Bar Upsweep
Last Post 06/21/2014 10:11 AM by Justin jmdirt. 21 Replies.
Author Messages
jmdirt

Posts:775

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06/13/2014 10:59 AM
Does bar upsweep seem anatomically incorrect? My bike came with 9 degree backsweep, 5 degree upsweep bars. You can rotate the bars and reduce the upsweep to 0 but it also reduces the backsweep to about 6. I wanted to see if big sweep bars would help my old battered wrists so I got a set of Salsa Bend 2 Bars with 17 degrees of backsweep, but 5 degrees of upsweep. You can flip them and have 5 degrees of downsweep. The big backsweep is fantastic but neither upsweep or downsweep is great. The downsweep is fine when seated, but not so good when standing. It seems that upsweep is pretty common now. I wonder why that is. My hands don't "angle" that way naturally. For 23 years I used 3 to 5 degree backsweep, 0 upsweep bars with bar ends (similar hand position to big backsweep). In the early 90's I used 560 mm bars, then 580, 600, by 2004 I was using 625 mm (5 degree back) and used those until last year. My bike came with 700 mm bars and I loved the width but there was no way to run bar ends at that width because they would snag everything along the trail OK, that's a rambley way to ask what other think about upsweep.
jmdirt

Posts:775

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06/13/2014 11:01 AM
Does bar upsweep seem anatomically incorrect?

My bike came with 9 degree backsweep, 5 degree upsweep bars. You can rotate the bars and reduce the upsweep to 0 but it also reduces the backsweep to about 6.

I wanted to see if big sweep bars would help my old battered wrists so I got a set of Salsa Bend 2 Bars with 17 degrees of backsweep, but 5 degrees of upsweep. You can flip them and have 5 degrees of downsweep. The big backsweep is fantastic but neither upsweep or downsweep is great. The downsweep is fine when seated, but not so good when standing.

It seems that upsweep is pretty common now. I wonder why that is. My hands don't "angle" that way naturally.

For 23 years I used 3 to 5 degree backsweep, 0 upsweep bars with bar ends (similar hand position to big backsweep). In the early 90's I used 560 mm bars, then 580, 600, by 2004 I was using 625 mm (5 degree back) and used those until last year. My bike came with 700 mm bars and I loved the width but there was no way to run bar ends at that width because they would snag everything along the trail

OK, that's a rambley way to ask what other think about upsweep.
Keith Richards

Posts:781

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06/13/2014 11:14 AM
I think it is personal preference man. I have never been a fad guy when it comes to contact points on the bike. If I find something that works, it stays on the bike.
----- It is his word versus ours. We like our word. We like where we stand and we like our credibility."--Lance Armstrong.
jmdirt

Posts:775

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06/13/2014 11:46 AM
KR, I agree 100% but fashion drives the market and therefore the available products.

Hey, I used bar ends WAAY longer than was fashionably cool! I would still use them but they might be my death on 700 mm bars. Maybe I need to decide if I like the hand position of bar ends, or 700 mm bars better. I think I would like my big backsweep bars if they were 0 rise/drop. I'll keep shopping.

longslowdistance

Posts:2881

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06/13/2014 05:34 PM
Give it a try. Things I thought I'd never like I grew to like pretty fast. Bars are like grips, just change them if they don't work.
THE SKINNY

Posts:506

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06/13/2014 07:01 PM
i wonder if there are any custom bar builders? might be an untapped market.
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
jmdirt

Posts:775

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06/13/2014 09:38 PM
Skinny, will you loan me the money to start my new business making custom bars, and baggy shorts that don't suck?
Oldfart

Posts:511

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06/13/2014 10:00 PM
I'm pretty sure all riser bars have upsweep. I like some upsweep myself and rotate my flat bars a touch. I run the Race Face next wide flat bar. 720 wide is awesome. No wider for me though. I think Ritchey makes a bar which sweeps forward then back so you have the wrist angle without decreasing reach. http://ritcheylogic.com/mountain/bars/classic-flat-10d-mountain-bar.html So many riders are on bars with so little rise these days it's funny. I still get negative comments on my flat bars.
jmdirt

Posts:775

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06/14/2014 10:59 AM
Oldfart, the Salsa Bend 2 Bars I have are the same as the Ritchey 10D (sweep forward then back but Salsa's are 17 degree, Ritchey 10). The backsweep is nice, but the five degree upsweep just didn't feel good even after a few rides so I flipped the bars over. The downsweep feels better but not great. Part of the problem with all of the bends in this design is that any rotation to change one aspect also changes another. Yah, riser bars usually have upsweep, but I've always used flat bars with zero upsweep. Now the trend is that most flat bars have some upsweep. I'm just wondering if there is a real reason for upsweep that I'm missing, or if its just a market trend, or both.

I would like 700 mm wide, 15 degree backsweep, zero degree upsweep bars (with the clamp bulge centered).

Salsa Bend 2 Bar (I'm testing):
http://salsacycles.com/components/category/mountain_handlebars/bend_2_bar

I might try: http://salsacycles.com/components/category/mountain_handlebars/salt_flat_2_alloy_handlebars
jmdirt

Posts:775

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06/19/2014 12:01 PM
Update: I made several tiny changes and might have come up with a comfy spot. I'm going to ride them for a while and see if they disappear.
THE SKINNY

Posts:506

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06/19/2014 12:08 PM
we could get a conduit bender from the electrical supply place and some leftover aluminum conduit to work with. that's maybe $50? i'm sure we could figure out the carbon fabrication pretty quick. then kickstarter it and we're golden. i'm looking to relocate and reinvent myself anyway. i can't help you with the shorts.
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
79pmooney

Posts:3178

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06/19/2014 12:12 PM
Dave Levy, TiCycles could certainly make bars for you with any combo you want. I'll guess he is limited to the bend radiuses he can do, but the amount and locations of those bends would be up to you. I'll bet you have the choice of Cr-Mo or ti tubing and he could make up shims to fit any stem. Wouldn't be cheap but they would be keepers. (And he could easily make up shims to fit these bars to your next bike/stem.)

Ben
jmdirt

Posts:775

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06/19/2014 10:29 PM
Good thought Ben.

Skinny, relocate and reinvent! Where are you now and what are you looking for?

Funny update on baggy shorts: I've been wearing tighty blackies since '90. Every year since the mid '90s I try on a few pair of baggies but have never found anything that I liked. I've bought a few pairs over the years that get a few rides and then donated to the local kids cycling club. My wife bought me a pair of "amphibious" shorts from ShopKo this week for casual wear. They are fantastic over a pair of bibs! They are crazy light and cool plus a great fit! I just went and bought two more pairs for only $15 each.
79pmooney

Posts:3178

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06/19/2014 11:49 PM
My issue with non-tight shorts is the snag of the seat nose when I go to sit down. I do often pull shorts/swim trunks over my cycling shorts to be more modest and sometimes leave them on for the ride home if the temperature has dropped. Once I"m seated I don't notice them at all except for the extra warmth.

Ben
THE SKINNY

Posts:506

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06/20/2014 09:38 AM
i'm sweating my ass off in florida. i would rather sweat it off out west somewhere. have you looked at enve bars yet? i just saw an article about a wide flatish bar they have for $160. http://enve.com/products/components/sweep-bar-barswp/
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
Oldfart

Posts:511

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06/20/2014 01:36 PM
You need to get a good pair of overshorts that are made to not hand too low at the crotch and you need a proper off road saddle. The Fiz:ik Antares snagged my lycra big shorts for example and would terrible off road. I wear overshorts to protect my skin and nice bib shorts underneath for the inevitable butt slide. The overshorts slide over the lycra pretty well. And on wet days protect my butt from stuff kicked up by the rear tire. No fenders are no good on a mountain bike. Added weight, minimal coverage , stays will be damaged by sticks. A small front deflctor (mucky nutz) is all I will use.
jmdirt

Posts:775

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06/20/2014 02:44 PM
Ben, if you've got a ShopKo close by, got grab a pair of these things. They are better than any of the bike specific baggies I've tried, and they are a fraction of the price. Like oldfart, I'm wearing them over bibs.

oldfart, I've been riding Selle Italia Flite since '93 so you will have to pry them from my cold dead ars. Actually snagging wasn't my main complaint with baggy shorts, it was just the overall fit and feel.
Oldfart

Posts:511

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06/20/2014 03:09 PM
The Flite is a good off road saddle. Not too pointy. The current ones are sold as being suitable off road and they are for me too. I but overshorts on sale a lot. Means I have some rather loud colours. The light colours look bad when I sweat a ton, which I always do. Dropped about three pounds on my last ride. Looked like I had wet myself.

Back to bars. I think the wider the bar is the more back and upsweep you want to keep the grip properly aligned with your palm.
longslowdistance

Posts:2881

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06/20/2014 08:13 PM
jm, I don't think I've ever seen anyone riding a sella flight off road. You may be unique. Whatever works: can't argue with success.
I'm still missing the original WTB SST from about 20 years ago - closest to perfect (for me) ever achieved. The remakes from the SST'98 on weren't quite the same.They often "re-release  the original SST!" but it's typically just an expensive anvil, not the sublime Italian made piece of functional art like the original.
jmdirt

Posts:775

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06/20/2014 09:07 PM
In the early 90s I was living in a town with limited dirt options so I rode the road a lot with the local fast turds. They all used SI Flite so I tried one and have been hooked ever since (I've tried a few others over the years just to be sure that I wasn't missing something but in less than 30 days I'm back). SI dropped the original Flite for a while so I bought a few to keep me going and then they brought it back as the Flite 1990.
Sure old fart it "looked" like you wet yourself...wink wink!
Oldfart

Posts:511

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06/21/2014 12:32 AM
Yeah well. Most of the local trails will make visitors crap themselves so I'm doing OK just pissin myself.
jmdirt

Posts:775

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06/21/2014 10:11 AM


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