It’s been two months since I fitted my Artisanal Singlespeed with some fancy bamboo bars, and since I rode it at the moment I figured I’d placed on my semi-professional running a blog pants and provide you with an replace:

In terms of non-traditional handlebar supplies, the primary consideration is, “Will it break?,” and I’m happy to report that up to now it has not. Additionally, this form of factor is subjective, however I do occur to suppose the bar is kind of aesthetically pleasing, and it definitely turns heads–at the least of the deer selection:

That’s a real Bronx deer, by the best way. It’s downright bucolic up right here, I don’t understand how folks in Brooklyn even handle.

Other than aesthetics and novelty issue, the entire level of this bar is that it has “pure flex” for consolation, and it’s certainly extraordinarily snug. In actual fact, I daresay it’s downright luxurious, and like a pair of orthopedic sneakers it’s serving to me proceed to get pleasure from this utterly age-inappropriate bike whilst I start to tickle the undercarriage of fifty:

On the identical time, as a lot as I prefer it, it’s arduous to think about that I’d have paid $250 for it:

That’s not an indictment of the product, by the best way; frankly, I can’t think about myself paying $250 for any handlebar. It’s because I’m caught within the pre-crabon period, and stuff like handlebars that price greater than $200 and wheels that price greater than $2,000 {dollars} appears wildly decadent to me, regardless that for many those that’s completely regular.

However setting apart my very own hangups, let’s simply say you wish to critically soften up your cockpit. (It’s ironic that as we age we have to soften up our bikes’ cockpits but stiffen our personal.) What different gimmickry options are on the market, and is the Passchier a very good deal or not? Effectively, I hopped into the cockpit of a preferred search engine and did somewhat window procuring to search out out.

One strategy to go is the Flexx Enduro:

As Passchier explains, their bar isn’t designed for full-on, testicles-out, shreddy-Freddy bro-ballin’. The Flexx Enduro most decidedly is. Certainly, it’s meant for individuals who “Rice or Die:”

At the least I’m fairly positive that’s what it says.

Clearly then when you’re the form of one who wears cargo shants and carries your bike with the entrance wheel hanging over the tailgate of your pickup truck you then’re going to go together with the Flex Enduro. However, at $324.99 it’s costlier than the bamboo. Moreover, as a rider who will at all times go for rice over dying I’m greater than prepared to danger unlikely bamboo bar failure on my adrenaline-free path rides than I’m to place hinged handlebars on my bike. So whereas I nonetheless suppose the Passchier is dear, this at the least helps put it in perspective.

After all, anybody who’s spent greater than 5 minutes on Reddit is aware of that if you wish to {smooth} out your journey you’re supposed to make use of crabon handlebars, and in keeping with some check I noticed someplace probably the most “vertically compliant” mountain bike handlebar is this one:

I do not know if that is as plush because the bamboo bar. Nevertheless, it’s $100 cheaper, and it’s an precise mountain bike bar, so presumably you may beat the hell out of it worry-free. Assuming it’s comparable when it comes to flex, you’d must both actually just like the aesthetics and novelty issue of the bamboo bar to decide on it over this, or else you’d reeeally must have one thing in opposition to crabon–like some deep-seated resentment that defies all motive. Because it occurs, I do have a deep-seated resentment of crabon that defies all motive, although even I’ve to acknowledge it makes completely no sense to decide on a bamboo bar over this for a mountain bike.

However what when you don’t wish to mess together with your bars in any respect with a view to {smooth} out your inflexible bike? Effectively, there’s the hypnotically phallic Redshift suspension stem for $169.99:

I’d pay the additional $80 for the Passchier to not have that factor on my bike. In actual fact, I’d pay $80 to not have that on my bike even when I didn’t get a pair of handlebars out of it. “Right here’s $80, simply get that factor away from me!,” I’d scream.

Identical factor goes for the Lauf fork:

They appear common and I’ve little question they work as marketed, however after I take a look at it I really feel the identical manner I do after I see folks hitting their youngsters on the subway.

In order that simply leaves these suspension hubs…:

…which clearly no person of their proper thoughts is ever going to make use of:

Not due to the design, however as a result of they price $7,000.

Anyway, what I’ve come to understand since taking supply of my A. Homer Hilsen is that the actual key to a smooth-riding cockpit is a threaded stem with some extension paired with non-oversized all the things. Nevertheless, when you’ve obtained a racier bike that was initially constructed for stiffness, then a pair of boutique bamboo handlebars isn’t the craziest factor on this planet–particularly when you’re going for class over most power. As for me, I’m subjecting it to loads of roots and rocks, and it in all probability would have been silly to truly purchase this bar for this bike, however I doubt I’m pushing them too far previous what they’re capable of deal with.

At this level in my life it’s my physique that’s the limiting issue.