John ware
Active Member
After a 500 mile, week long trip across Iowa last summer I really loved my butterfly or trekking handlebars. The many hand positions afforded by these bars were great and I found them very comfortable.
But now that I'm back to mainly city riding I felt the slightly inside and back position wasn't providing the same level of control the more outward hand position of the original Stromer flatbar provided. After switching back to the original bars though, I really missed the slightly more upright position and the lower wrist stress of the trekking bars.
Enter the experiment - an Easton EC70 Low Riser (20mm) carbon handlebar.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/us/en/easton-ec70-carbon-riser-bar/rp-prod114387
The handlebars were a little long (720 mm) so I carefully trimmed them by an inch on each side. Installation went easily with no cable length issues, although this is my opportunity to rant about the POC Magura brake handle bracket sleeve nuts made out of aluminum which just plain suck.
The sleeve nuts screw down over a threaded post on the brake handle, but unfortunately the threaded post sticks up just enough to cause the sleeve nut to sit too deep, making it virtually impossible to avoid stripping them when the post prevents your T25 wrench from seating deep enough on the nut. A 10 pack of replacements nuts sells for a mere $26! I noticed the new ST2 brake handles have a different bolt arrangement, so I suspect I'm not the only one who realized Maguras design flaw.
Anyways, the rise is pretty small, 3/4", so it's not a major difference but 5 degree upsweep help ease a bit the wrist stress. Again, the changes aren't all that major but so far I'm liking them. I've only taken a 4-5 mile test ride so far so I'll reserve my judgment until I can put them to a little more rigorous test around town.
One other experiment I'm revisiting is my tire test. When I returned to city riding I thought I'd like to return to my original Stromer Big Ben tires for a softer and more stable footprint. After 100 miles or so I'm ready to switch back to my 2" Schwalbe Marathon Deluxe tires for their more responsive feel, not mention the cool reflective sidewalls.
Quick update: I've taken several 20+ mile rides around town with my new handlebar arrangement and the 2" Marathon Deluxe tires back on the bike and I'm loving it. The bike handles fantastic and althought not a significant change the new handlebars do feel really nice.
But now that I'm back to mainly city riding I felt the slightly inside and back position wasn't providing the same level of control the more outward hand position of the original Stromer flatbar provided. After switching back to the original bars though, I really missed the slightly more upright position and the lower wrist stress of the trekking bars.
Enter the experiment - an Easton EC70 Low Riser (20mm) carbon handlebar.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/us/en/easton-ec70-carbon-riser-bar/rp-prod114387
The handlebars were a little long (720 mm) so I carefully trimmed them by an inch on each side. Installation went easily with no cable length issues, although this is my opportunity to rant about the POC Magura brake handle bracket sleeve nuts made out of aluminum which just plain suck.
The sleeve nuts screw down over a threaded post on the brake handle, but unfortunately the threaded post sticks up just enough to cause the sleeve nut to sit too deep, making it virtually impossible to avoid stripping them when the post prevents your T25 wrench from seating deep enough on the nut. A 10 pack of replacements nuts sells for a mere $26! I noticed the new ST2 brake handles have a different bolt arrangement, so I suspect I'm not the only one who realized Maguras design flaw.
Anyways, the rise is pretty small, 3/4", so it's not a major difference but 5 degree upsweep help ease a bit the wrist stress. Again, the changes aren't all that major but so far I'm liking them. I've only taken a 4-5 mile test ride so far so I'll reserve my judgment until I can put them to a little more rigorous test around town.
One other experiment I'm revisiting is my tire test. When I returned to city riding I thought I'd like to return to my original Stromer Big Ben tires for a softer and more stable footprint. After 100 miles or so I'm ready to switch back to my 2" Schwalbe Marathon Deluxe tires for their more responsive feel, not mention the cool reflective sidewalls.
Quick update: I've taken several 20+ mile rides around town with my new handlebar arrangement and the 2" Marathon Deluxe tires back on the bike and I'm loving it. The bike handles fantastic and althought not a significant change the new handlebars do feel really nice.
