Great thread.

I have trekking bars, too. I do like them, but I can't say I love the angle of the outside part. I have mine "backwards," with the open end farthest forward, and I tend to swap positions between the far forward ends and the farther back flat spots.

I'd love more of a swept back handlebar that gives me the option of full, up-right, cruiser-style riding with another lower, more forward hand position for tucking in out of the wind. Does anyone find that they use their bars that way. A lot of the swept back bars that I really like the look of also look like they may only offer one hand position.

Flip an Albatross bar, and you have one that has some nice aero positions, Especially if you have Ergon grips on it. The flair on the Ergons makes for good elbow pads when you are using the front of the flipped bar in a tuck.

Great. Thanks for the tip. I had also been looking at the mustache bar, but it looks like it's mainly drop, but not much forward sweep. The Albatross may be a good combination of both.

Chip runs a flipped Albatross on his Big Dummy.



His rig.

When I look at that, I wonder if the swept back part isn't too low for me, but the "hood" area may be about right. Maybe I'd like the Albatross right-side-up. I really need to play around with some different options, I guess (I really need to get the bike these bars would go on, first, I guess). There's lots of times I'd rather be straight up, looking around, and taking my time. For that I feel that the bars should be almost parallel to the top tube, and at least a few inches higher than my seat. But there are definitely times when I want a boost of speed or to just get out of the wind, so I feel lower and far-forward drops would be the thing. I'm just not sure I'm seeing anything that has quite as much difference as I think I want. Of course I could easily find that I'm not actually able to use a bar that's set up the way I think I want it. The Albatross seems close, though, and I've heard more than one person talking them up.

Right-side-up Albatrosses on my Xtracycle set up, for contrast. No real good tuck position though.

You may like the On-One Marys. I find them to be a good compromise between upright and tuck. Only one hand position, but they are comfortable to hunker down on.

One thing I've learned from swapping my flat bars out for the trekking bars is that I love being able change hand positions. Whatever I outfit my next bike with, it'll have more than one option in that department. I believe the Albatross is one that I've looked at before, and hearing more good things about it means that it definitely goes on my list of potential handlebars. The On-One Marys look like a good compromise between different styles, but I don't see them as something I'd prefer over my current set up.

1) What do you all do when you have to brake while in the alternate hand positions? Is it as simple as making a grab for the "braking" position?

2) Is that why some people run flipped bars on riser stems? To give a more upright "hood" position?

Yes to both.

Sweet. Looks like I should try to get a very adjustable stem or two when I build my cargofrankenbike.

Looking at the Wald bars now, instead of the Albatross (I'm pretty damn cheap)... although the general aesthetic of the Albatross may convince me I "need" them. After all, that's really the only thing you look at on your bike when you're riding it!

Another alternative, which I haven't used, but would like to, is a 2nd, in-line, brake lever so that you can activate the brakes from two different hand positions.

Question for users of alternative style handlebars. (donnamb has heard my question in Women's forum.) Are any of them narrow enough for a woman's shoulder width (16-17") and compatible with a Giant Suede, with SRAM MRX 7-speed twist shifters? Right now it looks like my grips, grip shifter and brake levers take up about 7" of space on the right side. Thanks.

Nitto Moustache bars in mtn diameter. But with hands on the outside flats, not so narrow.
Van Dessel Moustache bars--narrower than Nitto.
Soma Sparrow--narrower than Nitto.

Thanks mconlonx for your quick reply. Will be seeing my LBS soon to see what they can order.

Love the looks of all the bikes pictured.

You'd want to do some checking because I haven't actually tried this, but it seems like one of the Travel Agents solutions (from Problem Solvers) might work. It's supposed to make regular brake levers work with v-brakes, and there's a model that works with disc brakes as well. With that installed, it seems like you might be able use the auxiliary brake levers regardless of what type of brakes you have.

But I'm glad you pointed out the potential incompatibility, because I wasn't aware.

My old drop bars had brakes like you describe. It nice to have some stopping power from both hand positions, but I found that in general the extension bar did not work as well as the lever. And if you found yourself in an emergency situation, you would always go for the brake lever at your fingertips, not the most efficient one (or at least I did), so sometimes they were a bit of a hazard. I'm hoping the modern solutions are a little more efficient.

On our tandem, I have typical (long cable travel) cross levers with V-brakes, but we are using travel agents for brifter compatibility anyway. Using the inline version of the travel agent, mounted near head tube, reduces cable stretch related issues on the rear brake of the tandem due to the long cable. This approach might be helpful on Xtrafied cargo bikes or Big Dummies.

Schwinn "Apehanger"/Stringray/Crate type

Are there any other black northroads bars besides the Soma Sparrow? I would like a bit more length for the shifters/brakes/grips than the soma provides. Must be black.

Donna (or anybody else), have you tried any of these on your Breezer? I've found the Breezer's stock bars to be less comfortable than the North Roads on my vintage 3-speed...

Bringing back an old thread for the sake of not starting a new one, and so you guys know i searched.

i'm looking for a Promenade-style handlebar, like these


only thing is, i don't really feel like buying the $50 aluminum nitto version. is there a name for these bars that i am unaware of? Is there another brand that makes this same design? i have only been able to find this exact shape with nitto.
i know i could go rummage through a bike co-op or used parts store, and i have, but with no luck so far.
any help would be greatly appreciated.

If you are gonna bring back an old thread you could not do much better than this...

Have since discovered the joy of trekking bars which is due in part to having to change my set up because of my back not being what it used to be.

Am sure folks will be able to help with the search for alternative promenade bars as well.

This from Wald looks kinda close to me.

hah, funny you found those. i actually own them, and while they are comfy, they are far too wide for my liking, and they look out of place on my bike. i want a more squared up bar, like the promenades. thanks for the effort though, you're headed in the right direction.

Where is the love for Trekking/Butterfly handlebars? (I only saw a passing mention of them on page 1 of this thread).

I'm thinking about picking up a pair of these bars for the captain position on my tandem. I just picked up some bar ends for the stock handlebars but I think these bars will be better for longer distance stuff.