Nouveau Randonneur and Curvy Handlebars Have Landed

by Igor

We are super excited to launch three new handlebar shapes to appease even the most discerning cockpit aficionado. The Nouveau Randonneur Bar is our take on a modern rando bar designed for riders using integrated shifters and aero brake levers. The Curvy One Bar is an updated city and touring bar with more than enough room for modern sized grips, brake levers, and shifters. Finally, the Curvy Too Bar is a flat and not-quite-as-Curvy handlebar designed those who want a more spirited position. Enjoy!

Nouveau Randonneur Bar 

First, let's start with a bit of background. Traditional Randonneur Bars have always had an easily recognizable shape: round bends, long ramps, deep drops, and up-sweeping tops. It makes sense. Non-aero levers are fairly small, so you have more real estate on the ramps and drops as you change your position throughout the day and terrain. You can get the bars up a bit more without resorting to a riser stem with upward bends by the stem clamp. With the proliferation of integrated shifters making their way onto touring, randonneuring, and now gravelling bikes, these traditional shapes are not always conducive to a comfortable on-the-hood position - ergonomically speaking, where your hands would spend much of their time. The ramps are often too long, even paired with a short stem and the ramps on vintage Italian-style road bars simply do not match the curves of these modern shifters and levers. The design of the tops, ramps, hooks, and drops all make the Nouveau Randonneur Handlebar an absolutely lovely abode for all-day riding.

The most visible difference from a traditional bar is the shape of the tops. They are ovalized and sweep back ever so slightly from the stem clamp. An ovalized section makes for a bigger area upon which your hands can rest. A wider palm base means road vibrations and impacts are distributed better and not centralized into a specific spot. Additionally, the sweep lends itself better (than a straight top) to your hands' natural resting position.

Measuring the reach of this bar is a bit tricky. The ramps are 105mm in length, but since the tops sweep back, the traditional reach measurement (originating from the stem clamp to the edge of the ramp) is more like 85mm. In total, this means the ramps are long enough for a resting position behind the shifter hood for cruising, but short enough to easily reach the hood for shifting, braking, and out-of-the-saddle efforts without resorting to extreme stem lengths which could affect handling.

Reaching down from your hood's perches to the drops is not extreme. The drop length is roughly 128mm. Deep enough to obtain some aero advantages as well as cornering stability, but also not so deep your back will curse at you in the morning.

At the hooks, there is 12 degrees of flare. It opens your chest, makes the bike more stable, and means your forearms won't hit the bars when making out-of-the-saddle efforts. The ends are also reamed to fit regular bar-end shifters.

Curvy One Handlebar

The Curvy One is our take on a traditional city and touring bar while retaining the elegant lines and curves that are often lost in many of today's modern offerings. Width is a cool 650mm and rise is generous at 30mm. With 60 degrees worth of sweep, you'll have a fairly upright position with a ton of control. The grip area (22.2mm) is more than enough for modern grips, brake levers, and shifters at 180mm in length. The clamp diameter is 31.8mm and the grip diameter is 22.2mm.

Curvy Too Handlebar

The Curvy Too is a wider version of our Postino that fits modern accouterments. It's very lightweight at 273g, has no rise and drop, and is perfect for those converting roadies into a more comfortable, albeit, spirited position. With a width of 680mm and sweep of 30 degrees, it's ready to make those stoplight sprints and treks off the beaten path!

Bonus: The Curvy Too is also MTB rated, so it's a great option for your bikepacking rig.

View this post on Instagram

Good mouthfeel @clinsstagram #veloorange #polyvalent #porteur

A post shared by Igor Shteynbuk (@eccentricvelo) on Jun 3, 2017 at 6:05pm PDT