I'm finally sorted with my Surly Karate Monkey - its taken a long time for me to get it set up right but I think I'm just about there. I'm currently running Easton flat bars - @680mm which are OK but I sometimes feel I could do with wider bars.
A wide pair Sunlines are the obvious option but while looking at bars I also started to think other options - On One Fleegles etc.
What are the advantages of these? do you need longer/shorter stems? Are they more/less comfortable?

Depends what kind of riding you're doing I reckon. I've been using Ragley Carnegies for a while now & really like them, on my long distance bike at least. They helped with shoulder & wrist issues I was getting on long rides & generally feel more natural than straight bars. I've also used them on my carbon Blur which I use for more techy stuff and I'm less impressed with them for that purpose. I find they put your hands in such a position that the "attack" position, elbows bent outwards, becomes harder to hold whilst keeping hands properly on the bars. For swoopy singletrack type stuff they're great, but I wouldn't choose them if I was regularly riding a lot of techy rocky stuff at speed.

I use Fleegles. They're much more comfortable for me than flat bars because of the sweep.

The bend forwards means you can have sweep backwards without shortening reach, so use the same stem lebngth as flat bars.

Fleegles are 710mm and ~350g, Fleegle Pros are 660mm and ~240g.

Oh yes, forgot to mention, you shouldn't need to change your stem with the Carnegies either, due to the initial forward sweep. The large amount of taper can be irritating though as often stuff doesn't like to stay firmly clamped in place on the bars.

i use salsa motoace bars in 710mm & 17° sweep. i run them almost flat ands swept back a lot.

i fins that they are more comfortable than the easton shape for long rides. although i run eastons on my more techy bike (and sometimes some 750mm sunlines).

the salsa bars don't have backsweep & you need to add 20mm to your stem to get them in the same place. i'm tempted to try some carnegies as i think i'd like more sweep.

Agree with Pedal head on the hand position as I have a limp right wrist and a dodgy left shoulder. So hand postion is critical for me.

I use Marys on my rigid SS and like the hand position for flowy single track and out of the saddle climbs, the extra length and flex tendencies of all things On one help take out the trail buzz. Living down in the South East there isn't much rocky Techy stuff to go at for any length of time.

I have a pair of Fleegles hanging about in the shed not being used. Happy to take pics etc if need to see better angles? comparisons etc.

If riding SS a mate uses the Titec/Jeff Jones H Bar and swears by it. He also has a set Carnieges which he likes though attaching lights and keeping them from waggling takes some thought on the tapered bits.

I've got fleegles and Mary's in the shed going unloved, no idea where you are based but if you want to try them sure we could sort something out?

I really liked the mary's but use a integrated stem and bar now so handlebar is a real bitch to change :?

Not to hijack I hope, but could anyone who's has used both Marys and Jones H comment on relative angles - I currently use Marys (for all the reasons posted above) but like the riding position / accessories mounting possibilities offered by the Jones - as long as the 'at wrist' angle isn't much greater than the Mary angle... ta.

royAB wrote:Not to hijack I hope, but could anyone who's has used both Marys and Jones H comment on relative angles - I currently use Marys (for all the reasons posted above) but like the riding position / accessories mounting possibilities offered by the Jones - as long as the 'at wrist' angle isn't much greater than the Mary angle... ta.

Mate has Titec and the angles are similar. Will see at the weekend let me know if you want pics.

Cheers Guy, if you can do a pic, would be much appreciated..

It's definately worth trying different bars, although I only say that after getting my Fargo a couple of months ago and riding off road on drops for the first time, to find that I can jump on it more confidently (still pathetically though) than on my riser barred 456....

http://iwillbebacksoon.blogspot.com/201 ... drops.html

I find the biggest issue with "Jones" type bars is not having enough room to easily mount shifters, obviously on a SS that's not a problem. They don't offer as much flex as a Mary bar but they still smooth the chatter out to a degree.

For very technical stuff I'd favour the Jones/Titec over a Mary but for general riding I'd go with the Mary ... Jones will also require a longer stem, I recall I went from 60mm to 90mm.

I also rate the 17 degree Salsa Motos and uncut Fleegals ... or anything else that puts your hands in a more natural position really

I've got a handlebar-related question.....

Last year at the Coed Y Brenin Enduro I saw loads of the 29er folks riding with big, wide, straight bars but I've got no idea what they're called, who makes 'em etc...

Something like the bars below:



Not dissimilar to a regular XC flat bar but wider and with a sniff of sweep.

I ask as due to changing my sus-forks (from 100mm Reba SL's to 120mm Reba RLT Ti) I find that the front end rides a little high (with my old trusty riser bars) and so I'd like to try a set of these,

So.....what are they called, who makes 'em, where can I get some, how much do they cost etc...

Any help appreciated.

Gairy.

These look okay gairy - http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=80291

There's plenty more there with different sweep and width. Just out of interest, I like something about 660mm wide with plenty of backsweep.

For anyone wanting to compare Titec to Mary ... remember that the Titec bars in this case don't have any rise. I find that I tend to 'roll them back' so the grips are below horizontal.

s8tannorm wrote:These look okay gairy - http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=80291

There's plenty more there with different sweep and width. Just out of interest, I like something about 660mm wide with plenty of backsweep.

Those look alright (quite a lot of sweep!).

So what I've been seeing are just regular XC bars (but wide ones)?

It would seem XC/Flat bars have evolved, without my taking notice, from being stumpy narrow horrible little things into something that I really like the look of (or have I grown-up in the 15 years since I last looked at anything other than a regular riser bar?).

Ok, I think I need to take that next step now and click 'XC/Flat' when looking at the bar section of bike websites.

Scary stuff.....

Gairy.

P.s. I've ridden some Mary bars and tried the Midge on my road bike but I couldn't get on with either of 'em but.....as we've discovered above, it appears that I'm not massively in touch with what's happening in the world of handlebars!

Cheers s8tannorm, very useful to see plan view comparison and comments on rise too. Looks like I'll be sticking with Mary - my back likes the rise and I could do without faffing to fit brakes & shifters...that said, from the pic. it does look like there's room on the Titecs to get levers and shifters 'south' of the extensions (?), so that may not be such an issue and a riser stem could take care of the relative 'drop'..

One are doing the Fleegles for £20 ATM - I think they may be worth a try at that price

It would seem that while I was napping and paying no attention to bike-component fashion someone changed the 'normal' diameter of bars from 25.4mm to 31.8mm (I know, it probably happened a decade ago).

The last time I bought a pair of bars standard was the standard size and OS bars (Over-sized) were called that for a reason - honestly, you turn your back on the world for 5 minutes.....

So.....this means that I need a new stem as well!

Bugger!

On One had some stems on offer the other day inc' OS ... recall they were about a tenner.

thanks stuart but they didn't have anything in the size i wanted (well not on offer anyway).

in the end i ordered:

bars - Nukeproof Warhead 760 Flat Bars

stem - FSA OS190 LXC Stem

it's the same dimension of stme i've been using for many years and so i know where i'm at with it and so it'll be just the bars that alter the ride position.

should be good!

I have a set of Jones H bar loops (Roy you can try them out next time we ride), I find while narrower than a lot of modern bars that are silly wide, they are far more comfortable than anything else that I have tried.

I had a set of Mary's which i like, but they feel a little narrower than the Jones. I also think the Jones loops are wider than the traditional H bars due to the longer back section to give room to acconodate brakes and shifters behind the loop section.

I use Jones H bars and don't have any problems.
I find the position very comfy as i got problems in my wrist and no probs with brake position, these go on the 'horns'. Usually i run SS, but when I have the Alfine fitted the shifter fits very neatly next to the cork grips I have.

Would love to have some loop bars, reckon this would give more options for light positions and to strap things on when needed
Mart

stevemorg wrote: What are the advantages of these? do you need longer/shorter stems? Are they more/less comfortable?

Flat/straighter bars make my thumbs hurt, so I tried Marys to begin with for a bit of sweep - bit didn't like the rise so swapped to Jones J bars. They feel very similar, but the Marys are a bit more flexible and easier to mount brake levers and shifters too. My Jones bars work well with Paul thumbshifter mounts, though there's not really enough space to fit shifters behind the cross piece on the J/H bar, but there is on the Cut/Loop bar. You probably won't need a different stem with Mary, Carnegie or Jones Loop/Cut bars, but might need a longer stem with J or H bars.