does any actually like these? i was luke warm on them until last week on a failed trip to dc. can't totally blame the moustache bars, but it seems that there are few comfortable positions.
moustache, or mistake?
or
must-ache
I have a two friends who dumped them after a couple years complaining of hands falling asleep. Could be they never took the time to figure out a good stem combo.
Drop bars really are a beautiful thing as far as hand positions go.
But if you're just looking for hand positions take Sheldon Brown's lead (RIP).
Yeah, stem height, and particularly reach, is pretty important. I think you need to treat them like flared drops, and set them up appropriately.
There is only one place to put my hands as far as I can tell. All the other positions put my wrists in an awkward position.
I bought some flared drops for my long haul trucker, haven't been able to ride them yet.
I like mine fine. I was kind of iffy on them until I lowered them far down from Grant's recommendations:
...and now it feels a lot more zippy. I switch between the 3 hand positions and didn't have any problems during last weekend's 170 mile ride.
I tired them and hated them.
I've not quite hated flared drops as much, but they're still not as comfortable as a set of mountain risers for me.
it just seems like every hand position is just half good, never great. again i didn't ride them on the trip, but in my little experience combined with his rantings made me think about them again
I rode them for a while and was happy. I know people have disliked them intensely, but I didn't mind.
I switched that bicycle to the even-more-recommended Noodle and was even happier. The moustaches went to M, who seems to be satisfied.
A month ago I FINALLY got a set of Midge bars, that weird hybrid flare, raved over by Matt Chester once-upon-a-time (link removed after I realized Brian already linked it) Those are on a tandem, not a MTB. I don't have big mileage on them yet (but did do a 70-miler), so I think I'm going to spend a little effort still adjusting them in & out, up & down. So far so good.
It definitely feels more zippy to have them low, but i feel really hunched over with mine adjusted like that.
Just bought a Nitto Dirt Drop to get that stache back up where it belongs.
If you can get them in the right place they're really comfortable. They do take about a week or two of riding to get used to. Don't give up on them!
dmg, that saddle is nicely broken in! What color is it?
what hand position do ya'll prefer?
they are great for climbing... i switched to them from drop bars on a bike i was building last month and haven't looked back... its one of my favorite bikes to ride now.
i almost always ride hands on the outsides, i think if i got a little shorter stem i could pull off the furthest forward position but as it is now i can't... i have a long stem though.
Absolutely hated them. Tried them for months, gave me hand pain, the brake levers are in a crappy place for actually braking and they don't really have that many positions for all the material and bends going on.
The Nitto Noodle bar has been really really good to me, I do wish it had a little less reach and drop, but what ever. Tried the Midge and WTB Dirt Drops on a ton of different bikes, they got the thumbs down. Too wide, and the bends where all in weird spots.
I hope Jeff Jones comes out with a narrower version of his bars, I think they would make killer city/touring type bars if they weren't so wide.
Narrow vs wide, another eternal question. I have the 46 cm Noodles & like it. The Midges *are* really wide, true. On moustaches & midges I often ride with my hands on the brake hoods (yes that's two completely different positions). The moustache-hood position is very far out in front, but sometimes comfortable.
One of these days I'm going to go back to these bars
, old steel 3-speed-style, flipped downward.
dmg, that saddle is nicely broken in! What color is it?
It's the standard brown. On a ride last week I put vaseline in the pad of my shorts which turned out to be very permeable and, well, now the center area is a bit darker. Whoops. I need to get some proofide in the near future....
As far as moustache bar hand positions, I tend to like the outer curves, and then grabbing the hoods (bullhorn style) for big descents... you can get really aero with them.
+1 for the flipped 3 speed bars. I ran a similar setup for awhile and found it more comfortable than m-bars, primarily because I could ride the hoods without being too bent over.
I am an unabashed fan of Albatross bars.
I think the dirt drops are kind of like the 3 speeds.
They are out of print, but salsa makes a rip off.
These were used a bunch when mountain biking was just a touring frame with knobby tires.
Former Olympian shows up to win Master's cyclocross nationals on a pink singlespeed with mustache bars. So much for not going fast on them.
badass
i love moustache bars. i've used them on touring bikes, commuters, and a mountain bike. Brian's right about setting them like flared drops. I haven't used them on any of my current frames, but only on older frames with shorter top tubes, so I always used longer stems with a small rise against keeping them much lower than big Grant's suggestions.
