What's your "cockpit" of choice?
By that I mean Handlebar, grips, extensions, brakes?
After all we spend a long time staring at our dashboard on long climbs.

I'm always a drop bar fan, for road ofcourse. Just fits me right. And I sometimes run Aero bars on a flat MTB for comfort over distance, despite getting some odd looks


I have a bad habbit of focusing on long distance comfort and less on control over rough fast trails, how do you guys find that balance? Or is a different tool for a different job kinda deal

I've also just noticed OnOne have some funky bars going cheap, and its got me tempted

Just a wee note - the cheapest of the cheap bars over there are the old diameter ie 26mm clamp, so no Mungo's for a fiver for me :( The 31.8mm clamp ones are a purse-destroying £10!

As for cockpit I do like the different hand positions of drops - I do have flat bars on mtb, but bar ends were added very early on.

Just seen the On-One Mary bars, look like a cheap alternative to Jones bend bars, anyone used them?

I bought a very nice Thompson carbon riser bar a few months back but I haven't got around to fitting it. Useless.

ootini wrote:Just seen the On-One Mary bars, look like a cheap alternative to Jones bend bars, anyone used them?

I've used them in the past, but subsequently bought some Jones Loops, which I prefer. The loops are great for securing gear to and IMO comfier and offer better control. With Ergon grips - really comfortable too.

Massive price difference though, but money well spent. The Mary's are great if you want to experiment on the cheap though.

ootini wrote:Just seen the On-One Mary bars, look like a cheap alternative to Jones bend bars, anyone used them?

I've got Mary Bars on my SS & really like them, great if you want to try that shape of bar without breaking the bank

I've got On One Mary handlebars and Ergon grips. Last week, I rode a hired mountain bike with straight bars and my wrists hurt, I had numbness in my hands that I used to experience before I changed to the setup I now have, so I'm totally convinced the swept shape combined with the grips works for me.

My partner has Jones bars, that he loves. I just can't believe how expensive they are for what you get. He started out with On Ones.

I had Mary's for about 18 months but found them too narrow and the backsweep caused the ends of the bars to hit my legs on tight nadgery stuff. I then tried Fleegle's, the width was great but the backsweep not enough to notice. I now run OG's and think they are perfect in both width and backsweep. Good price too. One good thing about Mary's is that there is very little or no bag/brake cable junction interference.

I too found that On-One OG bars were nicer than Mary bars, however I did run mine flipped for extra weird points. They've now been swapped for some Seven Cycles 20 degree Ti flat bars which feel perfect*

*Until I change my mind and fit something else It was mentioned that I change bars like women change their knickers

I find wide flat bars give me wrist ache long term, so I ran shorter bars, and replaced the grips with bar tape, in quite an interesting pattern linking to my aerobars, VERY comfortable over long distance, and suited my smaller stature better

But the second I hit a downhill trail, the grips were too thin, steering was twitchy and my hands couldn't grip the bar tape tidy, I was clinging on for dear life...

Going back to wide bars and silicone I've got more confidence, control, but the wrist problem has returned, bar ends helped on flats but not by much , I've read a backsweep can help this? But do you sacrifice ability on trails for comfort?

And to top it off, solving both problems AND getting brakes and cables to work with whatever harness bag I run up front...

s8tannorm wrote: It was mentioned that I change bars like women change their knickers

I can see why

HaYWiRe wrote:And to top it off, solving both problems AND getting brakes and cables to work with whatever harness bag I run up front..

Not an insignificant issue and one where wider bars definitely seem to help

ootini wrote:Just seen the On-One Mary bars, look like a cheap alternative to Jones bend bars, anyone used them?

Curvy bar addiction usually goes something like:

On One Marys > Ragley Carnegie / On One OG (alloy) > Ragley Carnegie / On One OG (carbon) > Jones Loop H-Bar (alloy) > Jones Loop H-Bar (carbon/ti)

Takes anywhere from 6 months to 4 years. Wherever you are on the transition scale, may will deny they have a problem.

I got a lot of wrist pain last year on various long rides with normal riser bars. After much fannying around with various bar types, bar ends and grip types I ended up back with extra wide and high 'normal' bars (Spank spike race) with cheapo NC17 ergo grips. The bar ends were a pia on techy descents and eventually I realised they made my wrists hurt more than holding onto normal bars so got launched. What sorted me was loads of riding which presumabbly strengthened something in my wrists to the point where I could use normal bars all day. I've not tried jones bars due to the cost plus I'm not sure about them for steep climbs and techy descents. I could be convinced but not for £120....

Best bars = ones your happy with!

Mt Zoom flat bars and kcnc spongy grips.they just work. I am sure MBR would say I am old I fashioned but I just think they haven't caught up yet.

htrider wrote:I've not tried jones bars due to the cost plus I'm not sure about them for steep climbs and techy descents. I could be convinced but not for £120....

You're welcome to borrow mine. I'm hot and cold on them and they are now saved for winter fatbike duties

How do the hand positions of the OG bars compare to the loops?

i'm in a fad with 710mm jones and drops at the moment

Motorman wrote:How do the hand positions of the OG bars compare to the loops?

Less back sweep, slight up sweep.
I run them on the fat bike, but prefer Jones on the 29er SS.

after running mary bars, carnegies and Jones loop for the last 10yrs, all of a sudden they made my wrists and elbows ache. so now i a running nearly flat bars with ergon grips. the light race ones on the big mtb and the ones with barends on the day to day bike.
no more wrist pain and better control.

Titec hellbents, started with the aluminium versions but have changed over to carbon on both mountain bikes. Much more comfortable on the singlespeed but don't notice the difference in the fat bike (sole reason was the warmth factor in this bike )