vjp

Back in the day when Bridgestone did their great illustrated catalogs and Ibis was building the scorcher, I lusted after the moustache bar. A few years ago I bought some and I was really disappointed when they hurt my wrists. I love the look, and may give them a second chance.

AZORCH

I kind of like the look, but have to admit that I find them pretty uncomfortable for riding.

Grand Bois

Your stem is too short. Does that frame fit you? It looks tiny.

https://www.stanford.edu/~dru/moustache.html

KonAaron Snake 

+1

Aesthetically they look terrific...I prefer drops.

Puget Pounder

That link says that you use a short stem with a high rise. I don't think going with a longer stem would help his problems.

Noglider - if those don't work for you, I'm not sure moustache bars will work for you. Try porteurs?

Grand Bois

You use a taller stem with a shorter reach. The opposite of short is tall.

Puget Pounder

Do you see that he is using a threadless stem?

No one uses "tall" to describe a threadless stem. You use stems with higher "rise" as stated verbatim in the link that you put up.

Did you forget that the opposite of short is also long?

Nice try.

Grand Bois

I bow to your greater expertise.

Puget Pounder

Thanks, it's an honor.

Creme Brulee

chill out dudes!

i like em if theyre on the right bike and high and close enough

illwafer

i like them a lot.

on other people's bikes.

KvltBryce

?!

Blasphemy!

bobjpage

Moustache bars look great on that Raleigh, Jim Hughes!

Iowegian

Randy, your bikes look great (as always). I think I'm going to try you setup on my grocery getter.



Are there different diameters of moustache bars or do bar-ends fit in any of them?

not_me

Yes, there are definitely different diameters, and bars ends don't fit in them all.

acoffin 

I'm curious to know how this works out with the LX shifters. I've been running LX 8 speed on a flat bar conversion, but I find the flat bar very uncomfortable on lengthy rides. Also, the OP's question about stem length was never answered sufficiently IMO. If I typically run and 80 or 90mm stem, how much shorter would I want to go with a moustache?

Ant

Velognome 

/\ With Gears or \/ Fixed Gears

photogravity

I will be putting a moustache bar on my wife's Claude Butler. I think they look great, but have not ridden one yet. The bar Raleigh used on the Lenton Tourist is similar in some ways.


Lenton Tourist - 18 by Sallad Rialb, on Flickr

Velognome 

Like anything else ya gotta get them dailed in. If the reach to too far or two low, you end up with a lot of pressure on the hands and wrists, too close and you get all hump backed.

My experience with them is limited but what I discovered when I switched from a drop bar was increased control when climbing out of the saddle and a different position over the frame which made the bike more stable (tracked straighter) when really hammering away. On the down side, because the hand positon is much wider, my twitchy Competition GS is even more twitchy. This is fixed by gripping the bars more towards the center when signaling for a turn, grabbing the water bottle, etc.

I eneded up mounting my brake levers a little more toward the ends then most set up I see, I tend to ride more at the bar ends in traffic and only stretch out onto the curves on open roads. In all, it's nice to have something a little different.

northbend 

I find them very comfortable. This set up has seen many long rides:

trueno92

bingo.

This is exactly what i embarked on when I was figuring out how to fit this middle-of-the-road Miele into my stable. Its clean and seen few kms so I figured it was worth keeping, but the next goal was to make it worth RIDING...

I'm a bit surprised with the number of riders that couldn't make it work for them.. I was also under this mystery, but on my road frame, lemme summarize what got it working for me:

1. its more than just the front end.
I found that the bars, even with a shorter stem didn't just fit with my saddle positioned as I would normally have it on my other road bikes - they all have notable saddle-to-bar drop. Moustache bars work better if they are the same height as the saddle and that requires 2 things outside of raising the stem..
2. lowering the saddle, which also makes you have to increase set-back to fit properly. This combo puts more weight on your rear - thus reducing the weight off the wrists.
3. angling the bars properly.
brake hoods should be level or just raised slightly, this allows for another hand position on the hoods for a very controllable 'sit and beg' posture on the bike. Combined with the increased stability of more weight on the saddle still allows for some aero if you tuck in the elbows and you are 80% into that preying-mantis posture that gets the legs going. The ends of the bars should be angled the same as drops on your roadie - since its latitude is raised, the ends point at the rear brake caliper mount
4. fit the bike according to where your hands are in the hooks.
with your hands straight ahead, fit the bike according to your hands on the hooks with your fingers on the brake levers. Consider this the primary hand position - similar to as if you were riding a flat bar.
Highly optional
5. get a wider saddle
more of your weight will be centered here, than on a typical road-fit.
6. position the brake hoods inside the bars around ~ 12cm of each other. Moving them outside of this throws away a very usable hand-position


The other hand positions are:
outside for climbs and handling loose stuff,
outer hooks - for control leaning into twisties,
flat into the hooks for downhills - knuckles straight ahead - easy reach brake levers,
thumbs hooked into the hoods - speed - pinkies on the brakes,
hands close to stem - cruising.

This must be why there is so much pain on the palms and wrists here, since flat bars can't really be dropped far below the saddle - but the secret of the moustache bar is wrenching the past the front of the bike to make this bar fit.





These bars transformed this bike and I've put 250+ kms on it in the last month of dirt/crushed gravel/boardwalks/farmers markets/picking up take-out food/day-care drop-offs/pick-ups, etc. up to 60km per ride. The bars really work for doing it all.












I rode this bike so much recently that between traffic lights and parking lots, the toe-clip-fender-overlap finally got to me and I had to modify the front fender, but thats for another post......!

ebow3d

+1

RFC

I'm with Sean. They are kinda pretty, but I can't accept them from a cultural standpoint. Give me drops.

Grand Bois

Nashbar had these on sale for $9 so I bought a couple. They turned out to work very well for me. I find them very comfortable. They have more drop than Nittos. They're Chromoly with a nice looking finish that has a blue cast to it. A tall stem with minimal extension works best for me.



I put the other moustache bar on this. It's very uncomfortable for me. I'm too stretched out. My arms aren't long enough. I built it to sell it, so I was more concerned with cool looks than comfort. I never did get around to selling it, so it hangs in the garage after being ridden once.

himespau 

What is that bar bag? I like the idea of the pockets that face you.