crankholio

Thinking of going from drops to a moustache bar. Looking for recommendations that are compatible with standard road levers and bar end shifters, preferably with a 31.8 clamp diameter at the stem, but I can swap stems to 25.4 if needed. Thanks.

tspoon

I have two copies, but both were cheap, no-name models off ebay. These ones typically fit road levers but do not fit bar end shifters. I ended up buying a correctly sized reamer from aliexpress and enlarging the I.D of the bar end the small amount needed to fit the shifters. I can't advise about the more expensive options unfortunately, and also haven't seen any with a larger than 25.6 clamp area. At the end of the day, I definitely recommend moustache bars over any other type, so it's worth it even if you have to resort to slightly unconventional methods to get what you want.

Rage

I’m running a Soma sparrow on an old Bridgestone touring bike and liking it so much I want to get another for one of my fixies.

waddo

My wife switched her LHT to mustachio bars. The main reason was, nothing needed replacing. They are, after all, just drop bars that are stretched out. She is extremely happy with them and now her problems braking from the hoods are history.

crankholio

I remember looking at the Soma Sparrow and liking the shape, but it had a 22mm grip diameter, which I thought was too narrow for road levers. Thought it needed to be 23.8 or 24.

fietsbob

Nitto is the one to find, on Ebay now , Rivendale bike bike sold them, now they sell the Albastashe . though out of stock today. ..
handle bar shims match 1", or 26mm bars in 31.8 stems..

crankholio

Looked them up on eBay and bought them. They look perfect.

Rage

Now that you mention it, I actually had to use shims to get the levers just right. Forgot all about that until you brought it up.

Those Nittos look great btw! Maybe I’ll give those a shot next.

Rage

...think I originally went with the Soma bar because of the price. I didn’t want to spend too much in case I didn’t like ‘em and they were on sale for half off or something like that lol.

ShannonM

As mentioned, there are versions for MTB levers and ones for road levers. There are also several different moustache bends. The 31.8 clamp is going to limit your options a lot, I think.

Some people's hands hate 'em. Mine did, from the very first ride. Hurt my palms somethin' awful, and it never got much better no matter how I played with them. I think that maybe people who really don't like drop bars are more likely to get along with moustache bars. If you really don't like straight, flat bars, you are maybe more likely to dislike them.

Almost everyone I know who's tried them had a strong opinion about them after the first ride, and those opinions rarely changed. The distribution was something like 40/50/10 - love / hate / meh. The upside of this is that there are a lot of barely-used moustache bars out there, so trying them can be pretty cheap.

--Shannon

tspoon

I wrap the bejesus out of mine, 3-4 layers of cork tape. The front curve ends up being a very nice place to rest your hand bending forward, and the forward/rear flat part, with a nice rising attitude on it, is hand-heaven. Having said that, mine are also turned upside down, and are now a riser bar.

teacherlady

When I went back to riding after many years off the bike, I tried mustache bars as I was transitioning from a hybrid to a touring bike. I thought I didn't have the flexibility for drop bars, but wanted more bike than I could get on a hybrid.

I loved mustache bars at first, but when I started doing longer rides, I found that they were just too wide for me. I started having severe elbow pain after just 15 or 20 miles. For reference I'm very happy on 40 cm shallow drop bars.

Bodies are different. You may have no problem with mustache bars. But try them before you invest too much in the transition.

mattia76

I just picked up a 1992 Bridgestone RB-T a couple of weeks ago. I have a Rivendell Sam Hillborne, and a 1983 Specialized Expedition, both set up with Albatross bars, since I despise drops.
I didn’t want this RBT to feel the same and I envisioned it as a bike that I would not load down as much as I might the other two. So, I decided to go the way of the Moustache.
It’s pretty perfect when paired with a Nitto Dirt Drop stem. I also like the dummy levers, which lead me to believe this particular set of Moustache Bars may have come from a 1993 XO-1.
In any case, I LOVE the way this bike feels. Enough that I’ve been neglecting my Samwise Hillborne.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/182771520@N04/Uu68HD

harrier

I put Midge bars on my PX-10 when I ran it as a single speed: