Originally Posted by peripatetic
Are these bars really worth the trouble? And what's up with bar tape?
I'm beginning to wonder the same thing.. I put an "adjustable stem" on the bike trying to bring the bars back toward the seat (I had to buy a damned threadless stem spacer to make it fit). Now the bars aren't up enough vertically. To get the bars where I want them, I'll need to get a stem riser with a zero-reach BMX style stem! What a pain. The problem is that the bends of the moustache are six to eight inches in front of the stem mount. This is unlike any road bar, where the top of the bar is in the plane of the stem mount.
I've also adjusted/rewrapped about a half-dozen times. They're still not right!
Bar tape universally SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKS! The cork and foam tapes are the worst, but even cloth is hard to keep smooth. That "double-sided tape" adhesive they use on cork & foam sticks to the bars, to your fingers, to the backing - everywhere but to the handlebar tape.
So far, my opinion of moustache bars is "-)^(%$#^#(&*)_!!!!!!!"