A simple Google search for wooden handlebars netted several pics and articles:
http://joshspear.com/item/handcrafte...en-handlebars/
http://www.doobybrain.com/2009/03/09...st-boy-cycles/
http://ohoh2.blogspot.com/2008/12/wo...andlebars.html
http://yayeveryday.com/post/4157
http://flourescentbrown.blogspot.com/
http://doctorleaf.blogspot.com/2009/...andlebars.html
1880 bars
Apparently, in spite of all the "opinions" stated here, people ARE riding them in certain circumstances. As a matter of fact, the next to the last link has a guy saying,
"It is super light, and my bike now rides like a weightless speedboat skipping across water.
When I asked the guys at the
store what company makes these, he says, the 'Wooden Handlebar Making Company'. Heh. He did assure me that this "Japanese messenger who breaks everything got one, and he hasn't broken it yet."
The last link is to a pair of 1880 bars. In doing this research I also read that one of the "innovations" sold to racers by the WRIGHT BROTHERS out of their bicycle shop was custom, lightweight wooden handlebars, which were apparently an improvement over the heavy steel bars of the day.
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BICYCLE - [[I]bahy-si-kuhl] - Noun :> A medical device used to correct the common geriatric condition of OFS, (Old, Fat & Slow), in a manner that does not induce brain-decaying boredom like walking or running.
2005 Trek T2000 tandem, Giant TCR, Eddie Merckx Majestic Ti, Fuji Team, Giant Revel 29er, Windsor Clockwork (Orange) fixie, and a BikTrix Juggernaut Ultra 1000 fat tire eBike