Originally Posted by Hypno Toad (Post 18580326)

Here are a couple pictures from Monday, as it was set up when I rode home from the shop.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/S0...=w1348-h758-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Kx...=w1348-h758-no

Originally Posted by User1 (Post 18583551)

Your pics never showed up Hypno. Any link or anything?

Originally Posted by chrisx (Post 18585129)

my woodchippers are collecting dust in the corner
my Origin8 gary sweeps os I like better.

Originally Posted by Hypno Toad (Post 18580326)

I just set up my Pugsley with Woodchippers and Gavenalle shifters. I REALLY like the bars and shifters.

This is my first bike with anything like the Woodchippers and I'm mounting them to a fatbike.... not a typical setup. With 40 miles on these bars, I am working on the fine-tuning and I'm looking for other's preferences and let me know how you use the bike with their Woodchippers. I found this blog post from 2010, interesting information.

I changed out the stem yesterday, the stock 110mm stem was too much, I have a 70mm with minimal rise (~7 degrees). This was a BIG improvement in steer-feel on the hoods and drops. I've moved the angle of the drops around a few times; it's currently around 25 degrees, I think I'm going back closer to 20 degrees (how it was when we first set it up). I think we mounted the hoods too far down for this angle, but I'm going to wait to pass final judgement. Additionally, I'm going to move all the spaces below the stem.

My Pug does a lot of diverse riding, including single-track in summer and winter, winter commuting, and plans on some long rides, like gravel centuries. I'm seriously consider an on-snow fatbike downhill slalom race in a week - that will be a test of these bars in challenging conditions.

Here are a couple pictures from Monday, as it was set up when I rode home from the shop.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/S0...=w1348-h758-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Kx...=w1348-h758-no

Originally Posted by GeoKrpan (Post 18585965)

Woodchippers are criticized for not being ergonomic. The flared drops make hood placement less than ideal. The thing is, that they are designed to be ridden in the drops, not the hoods. I slide the brake levers down so far down that riding the hoods are not possible but braking in the drops is optimal.
It takes a leap of faith but it really is better, far better, riding in the drops. Unfortunately Gavenalle shifters don't lend themselves well to riding in the drops.

Originally Posted by Hypno Toad (Post 18586063)

What kind of riding do you like to do with the Woodchippers?

I do not understand the ergonomic critics, Woodchippers are great for me! I won't want them on every bike, but moving from flat-bars to the Woodchippers is such an improvement in ergonomics.

I can see your point about the brake lever position. Since we set them up with little experience/knowledge, I took a couple short riders before taping the bars and thought we had it right. I'm not 100% on my set up, but I am going to ride it through spring - I want to ride some single-tracks before the final decision.

Last night we made a couple more adjustments, moving the stem to the top of the steer-tube. Additionally, I tried the 20 degree angle recommended in the blog post. With the shorter stem, I'm very happy with the set up, today I did 20 miles of icy trails, on road, and frozen limestone. I was good on the hoods, the brake lever are a reach on the drops, but they are available. This ride was really encouraging, the number of hand positions were great. I can totally see doing a gravel century with this set up (need better/lighter tires).

Originally Posted by fietsbob (Post 18586557)

So? what happened to your Pictures?

Originally Posted by GeoKrpan (Post 18586508)

I ride single speed cyclocross, no suspension 29er, no suspension 29+, and gravel bike on mountain bike trails.

I actually don't use Woodchippers any more, I found something I like better but my bars, in the drops, are essentiallly the same as Woodchippers.

I started out using a WTB Mountain Road, in 2008, which is very similar to the Woodchipper and then got a Woodchipper when they became available.

I started out, like everyone else, setting them up so that the hoods were ridable. But, as you know, reaching the levers from the drops is awkward. Gradually it dawned on me to slide the levers down. I was reluctant to give up the hoods, it went against my dogmatic beliefs. I finally made the leap of faith and haven't ridden hoods for 7-8 years. Riding the hoods is suicidal compared to the drops for the kind of riding that I do.

My drops are a tiny bit pointed down from level. I do it this way because it's better for standing, and I stand a lot. At 20 degrees down, it feels as if my hands want to slide of the end of the bars.

Originally Posted by Hypno Toad (Post 18589855)

Thanks for the feedback!