This post is inspired by Adam Prosise. I had posted an image of the new AR handlebars to social media.
Adam loves to give me shit. Generally, it’s all fair. I enjoy a worthy adversary and Adam is one of the best. Still, sometimes I worry that the real motivation is more sinister than ‘just asking questions’…
Adam commented, “I’d like to hear the cost/benefit analysis of all of this vs an extremely simple weldment that will be much lighter and have better ride/flex characteristics. And I don’t want to hear any complacement (?) warrior click and ship BS.”
Dam. I love Adam but I hate this kind of comment. Have I investigated options? Fuck. Few in the cycling world go to the lengths that I do and Adam knows that. Have I REALLY looked at my choices?!? Here we go, and it ends with a challenge for Adam.
Integrated bars and stems are one of the most difficult designs to do on a custom bike. Aside from the aesthetic and structural needs of the handlebars, the fit has to be absolutely spot on given that this is a one-shot with $300 in materials and more in time. I don’t know of anyone else working with a system that can produce this level of fit.
Examples of ‘integrated bars’ are for sale by various companies but even a cursory look at the geometry will show that they are merely the singular embodiment of a commodity bar and stem. There is little value in these especially that fit tuning is eliminated. Who thought this would be wise?
Fully steel fabricated bars aren’t a choice that I’m willing to make. They ride so terribly that I end up with a shit bike for shitty reasons. That’s not what I do. I could do a fully fabricated titanium handlebar set, and a real argument could be made for that but I’ve been trying to stay away from titanium in general.
Because of the chassis geometry that I use, I cannot use commodity handlebars. I must fabricate my own.
Below are two of the more recent bars that were fabricated for the X-Wing Starfighter MTB and the M2-F2 AR. The different geometries off the bikes forces different fabrication methods. The Starfighter bars are probably what Adam want’s me to use here.
The new Corsair bars are what I’m calling a MID bar. It’s not low like a MTB nor high like the ‘traditional’ AR. It’s in the middle and that creates some problems.
Here are some of the requirements for a handlebar:
- Construction must be such that no compromises are made to any geometry of the bike and the design can be used in other similar geometries.
- The bar end should be as long as possible to allow for significant flex at the grips.
- The bar end should have ample space close to the steerer for aerodynamic hand positioning.
- The element that holds to the steerer must fit to an arbor on a Hardinge lathe (11″ Swing) for precision facing to headset.
- 1″ 4130 tube is on hand bent at 50 degrees. That can be used to hold the bar end.
- 0.875″ 4130 should not be used for the bar ends as the ride is too stiff and the bars bend in crashes if made light.
- Full adjustability of the binder along the steerer should be maintained.
- The bars must be of exceptional appearance to match the rest of the frame.
The geometry for the new bars is below:
To be fair, I was worried that I was playing it too safe in my design that I had initially had this part as a weldment using a PMW binder lug. It was time to step up my game and print the whole part, skipping the additional steps and processes. Ideally, this will be a simpler part to process even though it will use a different method.
Here’s the challenge for Adam (or anyone else), show me your design that meets the requirements and the geometry. Better if a setup print accompanies the model. From the comments that I’ve read online, this should be super easy…. ok, go.
