christo930

I have noticed there are a lot of bikes, especially in department stores that have u shaped handlebars that face the rear of bike and the grips are parallel to the frame. This looks to me like an extremely uncomfortable position to have your wrists in. It would also seem that these bikes would be difficult to control at higher speeds. I sat on one at a store and I noticed my entire torso twisting to turn the handlebars any more than slightly. Do a lot of people like this, or is it just a fad that will fade away?

I generally ride in a fairly upright position, but I rest my palms on the grips so that my torso is going 45 degrees forward and with my hands slightly forward of my shoulders with my palm on the grips and I find that to be very comfortable and easy on my back (which I have serious back problems). So the whole "beach bike" crazy handlebars just look so uncomfortable and foreign to me.

Does anyone here prefer them?

Chris

xenologer

The extremely rearwards reaching bars on cruisers, are intended to allow the rider to sit straight upright.
Agree, this is horribly uncomfortable for actual riding.
Its mainly meant to appeal to people who arent riding far, long, or fast; and whom often have the missimpression that bikes without enormous padded saddles are painful to ride.
I'm sure style/aesthetics/nostalgia also is a factor, but I wouldnt know much about this.

Nope, dont like em.

Flying Merkel

Some beach cruisers are meant to ride 3-4 miles slowly down the boardwalk checking out the scenery. That's what those bars are for.

steve0257

In my case I like the handlebars that come straight back on my upright bikes, but not to far back. I find them comfortable because that is the position my hands seem to fall into naturally. What I find uncomfortable are flat bars. To be comfortable on those I have to grip the bar in almost by the stem. When gripping the ends of the flat bars it seems to put my elbow and wrist in a position that get uncomfortable.

MadCityCyclist

Beach bikes are made for riding on a flat surface, at a very relaxed speed. That's pretty much it.

Comfort bikes and most hybrids will give you the upright riding style with more forward hand positions and many more gears. There are some trade-offs between a hybrid vs. comfort bike, or even between two different types of hybrids. But it seems you are looking for a true comfort bike or hybrid, and if you want the real experience you probably aren't going to find it with a department store bike, even if it advertises itself to be one of the two bike types.

MichaelW

The main cruising position of road drop bars is on the hoods, in the section parallel to the bike axis. It is a perfectly comfortable way to grip the bars and if you really, really want to, you can replicate the "hoods" riding position with cruiser style bars.

I have ridden cruiser style drops , was used on traditional English 3 speeds, with rod brakes. This is a fairly upright riding position and again, quite comfortable.

Cruiser bikes are designed so that you can eat ice cream and ride at the same time.

fietsbob

Felt has a nice line of cruiser bikes, in various decorations, Fine where it's flat.
the Prom in Seaside and the flat roads on Long Beach ,. Pacific Co Wa, they are Fine..

the 1st MTB's were based on old cruisers , trucked to the top of fire roads and pointed down hill.


Our LBS has rentals , beach cruisers, I grab one when I go on a sandwich run to the Deli for lunch,
but dont own one,
havent since, before JFK went to Dallas, it was a Chicago Made Schwinn ..

since they are still made and sell, and have for 70 or so years, I'd hardly call it a Fad.
anymore than Nuclear Weapons are a Fad.

Nightshade

There is a sticky here for Cruiser bikes.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ser-quot-forum

MetalPedaler

Cruisers seem very appealing...but I don't imagine I'd think so if I had to ride one 25 miles...on the open road....and in the hills.... I kinda get the idea that they're just intended for around the block, or around town. The position is probably very comfortable for those intended short, slow rides...but would probably kill ya on a long and/or fast ride.

wahoonc

I have a variety of bikes, including a couple of the beach cruisers, they are for just that. We keep some down at our beach cottage, it is dead flat and about 3 miles one way to the grocery store. They work fine for that. I also have a 3 speed beach cruiser that has narrower bars (think Raleigh 3 speed) that one is for longer rides to the far end of the island. My regular city bike has the very upright position, with narrower swept back bars, 8 speed hub. It is used for trips up to 15 miles one way. No it isn't as fast as a drop bar bike, but it isn't supposed to be. I have a dropped bar bike for long haul touring, 100+ miles a day is doable, but I don't typically ride that far in a day.

Aaron

krobinson103

I prefer a flat bar with ergo grips and small bar ends if its comfort I seek. They put my wrists at a perfect angle with no effort required. The bar ends replicate the grip on a hood, and the bars are trimmed to the exact width I like. They can keep those old cruiser style bars. I can ride for 1 mile or 100 miles plus with my bars and never be uncomfortable.

StephenH

On my Worksman bike, the stock handlebars were sort of like that, I don't think as extreme as some I've seen. They were comfortable enough, but the only drawback I noted was that when my hands got sweaty, they could slide down the handlebars. So I switched them out for some others that put the handlebars more at right angles to hand.

xenologer

Dont think I'd ever ride a cruiser as is; but theoretically they were the precursor to mtbs. might be fun to take a decent cruiser frame and put flatbars, gears, etc onto it and make a clunker mtb replica.

bud16415

I have several road bikes a touring bike and a few hybrid clones I have made from old mountain bikes, and one cruiser like bike I made from an older mountain bike. As mentioned above I wouldn’t want to go 50 miles on it but with the addition of the coffee cup holder it’s perfect for the neighborhood coffee run. I like the mtn bike for the gearing and frame then cloned the tires and bars off of a junk walmart single speed cruiser and added an old leather spring saddle. I have under 10 bucks in the bike and I often grab it to run to town.

Flying Merkel

I'll post this pic one more time. It's a Schwinn 7 Speed Jaguar that I bought as crank,frame & forks. Found a donor GT MTB for the rest. Fitted high-pressure street tires. The result worked better than it should have. One of the few bikes I've sold that I regret selling.

[IMG][/IMG]

Guy who bought it didn't ride it nor haggle. He saw it and fell in love.

bobn

Those swept back handlebars are nothing new. Just look at the bikes of years ago. The Schwinns, Columbias, and etc. They were all swept back. Kids would ride them all day. Ask me how I know.
Even with the British invasion of Hercs, Raleighs and Rudges, The handlebars were all swept back.
The Brits were just narrower than the Americans.

MetalPedaler

That IS beautiful! Genius! Guarantee you, I'll be building one like that in the future! One question: How'd ya attach the derailleur?

wahoonc

Something I find interesting is that the earlier Brit bikes (pre 1960) had narrower bars than the ones sold later. I have had ridden a variety of old Raleigh Roadsters with the rod brakes, the bar width grew by some 2" or so between the early bikes and the later versions.



Aaron

Flying Merkel

The Jag came with a derailleur & v-brakes. The components off the GT were much better. Had limited ground clearance, though.