# Bars?????????



## PMK (Oct 12, 2004)

Following the rules of the stoker is never wrong, and their comfort is paramount, what handlebar setups are you folks riding.

Riser or flat, and kind of important how wide?

Thanks
PK


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## Trails4Two (May 12, 2008)

*Stoker Bars*

We are using a basic flat bar (6 degree bend, I think) with Cane creek Ergo bar ends. We chose to keep the stoker controls similar to her single bike: My lovely bride prefers a narrow bar, so I'm glad about the bar end choice since they are somewhat padded and don't hurt me as much when I shift around poorly. You should also give thought to what grips should be used. In our case the stoker has a very texture sensitive personality so the grips need to be just right. Most tandems allow you to easily adjust the height of the stoker bars, so you could play with that. We raised hers up during pregnant riding, and she found she likes that enough to keep it afterwards.

Have there been any comfort/control complaints from your stoker?


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## TandemNut (Mar 12, 2004)

We prefer a wider captain's bar, both because I'm much wider in the shoulders than Kim, and because it's easier to clear her bars around trees if they're shorter.
We have Ergon grips on our regular tandems, and singles. They have made a huge difference in comfort; I highly recommend them.


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## bbudell (Jun 10, 2005)

*Wide Riser front, flat light and narrow in back*

We run a 660mm wide carbon riser bar for the captian. This has been just wide enough to make it inbetween trees but at the same time give a lot of leverage.

For the stoker we run a really light carbon flat bar as narrow as my stoker will allow me to get it (20-21" max). I find that if the stoker bars are only about an inch or so wider than my hips I can cut corners a lot tighter before nailing the stoker bars. Normally I have a pretty good sense of where my hips are in reference to trees on the inside of corners and can use that to know if I need to change the lean angle of the bike to clear the stoker bars.

Front and rear we are running cork ribbon. I converted over from grips about a year ago and have no plans of going back. Cork ribbon is far lighter (25g vs around 120g for grips per bar), doesn't loosen when wet and can be customized so you can add cushioning in the right places without adding bulk. I run a double layer up front because I have large hands and for the stoker I use a strip down the length of the bar and a single layer over it to keep the cushioning but decrease the grip diameter in the back. For the stoker bar I tape from the ends all the way to the buldge in the center so there are a variety of places to hang on.


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## TandemNut (Mar 12, 2004)

Can you post some pictures of that cork ribbon setup?
Thanks


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## DaleTR (Apr 6, 2007)

*Stoker Bars*

Profile Design "stoker" bar (I believe it's a road stoker bar setup....)
It's like a Aero/TT cow horn bar, ends up like having built in bar ends. Have the ends trimmed to a couple of inches long for the hand positions but keep them out of the Capitan's hips. Width sized for the Stokers shoulder width as normal, which in our case works out pretty narrow. Cork tape wrapped as well.

Got the bike with that bar on it, was a bit skeptical, but the stoker here is very happy with them.


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## bbudell (Jun 10, 2005)

*tape job*








I swapped out our usual stoker bar/stem for the Lumberjack 100 this weekend to go with a slightly longer stoker compartment so the picture attached isn't the exact setup described in my previous post but the tape job is similar.

That said, there is not a lot to see once the wrap job is done. Under the tape that you can see, there is a strip of bar tape running the length of the grip area so there is a double layer under the palms of the stoker. Comments back from the different stokers I have had have been very positive and everyone has thought it was better than normal grips because of the ability to hang on in so many places. This last weekend it was really nice for my stoker because I was not as precise with some of my corners later in the race and he could move his hands to the in-board position when he knew some tight stuff was coming. I tapped trees with the stoker bars at least three times over the last 50 miles and it saved his hands a lot of abuse!


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## Alumni (Mar 2, 2007)

Groooovy Luuuuuuv Handles!

Da Best!


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## SteveF (Mar 5, 2004)

Annie needs a pretty upright position due to shoulder issues. (tendon damage from years of violin playing) She also prefers a position with the hands straight (palms facing inward) as opposed to a flat bar with palms facing down. We tried quite a few bars until we got a Nitto Promenade. Had to trim a couple of inches from the ends so she could get in and out of the stoker cockpit, but she finds this the best bar so far. The curve is comfortable too if she wants to stretch out a little more. Bar is here:

http://www.benscycle.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=553


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## PMK (Oct 12, 2004)

Here's the handlebar comment for the week...

Wife and I rode our 1/2 bikes last night. Trail we've ridden 100's of times.

Leaving the parking area the wife says, "my bike doesn't feel right". I ask "what's wrong?" Reply "the handlebars feel loose." But I know they are tight, " I reply this bike you have to steer". And her comment "oh yeah, how long has it been since I rode this bike."

Leaving the trail after our ride, she says, "I need to ride this bike too so I don't lose my technical skills" which I agreed with.

Got home, changed clothes, grabbed a bike lock and rode the tandem to have dinner.

She still plans to ride the 1/2 bike more, but admitted she really loves the tandem and our adventures on it.

As for the bars I settled on, I didn't break the bank, picked up Easton EA50 downhill bars, 2"ish rise in front, 1"ish rise for stoker. I did trim them down to a comfortable width, 25.5" front, 22.5" rear. And yes the bars are tight and don't wiggle.

PK


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## winbert (Sep 22, 2005)

bbudell said:


> I swapped out our usual stoker bar/stem for the Lumberjack 100 this weekend... I tapped trees with the stoker bars at least three times over the last 50 miles and it saved his hands a lot of abuse!


I just had to chime in here and give bbudell "mad props" for doing Lumberjack on a tandem :crazy:, and apparently finishing!! :band:

For any that aren't familiar, www.lumberjack100.com. My bro-in-law & I race Iceman on my Cannondale tandem, and talked about trying Lumberjack. We thought the only way possible would be to alternate captaining since neither of us think we're man enough to drive that beast for 100 miles...

winbert


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## TandemNut (Mar 12, 2004)

We've had good luck with Mary bars:


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## Speedub.Nate (Dec 31, 2003)

BigNut said:


> We've had good luck with Mary bars:


I'm undecided on the Marys.

They're nearly as wide as my bars up front, and cutting them down doesn't have as drastic an impact as with regular bars. If I shorten them by two inches, I only net 1.5" in reduced width, but I also move my stoker's reach forward by that same amount.

I'd like something similar to the Mary, with a similar amount of rise, but witout the initial forward bend or the "elbows."

Got any suggestions?


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## itsdoable (Jan 6, 2004)

Speedub.Nate said:


> I'd like something similar to the Mary, with a similar amount of rise, but witout the initial forward bend or the "elbows."
> 
> Got any suggestions?


MisfitPsycles FU bar (635mm)
MisfitPsycles FU2 bar (600mm)

I have a FU bar (on a non-tandem), and I find the lack of forward sweep puts the hand far back from the stem clamp, so you need a longer stem (like with the Jones H-bar). But that just may be the ticket on a stoker cockpit...


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## Speedub.Nate (Dec 31, 2003)

Great, that may fit the bill!

Then I can transfer the Mary over to her HiFi.


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