There seemed to be a rash of unusual handlebar designs a while back. I expected to see some on the unusual bike thread but none so far. Did they fall out of fashion or do people still use them?

sold some today……….
bought some stranger dearer ones last week……. 😯

Just for you WCA I posted a pic of mine.

http://bicycledesign.blogspot.com/2007/02/8-point-handlebars.html

ton are these your new dear bars? 😀

Cheers TJ

I guess you have been using them for a while. Do they make that much difference? I rode a bike with some around a car park and they just felt strange. Admittedly it wasn't a big carpark so didn't really get a feel for them.

What are the good and bad bits about them?

WCA – I just answered on the other thread 🙂

They are primarily for comfort for me – I get a lot of hand pain.

At the moderate speeds I manage they are fine for cornering – perhaps better than risers. they are poor for control in the air – your elbows tend to go in and down and get locked into your sides making controlling the attitude hard.

maybe you tend to shift your weight further back as well.

so for rambling by bike – great. for more technical stuff / jumping maybe not so great. They do take a bit of getting used to tho

I have put conventional risers on teh bike now – but am seriously considering getting another set of mary bars for it – I have the marys on my commuter now.

WCA, I've just taken a mary bar off my bike (had hoped it would make my tennis elbow go away – it did but then came back 🙁 )

you want to borrow it ?

scardy – thanks for the offer but no, my bike is lovely as it is. TJ describes pretty much what I found when I rode with them. I just wondered if I had missed a major benefit. If it helps with wrist pain that's good but mine are fine at the moment.

I use Marys on my commuter (singlespeed Rockhopper). Strangely I got a pair of gloves with ulnar nerve padding and these cause problems on my ulnar nerve as they don't seem to like the sweep.

I do love the Marys though, they make climbing far easier when you're out of gears but as before there are slight control issues elsewhere due to their positioning of your elbows. They take a bit to get used to but are worth it.