New handlebar

[Old-tool-guy]

I would like to replace the stock handlebar on my bike, what is a good on-line source?

It’s for my velotric folding bike. The stock bar is a little narrow, which i can deal with, but it’s almost straight across which causes me to reach a little more than i want. I tried to swap the bar from my Ride1Up, but that one is a cruiser style and the backsweep is too much, my body would get in the way for all but gentle turns. I didn’t get the Fold because of the folding feature, so if the new bar interferes with that it doesn’t matter.

 

[RunForTheHills]

Amazon is a good on-line source. I have the Jones H-Bar 2.5 and like it a lot. Rivendell also has a big selection of handlebars that sweep back.

 

[spokewrench]

I bought this for one bike

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09C4JFPJY

and this for another.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VB28P3P

I wanted to move bars forward, and these let me fine tune my adjustments. By clamping it "backwards" to the stem, it looks as if one would let you move your bars back.

 

[Old-tool-guy]

That’s actually not a bad idea, but the velotric has a non-round stem so i don’t know if it would work. I looked on-line at my local bike shop, they claim to have several in stock for decent prices, it would probably be worth a trip. Or … i could just cut about 4” off the longer bar, but that would be non-reversible.

 

[spokewrench]

That’s actually not a bad idea, but the velotric has a non-round stem so i don’t know if it would work. I looked on-line at my local bike shop, they claim to have several in stock for decent prices, it would probably be worth a trip. Or … i could just cut about 4” off the longer bar, but that would be non-reversible.

I don't understand. When you said your bars were a little narrow, I thought that meant short.

Saddle rails can be slid an inch or two forward or back in a saddle clamp. Maybe you can move your saddle forward to reduce the distance to the bars.

My Abound has a long stem with a hinge, clamped to the steerer tube. Some Abound owners have installed aftermarket stems because they didn't like the hinge. They might fit your Velotric so you could use an adjustable riser. I think I've seen them on Amazon, but now I don't. Modernbike.com has a lot of bike stuff, but I don't see stems like that.

 

[Old-tool-guy]

Spoke … here’s 2 pictures. I think it’s because of the folding feature, the handlebar is a little narrow and doesn’t have much backsweep. And the first picture shows the concave part of the stem.

 

[spokewrench]

I have the same stem! It works fine. The sides of the stem are round, and when I tighten the riser clamp, it presses against the sides. I removed the handlebars and raised the adjustable part of the stem out so that I could slide the riser on from the bottom.

The original handlebar clamp on the stem is no longer needed. I use mine to mount my air horn. It could also clamp a bar such as a broomstick to mount additional handlebar accessories.

 

[Old-tool-guy]

Here are sketches of both of my bars, the straighter one with the 4” makes me reach too far, I would like something around 7”. The width isn’t a problem.

 

[RunForTheHills]

The rise also affects your position on the bike and the reach. You want the sweep angle to be comfortable to your wrists. The Jones bar that I use has a 2.5" rise and a 45 degree sweep:

The Rivendell website has a lot of different styles with good descriptions on how they affect the fit of the bike:
https://www.rivbike.com/collections...U5Dn3zm8t86GYYC3-wLCuUXObPYwQOf2C3fCSoXQZm1wc

 

[spokewrench]

Risers like mine are commonly made in 90, 110, and 145mm sizes. Mine is 110. The adjustment point, with white degree marks, is 40mm in front of the center of the stem. If the arm were out horizontally, it would give me another 70mm, for a total of 110. Mine goes up at 60 degrees, so the whole riser moves my bars forward 75mm, or 3". If you put a 145mm unit on facing backward, you could move the bars back as much as 5.7". I don't know if they make these risers with longer arms.

Rotating the bars will change my wrist angle. With the adjustable riser, I can get the combination of wrist angle and reach that I want.