positions. The loop would have a threaded insert for a light mount in the centre of the loop and internal cable routing. Intregrated strap loops would be nice or moulded ones which secure the straps from slippage

After my recent musings on this (viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13639&p=177462#p177462)...

A square "loop" for easy strappage, good light positioning, and plenty of accessory room.
Built-in tri-bar-style extensions.
So kind of like a Surly Moloko but with longer upswept sticky-outy-bits at the front, or a Velo Orange Casey's Crazy with a bar across at the front to "close the loop."
Alloy for lightness.
Unsure on my exact preference for sweep on the actual "handle" bits as yet.

I presume with that sort of quality description, you could dispense with a drawing and just send it straight to the factory

You could call it "El Jefe" - don't think that'll upset anyone

Congrats on the new job!

Haven't read through above thoroughly so apologies if already covered.

Switching from Loops to drops the main question is where do you put everything?
My list is: Knogg, etrex, hr, lights x 2.
That is further compounded by the need to have bar direct mount or will fit over the wrapped bar.
The answer (and it works in my head) is a bolt on loop out front so any bar within reason can be a loop bar.
I have tried the small accessories bars but they use all the exposed bar so just thought a large loop would be more useful.
Possibly in three parts to allow for adjustment or two with a trombone slide for adjustment.
Its mad I know but it might just work.

bolt on loop out front

+1 for that

Stooge moto all the way

+1 on an Alpkit Luxy bar

Been looking for my ideal drop bar for a long time as i have XXL gloved sized hands,

I would like the flare and reach of the Midge bar, as i love the way it spreads the weight going through my palms across the whole of the side of the hood, but with a much longer drop to it with quite a tight curve so not far to the drops and with the whole of top width of the bar being 31.8 width

Alpkit Togs please

That reminds me I have about 3 pairs of hinged carbon togs somewhere

ScotRoutes wrote:

macinblack wrote:I often place my finger and thumb around the brake lever housing for a bit of respite. Maybe some kind of spur around there?

TOGS?
https://togs.com/

I was going to suggest bar ends that can be clamped on without having to be slid along the bars (e.g. a hinged or two-piece clamp). That way they could be fitted anywhere inboard. They could also be fitted to the front loop on a Jones/similar bar.

Not Togs but a bar end inboard is what I mean, though I suppose I could use an accessory bar, as they hinge to fit. I suppose a short spur like a shortened bar end is what I meant.