AltheCyclist

Yesterday, I saw a rider with moustache bars climbing a pretty steep hill. Which got me thinking, would these be good for fast commuting. Does anyone use moustache bars for commuting? If so, what's your opinion of them on the flat, hills, and level of comfort, etc.?

wneumann

I use them on both of my bikes and I love 'em.

For my riding style (i.e. not particularly worrying about getting way aero), they're great. Plenty of hand positions, plenty of opportunity for altering back angle, etc.. I have no problems zipping along in the mid-low 20s with them in the flats, faster on the downhills, and well... nothing's going to hurt me more than my weak lungs in climbing, so I can't say much more than that they give my a good platform to pull on while climbing and to collapse on at the top of the hill.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have more questions.

dwightonabike

I love mine, use them for commuting. I never used to use the drops, and I have more positions on top with my mustache bars.

The hard part is figuring out where to put the brake levers. I have down-tube shifters, so I don't have to worry about that. My brake levers are currently at the front - I'm thinking about getting tri-bike aerobar brake levers, and attaching them to the ends of the mustache.

Get lots of love and comments, too.

fuzz2050

I'm a moustache afficianado myself, and I think they can work great for a commuter, but they are a real pain to set up well. The first problem is getting a half decent height. Moustache bars set too low, or to far forward really suck. For most bikes, you need a high rise, short reach stem. Once you have that settled, which can be a bit of an ordeal, then you have to figure out the brakes.

I'd advise against the inverse levers, simply because they rob you of a multitude of hand positions. If you want to have your hands in that position, get a porteur bar. With the brake hoods on the inside of the curve, you can get a lot more hand positions out of it. Palming the hoods gives you a position similar to the hoods on a drop handlebar. The hooks are somewhat similar to a flat bar, especially good for offroad or rough terrain because of the easy brake access. If you mount a pair of dummy hoods next to the stem, you can get a pretty good Obree style tuck going on. Of course you also have the swept back portions for cruising along, or just resting a bit. Generally speaking though, if you find yourself on the ends too much, I'd suggest rearanging your bars, since you aren't taking advantage of them nearly as well as you could.

pic related, obree style tuck

sonatageek

Have a Bridgestone XO-2 with mustache bars and currently ride a mountain bike with trekking bars. For me the trekking bars beat the moustache bars for comfort and hand postions.

old and new

Fuzz2050 explains it ALL EXTREMELY WELL> Do take note.

My observations : I lost hand possitions so I still prefer drops. They DO look cool though and are a little better than curved flats and OK on decents. They ARE inherantly low, think about it, they're about equal in height to the top of drops. if you place then down-swept, 1" lower an the ends. If you care to exploit the virtues of a NON-drop bar in the first place, get a different stem. Otherwise you're doing litttle more than gaining a not to low, not high enough possition. Why else would you opt for M. bars ?

Brake placement: a few choices; the best for aero is forward, hor. plane, front on that first curve...............
At the end of the bar, levers downward as if on a cruiser. My choice was horizonal plane, 45 deg.angle not forward & not cruiser, the worst choice but my choice. Don't be tempted to use cowhorn stlyle end levers. Besides, it's not an optiion should you choose a 1" diam. bar. They come dif. bends & 26mm or 25.4. Final analysis, not wild about 'em. The best part is that I found-out all I'd wondered for years. Along with being able to write about them. You may want to fiddle wth'em PRIOR to taping.

manicmike

anyone use brifters on mustache bars? i've been thinking about trying it out.

wneumann

Yep. Shimano 105, 9sp.

bicycleflyer

https://www.stanford.edu/~dru/moustache.html

old and new

good one !!!

Chris_in_Miami

I agree with Fuzz2050also regarding the fore/aft placement. I've been experimenting with a moustache on my commuter and the top tube length on this old hybrid makes for a long reach, but a fairly aero position when on the hoods. The "traditional" placement of the levers does feel very natural, it only took my co-pilot a few seconds to settle on this fancy reverse between-the-fingers grip:

fuzz2050

One thing I might add, Moustache bars work great when paired with a nice big stem (think high and long) at making a small bike fit better. I managed to make my 59cm fit more like a 61 with a 130mm nitto technomic.

Handling is a bit slow, but for a touring bike, well, that's just called 'stable'

narr33

I have moustache bars on two commuters. Best bar for climbing, not as areo as drop bars but still pretty good. I like them higher than the saddle and a little shorter stem than drop bar, and tilted back just a bit. In the winter they are easier to hold onto with gloves/mitts than drop bars. The more I use them, the more I like them.

accordionfolder

Agreed, if you like drop bars you will probably like the stretched position. What you described is exactly what I have on my commuter bike (I have that exact stem). I just changed over to flat bars and 7 speeds though, I needed a change. So if anyone is looking for a nice nitto bar with reverse and cross levers PM me....