Merman Sandbar Ti MTB Handlebar Review: Sandbar Party – Seth Wood | The Radavist | A group of individuals who share a love of cycling and the outdoors.

Seth Wood walks us through his journey toward comfort in ultra efforts with the new Merman Sandbar Ti MTB handlebar. With its 31.8 mm clamp, you can leave the shims in the parts pile and start enjoying the sublime ride quality of titanium, no tinkering required!

In bygone days, in places where land meets the sea, sandbars were mostly uncharted. Wrecks and disasters followed. These days, sandbars are where people go to party.

Merman Ti Sandbar Quick Hits

$349
Titanium welded in Taiwan
50 mm rise
11º backsweep
6º upsweep
31.8 clamp (no shims!)
800 mm wide
Weight: 470G

For years, I’d tried different drop bar and flat bar setups on different bikes for multiday efforts involving daunting elevation profiles and long stretches of hike-a-bike. Every cockpit setup had its advantages and drawbacks, but I kept running up against finger numbness, dexterity decline, and wrist fatigue that crept up my forearm in worrying ways, sometimes well after an event. Determined to adjust my cockpit until I knew my body was in a sustainable relation to the setup of my bikepacking bike, I was curious how the moto-style, riser profile of the Merman Ti Sandbar handlebar would stack up against the various combinations I’d tried before.

I intended to eventually cut the bar to fit after some test rides – it looked comically wide when I first installed it – but it has stayed its stock length and remained on my bike. Adding bar ends to increase available hand positions made it the widest handlebar I’ve had on any bike. A similar effect could be achieved without adding to the bar’s length by adding brace points inboard the brake levers. Or, hell, try both. There’s space to spare on the Sandbar! Fathomless opportunity.

After 1.5 years of hard riding, including back-to-back completions of Ozark Gravel Doom, I’m certain that trying out a riser flat bar setup for bikepacking was a good move for me. Unsurprisingly, I feel greater traction and control, nimbler and more confident on steep, blind descents and over technical terrain, especially when riding loaded. I’m secure and relaxed in the saddle when the road is even, but I’m also poised to stand and lean into a trail, sudden turn, or water crossing.

The mild sweep on my version of the Sandbar helps keep my lower back in a stable, more upright posture that has significantly reduced back and shoulder fatigue during long efforts and recovery time afterward. I’ve also noticed less neck strain (and better views!) from having my chin resting more parallel to the ground. Paired with a regimen of finger-strengthening and dexterity exercises, my current cockpit setup has all but eliminated any numbness or discomfort in my hands and wrists and come with some surprising bounty as well.

Time on the trail proved that keeping the bar wide, while not needed for every ride, had advantages for someone inclined to lots of bike-walking. Other cockpit setups had me twisting my hips and shoulders more to walk my bike by the bars up or down a hill, but a wider bar allows me to stride more freely and naturally alongside the bike. The moto style of the Sandbar, apart from looking good to me, delivered unexpected benefits for bikepacking as well.

The lower bar has ample mounting area for a front harness, handlebar bags, and other accoutrements, leaving an unadorned top tube that I have found multiple uses for beyond admiring its clean line. I’ve used it as a drying rack for wet clothes as well as a lashing point for items that I might need to store temporarily on the go, like a rain jacket or grocery item. I rolled a stretch of tape around the upper tube to give my hands and arms a place to rest or tuck out of a headwind when needed.

This was my first titanium handlebar adopted for the purposes of bikepacking. I not only dropped a pound off my bike, but gained better views of where I’m riding. I rarely think back to what it meant to be aero when riding the Sandbar.