agmetal

I'm trying to make my vintage Fuji Royale II fit me more comfortably, and it seems like the way to do that is to shorten the reach of the bars and/or stem. I'd like to stay with a classic-looking quill stem like what I have (and ideally, keep the one I already have). The bars were slightly bent recently, when the bike was brushed by a car backing into a nearby try when my bike was locked up outside where I work, so I was thinking about replacing them anyway.

The bars on it now are Nitto Olympiade B114s, and if I've measured the reach correctly (center of "tops" to center of "hook"), I'm getting right around 5"/130mm. I'm trying to shorten the reach by maybe an inch and a half to be closer to my other bike (2011 Bianchi Volpe with its stock Reparto Corse compact drops), and I saw the Nitto B115 and B105, but I can't tell what the difference is. It looks like the 115 has a 100mm reach, and I saw one place where the 105 was listed as having a 65mm reach, but it looked like that may have only been in the 37cm width, and I want 40cm.

FBinNY 

I don't know about forward reach of the various road bars out there, but suspect they vary within a fairly narrow band. OTOH, stems down to about 25mm or as short is possible with the bar passing forward of the vertical tube.

well biked

If you get a 26.0 (clamp size) quill stem, there are relatively inexpensive Deda bars, and probably Origin8's, with the new school road compact shape. This shape bar has a very shallow drop, and very short forward reach, relatively speaking. The downside is that I think these bars are only available in black, which usually isn't an ideal look for an older road bike. You might also check around, there might even be 25.4's available in that shape from Origin8 as well. I faced the same problem on one of my older bikes with a quill stem, and went with the Deda's. For me, the new compact shape drop bars help create a fit that really works.

I forgot to mention that the Civia brand used to offer this shape bar in silver, with either 25.4 or 26.0 clamp size (can't remember), but they're no longer made. I haven't even seen any on ebay lately. But that's another possibility for those clamp sizes if you can find them.

ThermionicScott 

What stem are you using? I have a 40mm (yep!) SR stem with 25.4mm clamp that I am not likely to use again.

agmetal

The original stem is a Nitto Young, 80mm. I've just found these, which look like they'd be perfect for what I'm after, other than the fact that it would mean replacing the stem as well...but at least I could get a quill stem!

https://store.velo-orange.com/index.p...handlebar.html

HillRider

FSA's Omega Compact bars have a short reach (80 mm) and a shallow drop (125 mm) but, unfortunately, are available only in black and for a 31.8 mm bar clamp. I don't know of any quill stems available in that bar clamp diameter.

well biked

Yes, the FSA Omega's have the short, shallow shape I was referring to with the Deda's, Origin8's, and Civia's. Those brands offer or have offered bars with nearly identical shape and dimension as the Omega's but in smaller clamp size(s).

Slash5

I'd recommend trying the On-One Midge bars. Certainly cheap enough to try - under $25. They give a nice relaxed position - normal road bars seem odd afterwards.
Geometry:- Width at the ends -- 554mm - centre/centre Width of "flat section" or "tops" - 375mm Overall drop - 112mm centre/centre Sweep forward - 64.5mm centre/centre (from centre of bar clamp to centre of tube at the front. Flare at ends - 113deg

On-One Midge Handlebar | Planet X

zukahn1 

About the shortest reach 25.4 bars I have seen are the Specialized bodygeometry bars designed for women that have about an inch shorter effective reach than regular drop bars.

fietsbob

Road bars most of the action is in 26mm these days .. older Cinelli 26.4.. though even larger is the new trend..

Your time periods dont mix .. 1" drop bars went out of production before Brifters were invented to require short Ramp Bars.
the short ramp bar bend came in after road bars dropped the 25.4 stem. clamp

I have 2 Sekae 25.4 bars from the 80s.. as NOS they were long ramp Randonneur bends
sawed them up to combine as 1 wide handlebar, I could split to pack for a tour boxing.

ThermionicScott 

I'm certainly in no great need to sell my stem, but one thing I like about using a shorter-than-average stem with regular handlebars is the wider variation of available positions. When in the drops, I can really stretch out, but when I switch back to the tops, I'm fairly upright. Just something to think about.

agmetal

Trouble is, this would provide me with basically the opposite of my end goal. I'm trying to make two bikes feel MORE similar to each other, not less! The bars I already have are the correct width, I just want to shorten the reach. I'm most likely gonna go for the Dajia Cycleworks bars I linked to earlier.

agmetal

Received and installed the Dajia Cycleworks shallow drop bars yesterday, along with an Origin 8 26mm quill stem. They look good, but it's a huge pain to get the stem around the sharper bend at the end of the ramps, since I don't have a stem with a removable faceplate. It put some scratches in the bars, but mostly in places covered by the tape anyway. The only other mild criticism of these bars would be that they seem to be slightly wider than the Nitto Olympiade bars they replaced, despite having the same nominal width (and it's my understanding that both are measured center to center...weird). Anyway, I'm happy overall, and the bike feels much more comfortable, while still looking the part! Made a couple other little changes while I was at it:

Before:


After:

vanadium

Hi ThermionicScott, do you still have that 40mm SR stem for sale?

I would be interested to buy it.

Cheers!

surreal

Yeah, i feel like 31.8 has taken over for 26.0, and they've got even more oversized bars now, too. Goofy, considering they have to get narrow real quick to accommodate standard controls....

fietsbob

the Cannondale syndrome , a Tube's stiffness increases with Diameter .

vanadium

Hi, can anyone of you please do me a favour and send a private message to ThermionicScott that I would like to talk to him about the 40mm SR stem? I can't send private messages myself yet.

Please tell him to answer directly to magnusjetski@gmail.com

Thank you!!

ThermionicScott 

Hey, I just saw this. I'll get in touch with you after work.

vanadium

ok thanks!

Clem von Jones

I'm surprised nobody is selling a compact shallow drop bar for 25.4 stems. Hopefully it'll happen in 2015. There's a much larger variety of riser 25.4 stems then 26.0. I refuse to give up polished aluminum quill stems and bars on classic bikes but compact bars with flat ramps and mild sweep really are the bee's knees.

fietsbob

Head over to the Taipei Bike trade show with a Line of Credit , Those people are tooled up to make a lot of bike stuff when the funds are offered ..

batch of a Thousand should start to bring the cost Per down..

the 'You Guy's should' group may have different Priorities ..

HillRider

No too likely. 25.4 mm has been out of fashion for many years and there weren't a great variety of 25.4 mm road bars even when it was the common MTB size.

Ranger63

Just figured I'd throw this out there for anyone looking for the civia short reach drop road bars.
Urbane Cyclist (Toronto Ca.) carries them.

fietsbob

NB: Civia is another QBP brand, so more widely available than 1 seller in Toronto, but may have to be ordered and shipped to your LBS, if not in the shop when you walk in.

well biked

The Civia compact drop bar has been discontinued for quite a while, which is a shame IMO. If there's a shop that carries them, they have some old(ish) stock, but they're not re-ordering them through QBP.