Surly Sunset Bar and Dugout Feed Bags Review – Spencer Harding | The Radavist | A group of individuals who share a love of cycling and the outdoors.

Surly Bikes released some new handlebars and feed bags recently and you can get them in any color you want as long as it’s black. The new Sunset handlebars help get your paws high enough to claw through golden hour clouds and the Dugout Feed Bag makes sure you have all the snacks and hydration one could ever need. Check out Spencer’s review of both products below…

Sunset Handlebar Quick Hits

$75
Material: Post-weld heat-treated chromoly steel
Clamp Diameter: 22.2 mm; includes shims for 31.8 mm clamp
Width: 820 mm
Rise: 110 mm
Sweep Angle: 22-degree backsweep, 14-degree upsweep
Weight: 827g (including shims)
Color: Black
Tested to ASTM 3 and ISO Mountain Standards

The Sunset bars are nothing terribly new. There are tons of outfits making their version of the classic crossbar riser handlebar. The Sunset is the sequel to Surly’s Sunrise Bar, which sets the standard for accessibly priced steel risers. In the intervening years, collectively our lower backs have become even more tired and less flexible so the sequel had to have even more rise, backsweep, and most importantly (ATMO), upsweep.

The Sunset bars have 27 mm more rise, 7 degrees more backsweep, and 7 degrees more upsweep than the Sunrise bars – that’s double the upsweep! All signs point to more chillerer and I’m here for it. I’ve waxed poetic about handlebar upsweep in my previous riser bar reviews and with 820 mm width on the Sunset, the upsweep just makes everything feel cozy and correct.

The weight of the bars alone would be enough to classify them as a blunt weapon. And that should come as no surprise – just look at all that steel. The 820 mm width is a minimum for me these days and I’ll die on that hill. You can cut them down, but why in the hell would you do that when you can soar on the wings of an eagle into the sunset on a pair of Sunset bars?

For those wondering what the hell ASTM (American Society for Testing Materials) Level 3 means: the parts have been tested and approved for “rough trails, rough unpaved roads, and rough terrain and unimproved trails that require technical skills. Jumps and drops are intended to be less than 61 cm (24″)”. So get rowdy… but not too rowdy. I think the weight of these will prevent many from putting these on their trail shred sleds. The bike industry has long had an issue with head tubes being too damn low for comfortable riding and the Sunset bar is just another component in the toolbox to get bars properly high.

You’ll need to use the included shim to mount the 22.2 mm Sunset bars in your average 31.8 mm stem. This is probably the most annoying part of the whole setup, shims are annoying but necessary unless you wanna shell out double the price of the bars for a stem.

Pros

- - 820 mm width!
  - Plenty of rise and upsweep
  - Allows comfortable riding position for low stack height frames

Cons

- - Heavy
  - Needs shims for most stems
  - Almost too wide to fit through doors

Dugout Feed Bag Quick Hits

- - $45
  - Comes with three OneWrap straps and one Surly Whip Lash Gear Strap
  - Mounts using four connection points
  - Adjustable fit allows for compatibility on all bike frame sizes
  - Securely carries up to 3 pounds of cargo
  - Exterior pockets
  - Manufactured with bluesign® materials
  - One-hand operation for ease of use

In this day and age, everyone has a feed bag. For some reason, Surly was about a decade late to the party they helped start. The Dugout bag makes the “Dugout Boy” in me very happy and I think many Surly enjoyers would find the wisdom in a dugout as the ideal stealth camp spot. The Dugout doesn’t offer any snazzy new technology or features, the bag is simple and it works. It mounts with velcro OneWrap to your bars and stem and to your fork (or basket) with a Surly Whip Lash strap. These Whip Lash straps have really been growing on me lately. I’ve found a multitude of uses for them. The branding is a bit gregarious – but it is Surly, after all.

They implement a tried-and-true pattern for one-handed open/close for the collar of the bags. They differentiate themselves in just how tall the extendable sleeve is. A 1.5L Nalgene is easily swallowed by the massive sleeve of the Dugout bag. Due to this capacity, a regular bicycle bottle feels so small in the bag. The capacity of the bag speaks more to Nalgene-sized bottles than standard bike bottles. Alternatively, you can use all that space for any manner of snacks or cargo inside the main compartment or in the stretchy mesh encircling the bag.

What the Dugout lacks in originality and innovation, it will make up for by being widely accessible at almost any bike shop in North America. The price is slightly cheaper than mainstay feed bags from Revelate or Oveja Negra. Maybe you are just a Surly-phile and want to have a complete suite of Surly stuff. Whatever makes you happy, the Dugout will hold your water, snacks, or whatever weighs about 3 pounds and is shaped like a Nalgene.