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Good morning oh gathered collective
I had a moment of enlightenment on my commute this morning and have decided it is time to upgrade the standard bars on my commuter, Genesis Day One Disc, now I run Marys on my Singlespeed, and I like the look of both the Mungo and the Midge, so can I get some real world feedback from people as to the running of them, and for a little background commute is approx. 9 miles each way (downhill on way in and uphill on way home) mix of road, bridleway and gravel path.
Thanks in advance and have a great Thursday all
Use and love midges, could never get comfy or brakes in a good position on mungos
I used Midge bars on my commuter for a couple of years and really liked them.
Swapped to Titec bars as I fancied the extra positions and maybe a way of packing stuff under the front bar area.
I felt that the swept back position was too far back so looked at the Mungos ,but I am now trying woodchippers which (so far) feel pretty good on mixed surfaces.
Alpkit's bars are currently on sale
Grab a Mungo to try now while waiting for Midges to come back into stock?
Any experience of the Alpkit bars
I am a fan of the company for their outdoor gear, never really thought about them for bike stuff
You tried your Mary upside down? Can work very well as another option 🙂
I run Mungos on my CX thing and quite like them. Got slated for them on another thread and just couldn't be bothered arguing back 🙂 ......
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/drop-bars-off-road-rubbish-braking-options
The "on the hoods" position isn't like drop bars - your fingers rest on the hoods but all the weight / heel of the hands rests on the bars.
Got some silver ones for sale £15 posted, email in profile. Swapped to Salsa Cowbells a while back.
mick r
how do you get on with that set up, and what is braking like?
I tend to ride more on the hoods than the drops ill be honest, but im looking for more hand positions which is why i was looking at the Mungos/Midge
Do you have big hands? I found the drops on the midge were too small, and ended up with my palms resting on the end of the bar, which wasn't comfortable at all.
I find the Mungos a surprisingly good half way option between drops and flats.
Hands out in the cruck of the curve is probably the most comfortable place. Riding there is for when I'd normally ride the hoods on a drop bar, but with a much more natural wrist angle, great braking and very secure grip (the cruck stops hands getting bounced off). You also have a couple of small position variations either side which are good for resting hands / change of grip / climbing etc.
The position with fingers on the hoods / heel of hand on the bar is a more aero tuck but still with lots of control and brake access - I find myself using it a lot on the road. You don't put much load on the brake hoods (if you really tried to lever on them they would spin on the bars anyway).
To counter some of the comments in the other thread - It gives more positions than a flat bar. Also a flat on a frame designed for drops would need a huge stem, and because of the different grip, to get the same outboard hand position of the 54cm Mungos would need a flat bar over 60cm wide (so I'm less likely to get tangled with other riders in a crowded CX start frenzy).
Thanks Mick
I think that that just about sums up what I'm looking for in a set of bars for commuting purposes, so I'll pop an order in and hope to have a set arrive by the time I get back from a jaunt to Southern Ireland next week
cheers mate
ratcatcher - Member
Use and love midges, could never get comfy or brakes in a good position on mungos
My experience too.
However I bought a set of reverse levers for the Mungo. I've trial fitted them to the bike and they feel that they would work well with the right length stem, and until I've done that I can't say much more.
+1 on the big hands / midge comment.
I just could not get on with them at all - got Salsa wood chippers now.
EDIT - I am curious about maybe using Mary bars + MTB brake levers though