I’m naturally a drop bars person, but like to have flat bars on my “other bike” for various reasons, and over the past year or two have tried oodles of variations (not butterfly, as it happens) in an effort to get the balance of comfort and power that I seek (long boring thread elsewhere here!).
Most recently, I got interested in the Jones Loop Bars, but looking at the price I decided to try On-One Geoff first.
Personal findings so far:
- On-one Geoff was very stiff, and surprisingly heavy, but the swept-back business and multiple hand positions showed definite promise, but suggested a need for a higher stem/steerer than I had, to get the best out of it. Very cheap experiment, given the low price of the bars.
- On the strength of the potential shown by the above, I bit the bullet and bought the (not at all cheap!) Jones Bars in the 2.5” riser version, butted aluminium. They are lighter (I think), subtly better-shaped, less hard on the hands/thumbs, and the rise made them roughly right without the need for extended steerer or madly rising stem. Still tinkering about, but I’ve now managed to get them so that I can go >2hrs without incipient aches and pains, which is the first time I’ve ever managed that on anything other than drops (which I can go all day on).
The key seems to be getting the slope of the bar right , the height of the lower part of the bar a smidge below seat level, and the stem-length right (I’ve come right down to 60mm, but that will depend on rider and frame). Even tiny variations in setting seem to change the whole feel and destroy comfort, so be prepared to persist/experiment.
Also, be prepared to swivel your knee out on tight bends if you are used to bars that don’t sweep back into the leg zone.
The other thought is that they are designed for Jones’s own frames, which have short effective top tubes by MTB standards, so might not work on a more typical modern MTB, or any other bike with long effective top tube (mine hasn’t). I also have an inkling that they’d probably feel even better, almost like a steering wheel, on a bike with a very slack head-tube (which mine hasn’t).
Please try to ignore the giant psychedelic snail.
PS: if you want the On-One Geoff to try, you can have them for £10+P&P, and I’ve got a set of Ergotec Aerowing, barely used, that I’m sure we could come to a deal over too (nice sweep, and can be set with a nice slope, but found them to be effectively a “one hand position” bar).
