'alt' bar advice.

[gairym]

Evening all,

I'm currently converting my On-one 'Lurcher' 29er into a Turin-Nice capable CX-ish gravel beast and am thinking about the bars next.....

I've currently got some flat XC bars on there and whilst they're fine i can't help thinking that there are better/more efficient options.....

I'm not willing to go full drops (it's already longer than ideal in the top tube and lower than I'm used to) and so I'm wondering what options are available to me.

Have considered 'investing' in the pair of carbon Jones bars for sale in the Classifieds (in the short term, passing them on after the event) but not sure I can justify the insanity of (even temporarily) paying that much for a curved tube???

So.....any other options I should consider?

Flat bars with aero add-ons?

A pair of old-skool bar ends mounted in the middle?

What do we think?

[ianfitz]

On one OG bars are worth a look. W shape not so much angle as jones but comfy, especially in carbon

[Pat]

The early titec J bars (jeff jones's first effort, sold under license by titec) can be picked up for £30-40 and are very good if you can find them....if alpkit ever get round to selling their Fu Man Chu bars, they will be £25 quid and are almost identical to Jones bars....a slightly different radius, and maybe a tiny rise too.....

[Bearbonesnorm]

Velo Orange might have just the thing Gairy.

http://bearbonesbikepacking.blogspot.co ... dness.html

[HopeValleyPaul]

Try some Mary bars first, only £20. I went from flats to Mary's now on Jones bars.
Mary's were great but I like the extra width of the Jones.
http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/HBOOMA/on-o ... -handlebar

[gairym]

Thanks folks,

I must admit to always having been an alt bar sceptic but seeing as my right elbow still doesn't feel right after Tuscany I'm willing to give it a try.

Having looked at all the options below/above I've gone and ordered a pair of the Velo Orange bars.

If you're going to look daft you might as well go whole hog!

Off the bike they look mental but taped up and in situ they look fine.

All three positions look handy, good find Stu!

Anything else to add to your review since February?

Cheers all, Gairy.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Anything else to add to your review since February?

I was initially running thumbies but decided to switch to 'normal' trigger shifters. All good but if you have triggers with indicator windows you might find removing them makes it easier to get everything where you want it ... they will fit without doing so but the window can limit where they sit on the bar. Other than that, nothing to report.

[gairym]

Thanks, no shifter windows these days.

Is the high rise stem and spacers normal for you or in place due to using those bars?

[Bearbonesnorm]

Is the high rise stem and spacers normal for you or in place due to using those bars?

Perfectly normal for me Gairy. Stem, spacers, etc are the same as they were before I fitted the bars ... in fact, I might even remove a spacer or two.

[gairym]

Good, good, I'll leave everything else as is then.

Cheers.

[benp1]

Why not try some normal Jones Loops, rather than the carbon ones? Or are you trying to keep it light?

[gairym]

I am but it's as much about keeping the cost down.

The Alu Jones are still twice the price of the Velo Orange ones (and I love the whackiness of them!).

[Pirahna]

I've got Jones Loop bars on one bike and I'm not sure about them, for me they need something like Ergon grips and a stem with more rise to alleviate the hand discomfort I get. I found the Jones bars do affect handling, the hand position is moved much further back and the bike became quite twitchy. I've played with different stem lengths and rise with the limited ones I have in the spares box but I'll probably end up selling them.

On my XC bike I've got Answer 20/20 bars, a 20 degree sweep with a 20 degree rise, I much prefer them to the Jones. However, to keep the hand position roughly where it would be with straight bars they curve as soon as they clear the stem. I can't fit an out front mount for a Garmin for example and although I haven't tried I think they would make fitting aero bars difficult.

[HaYWiRe]

Never really 'got' these odd bar shapes, and I've tried to get my head around but cant get comfy.

For me, I've found myself very happy with extra wide, thin and light XC bars paired with a short stem. Perfect for trail riding and opens my chest up to help breathing, and not too upright given my tiny torso, ahem, I mean reach.

For the road side, switching to wider, more compact drops is my sweet spot and have never had problems, infact I've debated many times running drops on the mtb as I feel I've got the most comfort, control and stability, gravel rides have proven this too.

Only thing I've found is the more road riding I do the more comfortable I am being low down up front, or "aero", given the miles of stretching down it now just feels...right.
Back on the mtb I feel way too high up front and have been slowly lowering the spacers upfront (even debating flipping the stem lower) but its mostly for rougher trails so dont mind as much.

I have run aero bars on both bikes and love them for the,longer distances. Taking weight off your hands or tucking in headwinds they're a godsend. more so on the mtb as its harder to get low than on drops, it looks a bit silly but I've had better results with clip on aero bars than mounting bar ends inwards. Both make luggage up front actually easier to fit.

[thenorthwind]

I've tried to get my head around but cant get comfy.

I think you might be using them wrong

IGMC

[TheBrownDog]

Never really 'got' these odd bar shapes, and I've tried to get my head around but cant get comfy.

Me neither. Tried heaps of different styles and shapes. The OnOne OG bars Im running at the mo and pretty good, but even these, which dont have an extreme sweep, put your hands quite far back and kink your wrist (ahem ...) in tighter turns. They're pretty good for longer distances, but Im going to swap them for some good old riser bars and maybe some of those thumb hook things Stu reviewed a while back.

Edit: having said all that, if Alpkit ever DO market those Jones copies, Im grabbing me a pair to see what all the fuss is about.

[mtbmarkymark]

I like my Jones loops but found that adding Ergon GC1 grips really enhanced the comfort when compared to the ESI round grips I was using.
The GC1 grip is designed specifically for swept back bars
An unexpected but welcome bonus is that the grips give you a comfortable and secure hold when powering out of the saddle

[Teetosugars]

I like my Jones loops but found that adding Ergon GC1 grips really enhanced the comfort when compared to the ESI round grips I was using.
The GC1 grip is designed specifically for swept back bars
An unexpected but welcome bonus is that the grips give you a comfortable and secure hold when powering out of the saddle

Good to know!
I'm thinking of going with Jones Bars on my Krampus having been able to borrow and try a pair.

[Dr Nick]

I'm an alt bar convert! I run nitto moustache bars on my road bikes (if a 1963 Moulton and late 80's muddy roadifed mtb count as road bikes).

I've recently replaced the on one Mary's on the proper mtb with Jones loops.

Interesting comment about the Ergon grips designed for back swept bars. I use ergon grips on my folder commuter Dahon with straight bars, but didnt like the Ergons on the Mary's - instead using extra chunky esi grips.

I like the idea of grips that help when powering out of the saddle but I never power out of the saddle....

[Wotsits]

I've got both the Alu & Crabon versions of the Jones loops. After originally going from Mary bars to the alu set on my single speed i was a little bit underwhelmed at first. I liked the hand position & the way (depending on set-up) that they position your body weight further back, making descending easier. But, they felt very stiff, almost harsh compared to the Mary bars i was used to, especially over longer distances.
After talking to a few other loop users about this, & a quick word with Biff at the JennRide, for the new bike i recently built i decided to give the carbon loops a go. Now i know it's a different bike, set-up, etc, but they just feel so much more compliant, really like i'd expected the alu ones to feel like in the first place!
If cost wasn't an issue i'd pick the carbon ones every time..
It's just that it is an issue because they're stupid expensive!

I've also just got some of the Ergon GC1 grips & am looking forward to seeing what they're like over longer distances..

[benp1]

I like the look of those Ergon GC1 for my Loops. Have some ESI chunkys I'd yet to fit, just using some standard ones for the time being. I really like the Loops for standing and grinding (bike currently set up as SS)

[Charliecres]

I fairly recently swapped from Fleegles to Jones H bars on my Swift (adding a 29+ front tyre and raising the stem at the same time). I was trying to get closer to the set-up I have on my Stooge, which has OG bars on and is just fantastic.

While the Swift now feels more comfortable and controlled over rocky ground, I have been getting hand pain on longer rides, which I can only put down to the Jones bars. I've still got some experimenting to do with angles, so hopefully that will improve things.