handlebar question

[PumpingIron]

What handlebars have little to no upward bar angle? I have the echo bulge right now and the steep angle really hurts my wrists.

[decline]

have you tried rotating the bars a little bit? i had wrist problems with those bars but rotated the forward and it helped a lot.

[PumpingIron]

yeah I tried rotating forward and backwards and it didn't help.

[rocpyro]

Try normal risers maybe. They have a fairly flat top profile.

[PumpingIron]

Are there any specific handlebars that you would suggest?

[ONE EYE]

For normal mtb handlebars, try Easton or Azonic.

Also did you consider the Try all trials bars?

Matt.

[PumpingIron]

I have the echo stem that is for a 31.8mm bar and I don't think I have enough money to get a new stem and bar, unless I can get both for around $75, so I think that cuts down my choices. I have looked at both the eastons and azonics and they look good, but I wasn't sure if they were right for trials. Is there specific things I don't want in a handlebar? I have also looked at the try-all riser bar, but based on the picture and with limited info on it, I can't tell if it has the same high upward angle that hurts my wrists as the echo I have now.

[bEavoLa]

the TryAll riser bar has no 'upsweep' (the upward angle that you talk of). i know what you mean - i'm also limited to what bars i can use on any of my bikes based on how much upsweep they have.

if you do street trials, you can get away with a normal 31.8mm MTB bar - i just bought an Easton EA70 MonkeyBar and it's upsweep and backsweep are perfect for my wrists. other bars that fit the "none or little" upsweep bill are:

Onza Carbon Riser bars (also VERY wide at 760mm!!!)

Try-All Yourself Replica (25.4mm) is a very wide (740mm) and very flat riser bar

BT Riser Bar (31.8mm)

[PumpingIron]

Is backsweep good, bad, or just personal preference for trials? It doesn't seem like my echo bar has any backsweep. Is that standard for most trials handlebars?

[bEavoLa]

the Echo Bulge bars are standard "flat" trials bars, yeah?

well - if they were to be tilted back towards you, then they'd have a degree of 'backsweep', as the end bits will now be pointing up and back.

however, as handlebar feel is a VERY personal thing (i got along okay with my TryAll Yourself Replica bars, which had NO backsweep, but i get along far better with my Eastons that have 4degrees upsweep and 8degrees backsweep, but any more than 4 degrees upsweep is too much for me) i can only suggets that you try various bars out - either by buying them cheap on eBay or by trying other people's bikes

[eturt9]

Get a tryall bar with the cheapest POS stem you can find... becuase its standard 25.4 dia. You can easily get this stem and bar combo for under $75.

[Dan08]

I would suggest either:

Onza carbon riser bar
Zoo! riser bar
BT riser barAll of which are 31.8mm bars. Most companys are starting to make all their bars in the standard 25.4mm AND 31.8mm diameters now, so choice on bars isn't as limited now for using a 31.8mm stem.

[saylor]

hi all -

not to wake up a dead thread . .. but I was searching the archives for handlebar angle, and this post was found . . .

anyways I just got my trials bike, a 1993 monty, and I've been out in the driveway trying to balance in one place without moving, or falling over.

On 2 wheels.

Starting off I tried to mount the bars where I *thought* they should go, and tried to get onto the back wheel. I felt like the back wheel was going to shoot out from under me when I tried to get up on 1 wheel.

SO - I now have the bars waay out front, ghetto style, but I find I can't really switch my weight to the back wheel now. I can balance pretty good on both wheels with them set here with no brakes on. I'm pretty much looking at/thru the front hub and down to the tire/ground contact point. Where do ya'll stare at when trying to stay still?

I guess I should bring the bars back in little by little until I can get some front end lift ?

Something else - while trying to balance, switching the front wheel back and forth, twiching the cranks, etc.. I find myself moving, like creeping along. I think my rig has a BMX freewheel on it. Will I get better control out of my cranks if I buy the 18 pawl freewheel or whatever they are (the $80 ones)?

< - - -who let this guy in ?

- Saylor

[flwrx]

I could use some help w/ my bars too. I read on one trials site that its commonly known that tilting bars 15-20 deg backward gives more control on the rear wheel....but on another site they say the exact same thing about tilting forward. I know it comes down to preference but I'm not comfortable with either yet, what do you guys suggest?

I have Azonic handlebars, not sure which one...but it is a riser bar that angles backwards. I think I wanna try a straight riser bar and a longer, riser stem too.

How far forward should I go when choosing stem length? Any longer a stem and I'll be pretty close to the bar being over the front hub, which I've heard is no good. I'm just starting riding again after taking many years off. I can bunnyhop, manual....everything better on my old 17" mountain bike with straight bars than on my planet x so I know the setup needs tweaking.

Thanks in advance for any tips

[rush]

Lean back and down a bit further and see how that goes.

[cwbashaw]

I had an Echo flat bar and always had wrist pain then switched to a Simtra Mcpudgy bar and never have problems now.

Truvative makes a 31.8 riser bar that feels pretty good too for about half the price. I was going to get it but it's only 680mm wide.
It should be fine for trials as long as you don;t have really wide shoulders but since the old Echo bar was 740mm I was worried that 680 would be too narrow. I adjusted to the 700mm Simtra bar in about one ride, and I'm sure the Truvativ would have worked out fine too.