Origin 8 Gary Sweep OS Bar: First Impressions

Mounted up and ready to ride on the Salsa Cycles Vaya

Tuesday I introduced the Origin 8 Gary Sweep OS Bar to you readers. Yesterday I got around to mounting everything up with some new to me Gevenalle GX levers/shifters and all that on my older Salsa Cycles Vaya. (More on the Gevenalle GX shifters on RidingGravel.com soon.)

This post will focus on the Origin 8 bar. Specs can be found in my previous post HERE.

Mounting up the bar was easy. I didn't have any issues finding the "sweet spot" for the levers to sit at. One thing I will say is that I have become spoiled by those bars, (like the Cowbell), that have graduations on each drop to better align the levers. That said, it wasn't too tough to figure it out. I did notice that due to the tight radius from the tops to the hooks, getting the brake cable to lay up on the bar the way I wanted created a bit tighter curve than I'd like, but this is not much different from the Woodchipper, which also features this issue.

From the saddle.

Getting a slight downward tilt to the extensions resulted in a bit more downward tilt to the long ramps than maybe I'd like, but since I spend most of my time in the drops, this isn't too big of a concern. The more "open radius" to the hooks causes this. The Woodchipper is "radical" in this way so that if you set the ramps up level, the extensions almost point down to the bottom bracket. For my tastes, this makes the extensions unusable. While the Luxy Bar has a more symmetrical radius to the hooks, and makes everything line up really well, the Gary Sweep isn't quite that way. Still, it strikes a middle ground and it is far better than the Woodchipper in this regard.

Reaching the brake lever from the drops is easy. That is definitely important! The extensions are nice and long. Once again- if you think they are too long, saw them off shorter. It is rather difficult to "go the other way" and add length! So, I am happy to see that the Gary Sweep accommodates both short and long extension camps. The levers certainly lean in, but not really too much- certainly not as much as the Luxy Bar would make them lean inward. I think this leaves the hoods as a very useable and comfortable perch for your hands.

The tops, which are very reminiscent of the Woodchipper's tops, are wide and provide a good place for the hands wile grinding out a long grade, or for simply just cruising to relieve your back a bit, if necessary. Once again, not having a wide, 31.8mm section makes for awkward accessory positioning. In fact, from just about where I stopped taping to about 3/4's of an inch away from the face plate is tapered, which makes secure mounting of things like a computer, lights, or aerobars nigh unto impossible. This is the only major oversight I have found with the Gary Sweep OS so far.

Initial test riding revealed a compliant nature and a good chance that these will satisfy in the ergonomic department. I'd like to put in several hours on this before I make any judgments on that though.

Note: The Gary Sweep OS Bars were purchased with my own moolah and these opinions and viewpoints are mine alone. I am not being compensated for any of this. So there......