A 4130 steel mountain bike handlebar. Modern geometry, classically constructed.
A versatile bar with fillet brazed or TIG welded construction, optimized to fit a wide range of people.
With bends placed as close together as possible, the bar could be sold at a width sufficient for larger riders, and smaller riders could cut the ends of the bar shorter while retaining enough room for grips etc.
Fillet brazed bars, ready to be cleaned, sanded smooth, and powder coated (top right).
Two friends, Jordyn (left, 5’0 tall) and Devin (right, 6’4 tall) provided valuable feedback on the handlebar geometry, resulting in a bar with the greatest range of widths possible compared to other steel handlebars of this style.
The key to making the bar fit the widest range of people was to minimize the Bend section and maximize the Grip area (blue text, left). This way, smaller riders could cut the grip area shorter, resulting in a narrower bar that still had enough room for grips and accessories.
Getting the inner & outer bends as close as possible, and still providing the contact area needed for the bender clamping die and bicycle stem clamp proved the main challenge. In order to do this, I machined a clamping die with a smaller clamping area, and relief for the previous bend in the bar (Below, top left).
As an add-on item, we offered shims that enabled mounting accessories to the crossbar, making the most of valuable handlebar space (below left). To date, I’ve built around 70 of these handlebars for customers throughout the U.S. , and a few for Circles bike shop, a Forager dealer in Japan.
