North road style bars for 8 year old.
04-25-22, 06:51 PM
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North road style bars for 8 year old.
Is there a north road style bar for an 8 year old girl about 55lb and fairly narrow shoulders?
Thank you.
Thank you.
04-26-22, 12:10 AM
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These Examples below are possibilities. All of these below are random EXAMPLES of specific known USED handlebars that should WORK WELL.
Notice that I specifically compiled a few different ones (differing widths, but still smaller than the typical norm of today)
These will give you a greater appreciation of what is available out there, unfortunately there aren't a great NEW today, smaller sizes as children's bikes haven't normally featured northroads bars since probably at least the Nixon Administration, if not the Johnson Administration.
Anyway, these random examples of a few different handlebars that are probably in the size range that you might want, will give you an idea of what to search around for.
Ancient steel handlebars are going to be perfectly useable even if 75 years old. You would want something nice looking and presentable from an appearance standpoint thus you would have zero issues with rust and/or metal fatigue due to corrosion that might impact structural integrity. You would have to have a huge amount of rust for old steel handlebars to be weakened enough to be structurally compromised.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/154929209449
https://www.ebay.com/itm/154960229360
https://www.ebay.com/itm/313655248920
https://www.ebay.com/itm/313655249975
https://www.ebay.com/itm/334416114098
https://www.ebay.com/itm/165357197683
https://www.ebay.com/itm/374035871017
Those are just a few random examples of different old (smaller size--Narrower NORTH ROADS style bars).
You should do your own search of the bay. I'm not necessarily endorsing the bay, but you get tape measurements in many listings there, and if you do find what you are looking for, usually you get the item swiftly within a week, as was pictured and described. Chasing down specific sized or ancient handlebars locally will cost you more in gasoline cost driving all over the city, searching junk piles, & co-ops. It helps if you know the names of long defunct popular ancient bicycles. Spend about an hour browsing through the c.a.b.e. (CLASSIC ANTIQUE BICYCLE EXCHANGE) forum will jog your memory of some ancient names. Then just search the bay, or perhaps post there asking if someone has something fitting the exact size & width range of what you are seeking. Some of those cabers have unbelievable junkyard piles of hundreds if not thousands of junk/parts bikes in barns and storage buildings that it is a wonder how some of them are still happily married. Some of those cabers seem to have gone crazy since that tv show with the idiots from Iowa that travel in van buying stuff (American Pickers) first aired about 15 years ago. They have seen some of the junk horders that the Pickers visited and then suddenly came to the realization that they needed more and more.
Look and see what might be available NEW today from WALD and what perhaps if anything that the major online bicycle shops & part suppliers offer in such a size.
Certainly spend some time searching the bay too because you likely will find something that you like that is nice in excellent condition and at perhaps better pricing that some of the random examples from the bay that are linked above. Happy searching! They are out there, you just gotta look and look...
Notice that I specifically compiled a few different ones (differing widths, but still smaller than the typical norm of today)
These will give you a greater appreciation of what is available out there, unfortunately there aren't a great NEW today, smaller sizes as children's bikes haven't normally featured northroads bars since probably at least the Nixon Administration, if not the Johnson Administration.
Anyway, these random examples of a few different handlebars that are probably in the size range that you might want, will give you an idea of what to search around for.
Ancient steel handlebars are going to be perfectly useable even if 75 years old. You would want something nice looking and presentable from an appearance standpoint thus you would have zero issues with rust and/or metal fatigue due to corrosion that might impact structural integrity. You would have to have a huge amount of rust for old steel handlebars to be weakened enough to be structurally compromised.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/154929209449
https://www.ebay.com/itm/154960229360
https://www.ebay.com/itm/313655248920
https://www.ebay.com/itm/313655249975
https://www.ebay.com/itm/334416114098
https://www.ebay.com/itm/165357197683
https://www.ebay.com/itm/374035871017
Those are just a few random examples of different old (smaller size--Narrower NORTH ROADS style bars).
You should do your own search of the bay. I'm not necessarily endorsing the bay, but you get tape measurements in many listings there, and if you do find what you are looking for, usually you get the item swiftly within a week, as was pictured and described. Chasing down specific sized or ancient handlebars locally will cost you more in gasoline cost driving all over the city, searching junk piles, & co-ops. It helps if you know the names of long defunct popular ancient bicycles. Spend about an hour browsing through the c.a.b.e. (CLASSIC ANTIQUE BICYCLE EXCHANGE) forum will jog your memory of some ancient names. Then just search the bay, or perhaps post there asking if someone has something fitting the exact size & width range of what you are seeking. Some of those cabers have unbelievable junkyard piles of hundreds if not thousands of junk/parts bikes in barns and storage buildings that it is a wonder how some of them are still happily married. Some of those cabers seem to have gone crazy since that tv show with the idiots from Iowa that travel in van buying stuff (American Pickers) first aired about 15 years ago. They have seen some of the junk horders that the Pickers visited and then suddenly came to the realization that they needed more and more.
Look and see what might be available NEW today from WALD and what perhaps if anything that the major online bicycle shops & part suppliers offer in such a size.
Certainly spend some time searching the bay too because you likely will find something that you like that is nice in excellent condition and at perhaps better pricing that some of the random examples from the bay that are linked above. Happy searching! They are out there, you just gotta look and look...
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04-26-22, 09:25 AM
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Velo Orange makes several bars that might fit the bill. To my knowledge, they are all narrower than a North Roads.
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04-26-22, 03:02 PM
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As Rolla pointed out, the VELO ORANGE handlebars are great handlebars, BUT if you see the specifics concerning WIDTH, you will see that ONLY two of the VELO ORANGE handlebars that ROLLA highlighted above in the chart that are even close to the small width of several of the ancient narrow North Roads handlebars.
This is why that you may wish to investigate the very ancient handlebar offerings too.
The ONLY two VELO ORANGE on Rolla's chart that are even close to the small width of the ancient ones are HB-0017 "PORTEUR HANDLEBAR" 18.898 inches wide, and
"Porteur NOIR" which has same width AND the HB-0018 "LEFT BANK" handlebar which is 19.291 inches wide.
So other than those two which are 48 cm wide(18.898 inches wide) and 49cm wide(19.291 inches wide) , there is NOTHING ELSE THERE ON Rolla's Chart Above depicting VELO ORANGE handlebars which are narrow, as all of the remaining handlebars (TOURIST, MILAN, & POSTINO) are WIDE at 57cm width(22.4 inches wide).
Heck, 570mm or 22.4 inches WIDE is almost exactly the same as SCHWINN's great, model 7881 handlebars(produced from 1967 to about 1977) and considered WIDE!!!
The '67 Breeze featured the 7881 bars as did the seventies era SUBURBANS, COLLEGIATES ....
The 7881 handlebars are in my opinion the finest shape and design of any North Roads type tourist handlebars ever produced then or now. They are great but they are wide. The VELO ORANGE Tourist handlebar, is fantastic too and very Schwinn like, but at 570mm or 57cm wide = 22.4 inches wide, it is nearly identical in width to the 7881 Schwinn handlebars in width, so you'd say that would be wide. The VELO ORANGE Milan handlebar is great and the VELO ORANGE Postino handlebar is great, but both of them are also 57cm (570mm) or 22.4 INCHES WIDE.
Velo Orange makes among the best shape designs of these few classic bar styles. Somehow, VELO has brought to market very popular shapes that have been well thought out from a comfort and most practical rider's hand position standpoint. Obviously the VELO folks studied probably hundreds of different classic ancient examples.
One thing that is certain, is that the VELO ORANGE folks have probably done a better job than anyone else today with these old style handlebars. None of their offerings stink, all of them are superb. It shows that somebody there at Velo Orange is really on the ball. It would be cool if they could perhaps add a narrow north roads tourist style in the ~ 18 to 19 inch width like some of those really ancient random examples that I located on the bay in the earlier post. Like I said, Schwinn, Wald and other long defunct 20th Century bicycle makers once produced many such examples circa mid century but the banana seat hi-rise craze of the sixties did eventually filter down to younger girls bikes too. The conservative, old style traditional tourist/north roads style handlebars were never really seen again on kids bikes because kids instinctively know what is in style (popular) and what is not. Sometimes what was old, becomes interesting and "new" ... Typically that is not how "CYCLING" as sport enthusiasts relate to it, evolves but for the more laid back slow spokes who enjoy riding upright tourist style , classic can be good if it works well enough and is durable and practical at the same time. No matter how you choose to ride, the number one rule is to have fun doing it. If you aren't having fun, you are doing it all wrong. See rule number one.
This is why that you may wish to investigate the very ancient handlebar offerings too.
The ONLY two VELO ORANGE on Rolla's chart that are even close to the small width of the ancient ones are HB-0017 "PORTEUR HANDLEBAR" 18.898 inches wide, and
"Porteur NOIR" which has same width AND the HB-0018 "LEFT BANK" handlebar which is 19.291 inches wide.
So other than those two which are 48 cm wide(18.898 inches wide) and 49cm wide(19.291 inches wide) , there is NOTHING ELSE THERE ON Rolla's Chart Above depicting VELO ORANGE handlebars which are narrow, as all of the remaining handlebars (TOURIST, MILAN, & POSTINO) are WIDE at 57cm width(22.4 inches wide).
Heck, 570mm or 22.4 inches WIDE is almost exactly the same as SCHWINN's great, model 7881 handlebars(produced from 1967 to about 1977) and considered WIDE!!!
The '67 Breeze featured the 7881 bars as did the seventies era SUBURBANS, COLLEGIATES ....
The 7881 handlebars are in my opinion the finest shape and design of any North Roads type tourist handlebars ever produced then or now. They are great but they are wide. The VELO ORANGE Tourist handlebar, is fantastic too and very Schwinn like, but at 570mm or 57cm wide = 22.4 inches wide, it is nearly identical in width to the 7881 Schwinn handlebars in width, so you'd say that would be wide. The VELO ORANGE Milan handlebar is great and the VELO ORANGE Postino handlebar is great, but both of them are also 57cm (570mm) or 22.4 INCHES WIDE.
Velo Orange makes among the best shape designs of these few classic bar styles. Somehow, VELO has brought to market very popular shapes that have been well thought out from a comfort and most practical rider's hand position standpoint. Obviously the VELO folks studied probably hundreds of different classic ancient examples.
One thing that is certain, is that the VELO ORANGE folks have probably done a better job than anyone else today with these old style handlebars. None of their offerings stink, all of them are superb. It shows that somebody there at Velo Orange is really on the ball. It would be cool if they could perhaps add a narrow north roads tourist style in the ~ 18 to 19 inch width like some of those really ancient random examples that I located on the bay in the earlier post. Like I said, Schwinn, Wald and other long defunct 20th Century bicycle makers once produced many such examples circa mid century but the banana seat hi-rise craze of the sixties did eventually filter down to younger girls bikes too. The conservative, old style traditional tourist/north roads style handlebars were never really seen again on kids bikes because kids instinctively know what is in style (popular) and what is not. Sometimes what was old, becomes interesting and "new" ... Typically that is not how "CYCLING" as sport enthusiasts relate to it, evolves but for the more laid back slow spokes who enjoy riding upright tourist style , classic can be good if it works well enough and is durable and practical at the same time. No matter how you choose to ride, the number one rule is to have fun doing it. If you aren't having fun, you are doing it all wrong. See rule number one.
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04-26-22, 03:19 PM
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05-27-22, 08:53 PM
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Thank you Vintage Schwinn
Ordered one of the bars you linked.
Finally installed it today. Kid rode around and said it fits her perfect.
The bike in question had the looks of a mountain bike but dimensions (like reach and BB drop) more like a 24” wheel beach cruiser.
But it came with a flat bar…
My next project will be making a cantilever style frame with flipped north roads and a 6 speed freewheel in the back for myself. Maybe pull the stem shifters from my wife’s step through EF schwinn.
Finally installed it today. Kid rode around and said it fits her perfect.
The bike in question had the looks of a mountain bike but dimensions (like reach and BB drop) more like a 24” wheel beach cruiser.
But it came with a flat bar…
My next project will be making a cantilever style frame with flipped north roads and a 6 speed freewheel in the back for myself. Maybe pull the stem shifters from my wife’s step through EF schwinn.
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