Swapping handlebars to improve comfort on a flat bar gravel bike or ATB
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
- There are so many ways to change the fit and form of your bike. We encourage you to explore options for making your bike your own, from colors to comfort adjustments. In this video, we discuss the basics of how to swap the handlebars on my flat bar gravel bike (or ATB). The swap is from a Surly Sunrise moto-style handlebar to the swept-back Tumbleweed Persuader bar. In addition to adding a bunch of sweep and lowering the rise of the handlebar position with this swap, the new bar will save nearly a pound over the old one. The main goal: make the ride a bit less harsh on my hands.
The bike is a 2023 Wilde Supertramp...which is an all-around modern classic flat-bar, all-terrain bicycle from the mind of Jeff Frane (founder of All-City Cycles and now Wilde).
The bars, by the numbers:
Tumbleweed Persuader Bar
Material: 7000 series heat treated aluminum
Clamp diameter: 31.8mm
Width: 800 and 840mm (840mm installed)
Rise: 50mm
Sweep: 31 degrees
Weight: 800mm: 424 grams
Full info: tumbleweed.cc/...
Surly Sunrise Bar
Material: Post-weld heat-treated Chromoly Steel
Clamp Diameter: 22.2mm; Includes shims for 31.8mm clamp
Width: 820mm, can be cut to 720mm
Rise: 83mm
Sweep: 14.7 degrees
Weight: 778g including shims
Full info: surlybikes.com...
How Wilde describes the Supertramp:
"The Supertramp is our bike packing, trekking, and all-terrain bicycle platform. From month-long backcountry tours to trips to the corner store and everything in between, you'll find it to be an incredibly versatile platform for living your life via bicycle. It can be built in endless configurations and has mounts for all the racks, accessories, and bags you wish to carry. If you only have one bike in your life, and want one that can truly let you explore the whole world of cycling possibilities, we believe the Supertramp is a great choice.
The Supertramp is handmade in Taiwan through our partnership with the legendary Maxway factory, it comes in four sizes and is paired with our signature steel segmented fork. It is fully featured with all the mounts you could want, has stealth dropper routing, and fits a large tire."
Full info on the Supertramp: www.wildebikes...
They weigh over a pound but they fit well. If you want another an alternative to sunrise bars check out moto-cross bars in aluminum and carbon fibre. From small mini trail bikes to enduros to moto cross. there are a thousand style and angle options that alternative opens your options up to infinite levels .
Best bars ever made!
Just found your channel while looking at bar options. Well presented!!
Just what I've been looking for.
nice, waiting for mine
Bar hopping 😮
To improve comfort on my mountain bike I switched to drop bars.
The surly Sunrise cromo bars are $150AU
$150 for a set of bars that have no costly design or material construction...ffs...typical of Surly to grossly markup their products.
Wouldn't touch anything Surly even if it was gifted to me.
I run basic flat bars on my HTs. I get them for next to nothing due to people throwing away bikes at the tip, sometimes complete bikes that only need a few parts to have them up and running again. These bars come in various sweep angles, etc, but are just your typical mtb bar.
What I do to reduce or stop soreness, fatigue and numbness, is to cut these ridiculously wide bars down to 640mm, what MTBs used to be shod with.
640mm with 31.8 center is shortest one can go and still fit bar ends, grips, brifters and perhaps a computer or camera mount...could possibly go down to 600mm with thinner centered bars.
This brings my arms in closer to my body, reducing wrist and shoulder issues + slightly reducing wind resistence.
I then fit 22.2mm bar ends, long enough to fit grips on, thus the bar ends become a forward facing extension of the flat bars. Perfect for long distance XC riding, as the only times I use the flat bars is on tight corners, braking, and slow difficult sections...for my current 42km rides, over 90% is on the bar ends.
I also experiment with stem length and angle to create even weight distribution between ass and hands, as each bike's geometry will be different. Seat height and various angles is also related to comfort
All up, the parts I use covers all aspects of riding position, and still costs less than the way overpriced Surly bars...that IMO, are too wide.
I notice this bloke never discusses any of the elements I spoke of regarding rider comfort, thus seems reasonable to me to consider this is just a Surly advert, or the bloke simply has little knowledge regarding "bike fit."
I'm not surprised you are getting numb hands with them VANS grips. Awful grips. Ergon grips are great and helped me a lot.
I like the gum rubber Vans , their extra wide😊
LOVE Ergon grips. GP2 on my touring bike, and recently put GA3 on my hardtail eMTB (with a Surly Sunrise bar)
Weight the bar ends to dampen vibration if its bothersome. Grips are for gripping and don't lessen numbness regardless of how soft they are. Ergo grips are best for that, IN MY OPINION ;).