Tag: handlebar

Two-tone Bar Tape

Made a two-tone handlebar tape. Also increases road visibility, slightly.

Fizik tape went on sale so decided to update handlebar tape. Have also been feeling stressed on the road as cars zoom past, sometimes cautiously yielding and sometimes trying to get to the stop light first. Ergo, some orange (on the left) made sense.

Unraveled and measured the correct bond point to ensure the orange covered the bottom portion of the bars. Going to reuse the top portion of the old tape.

Mark the orange tape for a smooth meeting place.

Lined up with some wax paper on the back to help the tape slide smoothly on the dogs. Went with a double overlock stitch with #2 spacing.

Yes, the bottom is wound the wrong way, but the top of the bar is not. Sometimes I prefer the clean look sans electrical tape and this is the only way. It’ll never unravel.

A clean ending.

Statistically improving safety on the road by a non-zero amount.

EXS Aerover Carbon Handlebar

Aer[O]ver EXS Integrated Carbon Handlebars

Bought these bars used. They matched the current setup, albeit a slightly different stem angle. Very first impressions was a noticeable amount of stiffness when rocking back and forth, seated and standing. This alone made the purchase worthwhile. Even though I still say, WTF are there no aftermarket integrated bars with a more flat, 17 degree stem angle?

A reduced CdA

The Aer(O?)ver bar specs. I feel fine that there is no flare.

The stem is beefy

A flat-rise stem and a stem shape that is more round to match the rest of the bike would be preferred.

Plan view is nice

The cable integration is fine and functional. No off-the-shelf spacers are available to match the headset. What is not pictured: the cable routing was quite easy. No strings, vacuums, or fancy magnet work were needed. The entry holes were in the right place and large enough to make routing and pulling cables through easy business.

One critical aspect of the handlebars that can be improved is the top cap. It is shaped to match the bar shape nicely but it is too thin. It cannot handle the compressive stress of the bolt to preload the headset bearings. Even a slight compression of the bolt causes flexure. The handlebars were installed with a standard round top cap to get the preload and the proprietary top cap was installed after everything was tightened into place.