Moustache Bar

It seemed like a great idea, that curvy Nitto-made handlebar that Rivendell sells as the "Moustache Bar". It was upright, it offered lots of hand positions including a leaning-forward aero position, and it was nice and wide for better control. So I tried it.

Installing it on my jacked-up stem of my too-small Trek 620 was no small endeavor, since the bar-end shifters were raised beyond the scope of their cable housing (and cables, for that matter). So I needed new cables and housings. And, of course, since buying one thing always requires buying three more things, I needed to get something to cut the housing. A Dremel with a cutting disk works like a charm, and it costs about as much as a good cable cutter. So I bought one. (Actually, once I had the Dremel, I was able to trim my fender stays, which had been sticking out ridiculously. So it was a sensible purchase.)

True to Rivendell's promise, the Nitto bar was a beauty, with a perfect satiny finish. Naturally, I managed to mangle it as I worked it into the Nitto Technomic stem. It seems the moustache bar has a wide mounting section, which increases its diameter. So the stem, which had been tightened on my regular diameter bar, was too small for the new Nitto. Once I realized this, the bar was already half in the stem; by then it was too late to get it in or out without (a) expanding the opening on the stem with a lever of some kind, or (b) tearing the hell out of the bar. I chose (b). I nearly cried when I saw the carnage.

So anyway, first impressions were good. Fun bar to ride short distances with. Easy to get at the brakes, lots of control, quite upright.

When I took it out for longer rides, problems became apparent.

First, it's not possible to get low on it. Forward, yes. Low, no. When I'm riding into the wind, I like to bend over my bar so that my weight is still centered, not flatten out with all my weight on my arms. (I realize that flat and forward is the way Lance would do it. I'm not Lance.) With a nice high drop bar, I can ride aerodynamically on the drops all day and not suffer.

Second, it's not possible to get upright enough with it. With a nice high drop bar, holding onto the cross bar sits me up enough that I can rest my neck and shoulders. Not possible with the moustache.

Finally, I didn't really like the super-wide grip when holding the moustache bar near the ends. I felt like I was forming a parachute-like wind catcher. It also made my bad shoulder hurt.

So I reversed the process, taking the moustache off and putting my old 41 cm drop bar back on. I was able to reuse the bar tape, so all was not lost.

As a mountain bike bar, the moustache would be fantastic. As a road bar, it doesn't offer enough levels for my comfort. (If I start using this bike as a commuting bike, I'll put the it back on.)

I'm done buying bars for now. But I'd love to try a 46 cm Nitto Noodle drop bar. Maybe on my new Rivendell.

Much later: Since writing this post, I have moved the moustache bar to my winter bike, a tricked-out early-90s Trek mountain bike. On that bike, which I use for commuting 10 miles/day in snow, ice, and slush, the moustache bar is perfect. Lots of control, comfortable position for 30 minutes; much better than the typical straight-across mountain bar. I almost always hold on to the bars at the curves, where the brakes are easily accessible. I'll occasionally pull back to the bar ends, but not often.

Bike Lanes

OK, this one's obvious; but if it's so obvious, why doesn't anyone do anything about it?

If reducing gasoline consumption is our goal, we should encourage bike riding. Duh.

So why is it that when the county road commission repaves and widens roads here in mid-Michigan, they don't automatically add bike lanes? How hard would it be to make the auto lanes and shoulders a little narrower?

As it is now, I bike five miles to work on sidewalks. Good idea? I think not. Pedestrians hate me (OK, and I hate them, but I try to be polite--which reminds me: to ding my bell or not? I feel like a boor when I ding it, telling them to get the hell out of my way, but I get yelled at when I don't ding it).

I have broken spokes going over curbs or rough curb cuts. OK, I was racing with a young pup who was fully geared-out and riding with traffic in the busy city streets. I was trying to prove that a middle-aged codger in penny loafers could keep up, even riding on the sidewalk. I did, but I broke spokes in the process. When I pulled up next to him at a red light, he said, "Dude. Pretty good, especially in those pants." I'm not sure why he thought pants made a difference, but I accepted the compliment.

When it gets snowy, the sidewalks are the last thing to be cleared, if they're ever cleared. Drivers pay no attention to who's on the sidewalk; I have been cut off many times, even by drivers who just passed me and couldn't possibly not have seen me. In fact, one time a driver waited for me to pass before pulling out of a driveway, drove past me, then turned right in front of me into the next driveway. I ended up flat on my back, having gone over my handlebars. That's when I got a bike with upright bars so I could reach the brakes faster.

Really, it's like urban mountain biking with extra hazards, which is sort of fun, but only for the adventuresome. It's pretty hard for me to recommend to colleagues that they commute by bike, knowing that they'll need to jump curbs and dodge ditzoid drivers.

But bike lanes! Now that would be inviting. No curbs, no sidewalks. I suspect bicycle commuting would increase many-fold. And it makes a community seem so much more friendly, hip, and welcoming. I can't believe that it costs much more.

So here I live in the semi-country (a township suburb of Lansing), and there's no way for me to get anywhere without riding down a busy two-lane road that not only has no shoulder but CURBS. (Why does it need curbs?) So when I'm in the road, all traffic must go at my pace because I can't even pull over onto the shoulder. Drivers aren't crazy about that.

So Ingham County Road Commission, you don't need to tear all the roads up and install bike lanes immediately. But whenever you repave one, would you at least consider it?

And how about bike paths? I can always dream.