Been trying out a set of Jones H-Bars (bought 'cheap-ish' off here, I'm not made of money!) on my 'new' SS bike. First real test was on the weekend, riding around the Surrey Hills. Found them pretty good, I'm quite liking the multiple hand positions available and they do seem quite suited to the SS lark (though their width caught me out on BKB when I lost focus for a split second and clipped a tree, resulting in a decent off!)

However, I did find myself struggling on descents etc where I needed to be on the brakes frequently, I just couldn't get comfortable with where my levers were… have tried adjusting them around etc, but still not happy with it. Brakes are Formula Oro's (Biancos to be precise), I'm finding the lever is just a little out of reach of my index finger, regardless of where I put it… shall keep experimenting I guess!?

How are other folks running their H-bars? That is: what brakes are you using? What angle do you run them at off the bars? What angle do you have your bars at in the first place?

Any tips for a newbie to the wonderful world of weird shaped handlebars?

cheers chaps 🙂

You need to point the rear of the bar towards your rear axle.
Brake levers should just be in line with where your fingers are if you point them forwards in a normal riding position.

Brake levers should just be in line with where your fingers are if you point them forwards in a normal riding position.

Good advice for any handlebar IMO.

Sorry for the hijack but what size is your jones stu? and how tall are you?

It's a 23" top tube and I'm 6'.

Tangent (sometimes here, but usually on Retrobike) should have something to say.

Just seen a picture of your setup on another thread.

You need to angle your levers up quite a bit by the look of it.

Set up the way you have them must be good for braking while standing on a steep climb though. 😉

cheers SSS, I'll get the allen keys out and sort it! I'll try to mirror your setup, looks sensible to me 🙂