Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Just given these a good work out on my last tour in Japan.
Good things: Swept back position is comfortable. Plenty of width. Lots of bar space. Felt comfortable enough I didn't feel the need to move my hands all the time.
Bad things: Front bars are effectively useless unless you have the normal bars really close to you. I had a 60mm stem and they were still a long stretch away. I reckon they have them mounted the wrong way, the short angled bit should come off the bar and the long bit be angled up to create an aero position. As it is, the angled up bits are too short to hang on to and the flat bits put your wrists at a weird angle. The angled bits may be OK if you have a long torso, but they are short as mentioned anyway. I may yet get my welder make to swap the extensions around so they are closer to me. He has the skills to heat treat the aluminium.

I used Ergon GC1 Grips, they are excellent! Perfect for swept back bars.

G'day Trev,

I reckon like your Rohloff, sometimes these things take a little time to get used to and feel any appreciation or comfort with.

Took me quite a while to get over the noise of my Hoff, especially the coasting in the eight plus gears where the clicking seemed embarrassingly loud.

I'm not sure if its quieter at all but I barely notice it these days.

My 29er wheels seemed impossibly ponderous and heavy when I started riding the Ogre after many years on 20" (406) hoops.
Now its second nature.

Likewise my Jones bar also took some time to find out just where my hands felt best.
Now I wouldn't want anything else for this bike.

My thoughts on the matter is don't panic and give it time to get used to.

I call the Rohloff the equaliser. Slows me down so I don't have stop all the time and wait for my partner. The swept back bars meant I didn't really need any other hand positions. Maybe I lucked in, but the grips just seemed to be where my hands would naturally fall.