During morning meeting a few months ago, Casey, our engineer, sheepishly passes around a drawing of some weird handlebars and asks if we'd consider making them. Someone (can't remember who) declares them to be "
crazy bars." And the name stuck. After testing we found that we all loved them. In fact, the prototypes are still on both mine and Casey's bikes (and we're not giving them back).
These bars are intended for touring on paved and unpaved roads. They are also sweet for gravel grinding. The main section of the bar is pretty wide at 67cm, but it can be cut down easily. This provides good control on rough surfaces and around town. The bullhorn section offers a streamlined position for smoother roads and headwinds. The center portion replicates the top of a drop bar, and placing your hands at the junctions is not unlike riding on the hoods.
The main bar is 22.2mm so MTB grips, levers, and shifters fit. The "horns" are 23.8mm, so road levers - including inverse levers - fit, as do bar-end shifters. Clamp area is 25.4mm.
Crazy Bars are made from 6061 aluminum and are heat treated. Weight is pretty reasonable at around 450gm. Note that these are
not intended for mountain bike use, but we will have a heavier version made from thicker-wall tubing for MTBs soon.
The logos on this first production run face the rider. We had intended that they face forward, but this doesn't really matter since most folks will wrap the entire center section. We only had a few cases air shipped, the rest will be here in January.
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13 comments:
Craaaaaazyyyy baaaars! Just placed my order. Can't wait to get these onto my crazy bike (a touring-focused Surly Big Dummy).
I still think "Pamplona" would have been a better name for those handlebars.
They remind me of these: http://flic.kr/p/e2PjbY
Years ago I put a set of MTB bar ends at the "points" of a set of On-One Mary bars to get a similar upright and forward position. They worked great, but looked funny. These bars offer an additional position on the flats, and look less funny - these should be really functional handlebars, if people can get over the non-traditional look.
I agree Steve. Not calling these Pamplona bars was a missed opportunity
Could you post pictures of the "Crazy Bar" with different brake lever and shifter setups? Maybe some with interrupter levers?
Question: Can you use cross/interupter levers on these? Will they fit the bar diameter at the "tops" and will they work with MTB/City type levers like in the pictures here. That would be a nice setup.
That's not crazy. Crazy is when you add a set of tri-bars to those, LOL
Any chance of a wider version? 40 cm between the "hood" sections is a bit narrow for those of use used to 44 or 46cm drop bars.
One more vote for "Pamplona".
I like "Pamplona" too. Or if you wish to stick to the French theme, maybe "Haussiers"?
Whatever name, congrats on bringing to market a truly new product!
"Pamplona" sounds nice, but there's nothing French or Spanish about these bars.
On the other hand, one translation for "Crazy" in French is "Fou" - as in "Le Fou Bar"
I have a feeling I won't be able to use my Nitto Technomic stem with these bars.
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