Nice to see you Justin!

Looking carefuly at both the 136AA and the Grand Bois Randonneur, I don't think they are the same:
Nitto 136AA


Grand Bois randonneur:


the GB seems to flare up a lot more

Apologies for resurrecting a zombie thread but I just wanted to thank BF for always having the information I needed... now if only I'd thought to look I wouldn't have already bought the 132's just because they seemed like a deal, and instead would have known to get the GB-like 135's.

Doesn't help that SR Sakae version says RANDNNER

I got the Nitto 136AA bars. Will post some pictures once they are installed, as they are rare online...
They don't flare as much as the 135 and I also think they have a smaller upward curve.

I'm interested to hear what it is that you expect to prefer about the 135 shape over the 132 shape.

FWIW, I tried the Compass Rando bar in 42mm width. Here is a pic of the bar:

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I ended up not liking the up-sweep. The was no place on the flat section of the bar that was truly flat. My wrists were always at an angle. I know that is the idea but it did not work for me. These seem to be a bit more pronounced than the other types of Rando bars I tried. YMMV.

Less extension, drops with a longer flat section and more flare. Although not nearly quite as much as a Soma Junebug for instance. ThermionicScott had a spare pair of the Gerry Burgess bars lying around so I'll be using them.

Speaking of which, I was going to ask if you'd gotten them yet.

The box was here when we got back from the camping trip, I assume the handlebars are in it

If they aren't, that'll make two of us that are surprised.

Good info. Thanks.

I saw these and I thought they might work, but I need flat ramps like my Noodles.

I'll just stick with those when my Rambouillet shows up next month.

Yeah being the luddite that I am, I went back to the 46cm Noodles that were on it previously.

VO Grand Cru Course.

Assuming you know of them already, but having ridden them for 300mi over the last few weeks, ive decided im going to use them for any classic style bike i build up in the future.
Slight flared drops, full C bend, and good flat ramps.

I can jump in and say why I prefer the 135; maybe others have different reasons, and I know some prefer the 132's. Chocolate and vanilla.

135 had less reach.

135 has less drop.

The drops on the 135 extend rearward farther than those on the 132.

It's been noted (on this thread, iirc) that the ramps and drops are more nearly parallel on the 132. That's cool, but for me it isn't enough to trump the other benefits of the 135. Both the 132 and 135 have a nice flat ramp section behind the hoods that I find really comfortable, so much so that I have abandoned Cinelli bars altogether.

I bet you'll love them. My favorite drops on MTB conversions; the bar ends are just in the right spot for me. I'm ashamed to admit that I've snapped up on Schwinn Continentals from CL just to get those particular "GB" bars.

Anyway, I hope you like them as much as I do!

I've enjoyed the b135 and decided to try the compass bars on my roubaix even though nitto makes the b135 in 31.8 now. I hope they work for me, I rarely use the tops of the bars.

Good points about the reach up top and the extension on the drops.

I actually quite like the SR Sakae "RANDNNER" bars (and the GB ones on my Raleigh Gran Sport). I think the 132 bars might be more similar to those old school ones. Too bad there's no easy way to compare these without buying one of each.

The 132 is what I bought by mistake and I can say categorically that it's not like the Gerry Burgess bars from a 70's Schwinn, at least. (I've decided to stop writing "GB" to avoid confusion with Gilles Berthoud or Grand Bois.) The old handlebars have even longer drops, and even less extension than the 135's. Now that I have the ones from Scott in my possession, I can take a photo. I feel like these might be different from the ones on my Super Sport, which I remembered with not quite 90 degree sweep. @Metacortex might know if there were different models, he's the keeper of the FB flame. Here are some shots I've tried to stage the same way as the Nitto factory shots above. But anyhow, this is what I think I want, so I'm happy for now.

Gerry Burgess 1970's?



B135 45cm



B132a 44cm



Untitled by Darth Lefty, on Flickr

Here's the set I had on my Super Sport, with the tops nearly level

Untitled by Darth Lefty, on Flickr

I can say that the GB bars used on '71 through '79 Schwinns were 42cm wide. They had only one part number (which implied one version), which was 55 123.

Hahaha. This is the first time I've actually heard what GB stands for on all those vintage Raleigh stems and bars. Nice comparison photo of the Gerry Burgess.

For fun, and to highlight the differences between the 135 and 132 for anyone wanting to see it really clearly (like me), I created overlays from the above Nitto photos (and made sure the clamp diameters in the photos are the same for both bars, thus ensuring that the dimensions compare accurately. 135 in red and 132 in blue (click to embiggen):

Those are "neato" comparison pics, indeed.

+1 pretty slick.

As promised, the Nitto 136AA bars mounted. They feel a bit like a "diet" version of the 135AA -- the upsweep is not so pronounced and it doesn't fill the cup of your hand so much, has less flare and the drops extend less rearward.

26.0 Clamp, 40cm C-C and ~37cm C-C at the hoods.

Heh, thanks for the tip!

Appreciated.