The Radavist

Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…

Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…

We’re living in the golden age of handlebar comfort. Never before have we seen such diversity, originality, or inclusivity for riders as right now. For a lucky few, long days behind an ultra-wide curly bar is analogous to lounging in their favourite La-Z-Boy. For others, a backswept alt-bar with more hand positions than the kama sutra offers the perfect perch to grind out those backcountry miles. But for so many riders, comfort on a long ride is still a thing of legend and fairy tales. With the laminated bamboo Gump handlebars, however, Passchier of New Zealand claims to have found the key to both comfort and performance.

Continue reading for our thoughts on how the Gump handlebar holds up after many months of trail riding and touring…

Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…

If you recall our coverage of the 2021 Handmade Bicycle Show Australia, then you probably noticed those unique bamboo handlebars on some of the unique builds. Here’s a quick video showcasing Passchier Bamboo Handlebars. Would you ride them?

The new Classic Kyote from Ritchey is a $45 mustache bar, designed for your grocery getter or your touring bike. These bars feature a 27.5-degree sweep and 35mm rise, with a 800mm width, there’s lots of space for your accutrement. See more at Ritchey.

Remember those bars from the ENVE Builder Round-Up earlier this summer? Well, today ENVE announced they’ve finally stocked these aero road bars, dubbed the SES AR Handlebars. These bars utilize a compound drop and internal routing to keep the lines of your bike clean.

Specs:
-Application: Road Race, All-Road, Gravel, Cyclocross
-Sizes: 38cm, 40cm, 42cm, 44cm, 46cm
-Weights: 243g, 245g, 248g, 262g, 280g
-Full Integrated Internal or External Routing
-Lifetime Incident Protection and 5 Year Factory Warranty

See more at ENVE.

Riding with flat bars doesn’t mean you can’t get aero. The latest from Ride Farr are these alloy aero bolt-ons that create a lightweight, ergonomic addition to your cockpit. These bolt-on aero bars provide added hand positions and comfort while offering an aero-tuck position for when you just have to go fast.

Specs:
-Ergonomic bend and shape
-Easy to fit in under 2 minutes
-Lightweight Alloy construction
-Suitable for most 31.8mm diameter handlebars
-Gravel / Racing / Touring / Bikepacking / MTB and more
-Weight : 133 grams ( including hardware )

In stock at Ride Farr.

The bicycle industry has many layers within the realm of the maker. There are framebuilders, wheel, and component manufacturers, and yes, bar makers. When I moved to New Mexico, I was eager to get to know some of the local metal alchemists. Then the pandemic really hit, so I began to scroll around Instagram, looking for signs of steel and brass. That’s when I found Doom Bars, a small, solo operation based in Albuquerque.

When I saw the bars they were listing for sale on their account, I sprung on a pair of nickel-plated bars, which I just installed on my Retrotec. Let’s take a closer look…

Just as mountain bikes experienced a widening of their bars from the 1990’s 580mm widths to the 2020’s 820mm widths, gravel bikes are too in the midst of a widening trend. Think about it, why should you have to ride the same width bars on your rim brake road bike and your gravel bike. Both bikes operate under different conditions. While many are hesitant and there is a lot to consider with this conversation, a lot of people have caught onto this ergonomic trend. Ride Farr recently worked with Nitto to make a new drop bar, the SUPA-WIDE GRVL in three sizes. These bars will be in their stock in May, so stay tuned.

Specs:
-Heat-Treated Alloy
-Available in 3 Sizes – 650 / 700 / 750mm
-31.8mm Bar Diameter
-120mm Drop
-65mm Reach
-20 Degree Flare

Reference Weights:
-Medium ( 650 ) – 385g
-Large ( 700 ) – 400g
-X-Large ( 750 ) – 415g

Silver will always be classy and Zipp is looking to bring classy builds back with their full line of Silver Service Course components. Seat posts, stems, and a wide variety of handlebar models are now available in this silver finish. Now, since Zipp and SRAM are under the same roof, I wonder if this means we can look forward to silver SRAM kits? Now that would be nice! See the full Zipp Silver Service Course lineup at Zipp.

Ritchey makes some of the best handlebar shapes in the industry and their newest bar marries the wider drop-bar trend with its tried and true ergo bio-bend shape. These bars are 520mm wide and are measured at the initial bar bend, rather than at the hoods, have 102mm of drop, 75mm reach, and a flare of 24º. Best of all, they come in black and are $99 at your local dealer. See more at Ritchey!

Specs:
Material: Triple-butted 7050 alloy
Bend Style: ergo bio-bend
Top Style: flat
Width: 520mm (measured at the initial bend rather than at the hood)
Drop: 102mm
Reach: 75mm
Drop Flare: 24-degree
Flare Out: 6-degree
Back Sweep: 4.6-degree
Clamp Diameter: 31.8mm
Accessory Mount Diameter: 31.8mm
Di2 Cable Routing: yes
Clip-On Compatible: yes
Other Features: C260 compatible
Weight: 325g
Color: Blatte

The Cowchipper (322g) and Cowchipper Deluxe (293g) are widely popular in the touring and gravel market. Rightfully so, too. People love the shape and pricepoint of these bars. Keeping up with the current market trends, these bars are now available in an even wider 52cm, measured at the hoods. See more at Salsa and at your local dealer.

Crust Bikes gives the people what they want and that ranges from frames, to complete bikes, accessories, parts, and yeah, handlebars. Their small-time operation allows them to pivot easily to follow trends and in a lot of ways, set the trends themselves. With road bikes permuting into even more capable off-road machines, a lot of the ideologies of mountain bike design and technology have found its way onto drop-bar bicycles. Sure, the obvious moves are those shorter-travel suspension forks but something that not many people have touched on is bar width.

That’s where Crust Bikes and Ultra Romance have really influenced and inspired the question: what is the appropriate width for a drop-bar bicycle? We already looked at my Sklar with the Towel Rack Bars but after much demand – and my own curiosity – I decided to try out the Made in Japan by Nitto Shaka Bar.

Bars. Bars. Bars. I feel like we’ve been inundated with bar designs this year and leave it to Surly to bide their time and develop one of the more subtle replies to the high-demand gravel handlebar market. The Truck Stop Bar is an aluminum bar with a 31.8 clamp, 42-48cm widths, 30mm of rise (!!!), 12º of sweep, resulting in a bar with many hand positions to help alleviate pain on long rides. Check out the Truck Stop Bar at your local Surly dealer or see more information at Surly!

South Africa’s Ride Farr, a brand focusing on endurance racing products, tagged us on Instagram with their new Aero Gravel Bar. These bares have an integrated aero add-on, are made from alloy 6061-T6, with a 25º flare, and are available in 42, 44, 46cm widths. The Aero Gravel Bar will be available in October, with Ride Farr shipping worldwide. Head to Ride Farr to see more.

Known for their MTB products including pedals, stems, hubs, and bars, Spank Industries has entered the drop bar market with their new Wing 12 Vibrocore™ Handlebars. Inside these Zirconium-Doped 7-Series Alloy bars is a foam insert which reportedly absorbs vibrations on rough roads. These bars will be hitting retailers soon. Check out more at Spank and crucial details below.

-Hood to hood widths: 420 / 440 / 460mm
-Bar end to bar end widths: 497 / 517 / 537mm
-Weight: 350 / 355 / 360g
-Drop/Reach: 110mm / 70mm (all sizes)
-Flare: 12°
-Ramp: 14°