riser bars for urban riding
 

I have a some cheap Nashbar risers on my fixed conversion, and they're just too wide--the proportions don't look right, and they stick out too much for riding in traffic and such. Anyone out there tell me what all the hipster riders are using as far as narrow risers, and where to get them? Are they kid-sized risers? Is there such a thing?

Hack-saw

I chopped 3.5 " off each side of my risers. Just enough to slide some Oury's on. And I'm not even a hipster!

alright, cool. I was just worried that the low part would look funky being disproportionately wider. Will get sawing, hipsters :D.

saw em

Don't saw 'em so much you don't have enough leverage to turn. That's just sad.

Thanks for the warning.

measure some other bars you are comfortable with.
pipe cutter is pretty easy too.

do you really need leverage to turn? I ride with drops so not much of an issue with that but you should be turning with your weight not your handlebars.

My risers are 16 inches.
See 2,785 in my signature.

I guess I should add that I've since swapped out those risers for a set of 36cm B123s. I found risers too upright and passive.

although I don't rock risers, my road drops are 37cm center to center at the ends...the size really works for me squeezing in between cars, but not too small that I don't have leverage (I'm 6'2"...long arms)

I don't know anything about hipsters tho

+ a lot

you can get a cheap pipe cutter for about 5 bucks and it makes a WAY cleaner (and straighter) cut than most folks can get with a hacksaw.

they took some getting used to, but i never had problems turning with these...

http://thirdrate.com/bikes/pinarello_cross3.jpg

brunning did you have to shim those bars to fit the quill?
stylie set up...

hehe those are just little guys

I guess you need it more for acceleration than for turning. That and trackstanding.

Actually, if you're doing sharp turns, the best way is putting pressure on the inner bar. Go physics!

Those bitty bars are ridiculous.

yeah. there was a beer can shim in there.

I've seen a few people riding around with chopped bars that barley allow the whole hand to fit on either side. It looks like an accident waiting to happen.

Do you run risers on your Fuji?

I'm not looking for anything ridiculously short. Related query: anyone know if cork grips like these

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/h...ars.html#grips

will bend to conform to the bars's curves if the bars are cut short, or would they crack?

PS Thanks for the pipe cutter tip.

I feel like cork would crack.
Better off with some generic mountain bike/bmx grips.
Or Ourys.

just a question, why is there no happy medium in the choice of bars around here. The popular styles are super drop stems with drop bars, or positive rise stems with riser mountain bars. Polar opposites.
I rarely see flat or +_5 degree stems with flatbars on fixed bikes.

ya, the only times I ever really put force on my bars is when I'm accelerating, sprinting, or climbing a hill out of the saddle. The leverage on the bars is necessary to keep my bike going straight (and not falling over to the side) since I've got the standard biker setup (weak arms and monstrously massive legs.)

Risers are weak. Get some $7 flat bars and cut them to 20" or less. Bonus points if you can find a bar with a defunct bike company logo on them - GT, Kooka, Nishiki, etc.

Fashion is a *****, ain't it?

Ah, disagree. I have flats, and the lack of curve is antithetical to the aesthetic to me. Plus, I like the little bit of drop afforded to be able to change hand position a bit.

If curves are your thang, perhaps you should try some moustache bars. Or even better still, some monkey bars!

http://caesarcreekstatepark.com/imag...rs%20Thing.jpg

antithetical to the aesthetic peripatetic. wheeeee...

6'5" and long arms here - and I don't have any trouble with riding a bike with uncut 24" handlebars between cars (not that anyone else should do the same).

Arm length shouldn't have anything to do with it unless maybe your top tube is way too short, causing your elbows to stick way out.

Unless you're build really weirdly, your shoulders (or hips, in which case the narrow bars don't matter) will be the widest part of you, and the 42 cm Syntace bars I just got are narrower than the 44cm bars on my fix are way narrower than the 24" riser (-5 degree for a +/- level stem, for fashion's sake) bars on my ss city bike, to the point of being uncomfortable. In ten years of riding bikes in the city, with bars this wide (or wider), I've never hit a rearview or something sticking off a car, except with a rolled up tube mailer sticking out of my bag. It's the engine, not the machine.

I know some of you are skinnier and narrower than I am, but I know a doofus in Philly who rides handlebars that are so narrow that the ends of his hands hang off the ends of them "so I can get between cars" - he's max 5'4" and his handlebars are easily 4" narrower than his shoulders. And his chain squeaks and is soggy and slack (not to mention his loose headset), so I know that even though he does everything "for performance" he has no idea how to ride a bicycle. Show me an adult that has 30 cm c-c shoulders, and I'll show you someone with a birth defect.

Remember that a cat's whiskers help it gauge what it can get through - and if the whiskers are clipped, it'll get stuck, maybe not at the head, but at the middle part, like when the rearview hits you in the kidney.

BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Ain't that the truth!