Oh, yeah. Absolutely. He was one of my major resources when I was researching the bike this past winter.

Wine corks will fit bar ends and look cool.

Depending on whether I do leather (or other natural-colored) bar tape, lacquered wine corks are in the running.

Cork grips with shellac are also nice.

I've got maybe 50 miles with the Dimension Trekking Bar now. I still love it--but the way I have it set up, it's not great when climbing or sprinting out of the saddle. My hands are too close to my body in those cases.

I'm thinking the most obvious solution would be bar ends mounted near where the crossbar meets the arc. I'm not sure which side of that weld would be best, but a cursory googling didn't turn up any bar ends with a two-piece construction that would let me mount them inside it.

I'm also not sure I want to mess up the lines by bolting a lot of stuff onto that arc. First thing to try might be a longer (and less canted ) stem.

I'm totally boned. After placing the order and them confirming that they had it in stock and their website telling me they we sending it out this week, a call to customer service had them telling me that 'Gee, we don't have any more of those.'

I'm ever so pissed.

Anybody want to sell a Dimension Trekking Bar?

That happened to me at least once during this escapade. Sorry...

Hey, before you get too annoyed, check this out:

http://www.universalcycles.com/shopp...e.php?id=10072

It may very well offer the benefits of the Dimension Trekking Bar, plus offer better hand positions when out of the saddle or climbing. I might order one myself and see which one I like better before settling for sure.

Yes. I've been salivating over that one. It's main drawback being that it's four or five times the cost. I was chasing one on ebay a while back but the bidding got beyond my comfort.

Today, in my various phases of acceptance, I'm leaning towards the Soma Arc.

Yes, it's expensive.

I got a Dimension Arc, which is similar to the Soma Arc. It's not much wider than the stock Swift handlebar, so for me, anyway, it wasn't what I needed.

tblott3, I should have a Titec H-Bar in hand next week. If you want to wait and see whether I then have a Dimension Trekking Bar for sale...

I'm down with that. Keep me posted.

If you can afford it, go w/ the leather bar wrap, skip the shellac and twine the ends.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3082/...3d20b43034.jpg
This is shellacked cork tape and twine. Leather tape's next up when this needs to be replaced.

Soma Arc (or similarly shaped bar) + bar ends placed in toward the clamp and pointing forward = homebrew H-bar for a fraction of the cost.

Added benefit: More ghetto-fabulous.

You know, I was just researching bar setups and saw that deal for the first time. Color me intrigued. Thanks for the tip. I'm always looking to fab up the Xootr for the hood.

Noteon - Don't think I don't want that Trekking bar...cause I do.

Couldn't sleep tonight, so I installed the Titec H-Bar that came today.


Even with the brake levers mounted forward of the crossbar, there's not enough room behind the Dual Drive shifter for an Ergon grip. If I cut the grip down (even more than I already did for the Dimension Trekking Bar), there won't be much of it left.

Everything else about the bar is promising--and I like the three distinct hand positions--so I'll do some riding without grips and see what I think. I don't like the looks as much as the Dimension bar, but I'm guessing it's going to be better for climbing.

Thanks for the update. Very informative.

I've been stalking a couple of Titecs on the Ebay. But the grip shifter is a concern for me as well. It's starting to smell like needing to make one change to compensate for the previous change that was changed for the first change...

Wasn't there another swift owner on this forum who was using the Titec?

I don't recall whether you've got a Dual Drive on yours. The available grip area on the H-Bar, from bar tip to beginning of crossbar braze, is exactly 5".

I don't have a Dual Drive but it's tight nonetheless...

Are there not alternative shifters for the dual drive? I think, for instance, that regular SRAM twist shifters work with the dual drive. I recall that Shimano indexed shifter work too.

The Dual Drive II looks like it has alternative shifters, but I don't think that's what I've got.

Haven't had a chance to ride with it yet. There may not be a problem.

Here's what I'm trying out...

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/1...2597kv7.th.jpghttp://img208.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif

I found this Origin8 bar that's pretty wide and has got a bit of a rise to it. It's a big step in the right direction. It's got room for all my junk and future junk. It's comfy. And it's much more stable with the load on the Crossrack in the front.

That's pretty cool...

I rode with the H-Bar the last two days, and while I like it, I think I'm going back to the Dimension Trekking Bar. The crossbar of the H really reduces options for where stuff gets bolted, and I end up with everything crammed on the rearward part. I also don't get to use one of the more useful hand positions (the junction itself) because of all the junk clustered around it, most notably the bell, which can't go anywhere else.

So I'll probably have a Titec H-Bar (with a few scrapes from all the mountings) for sale shortly. It's a cool handlebar, but not quite right for my purposes.

Yup, left and right side trigger shifters are available for the Dual Drive.... that's what I have on my TSR..

Given your last photos, I kind of guessed you would end up back with the Dimension. And, after fussing with this new bar on mine, I don't think the Titec is the right solution for me either.

It is pretty easy to see w/ my new bar how the Dimension would work very well. But, it seems this Origin8 has some very similar attributes: some rise, width, hand position. So, I'll keep trolling.

I'll be in NYC this weekend - sans Xootr unfortunately. If I see a Xootr w/ two boys in a Burley, I'll wave. Thanks for all your updates.