Minus Ten Review 2009-28

Production prototype code name- "D-62", otherwise known as the Luxy Bar

Ten years ago on the blog I was finally able to reveal a drop bar designed for off road that I had been asked to make suggestions for. Brant Richards, then formerly of On One and running his own design firm dubbed "Shedfire", had sent me an email asking me "what would you do if you could design a dirt drop bar?", but he probably asked me in a more English way than that. I cannot remember now! The image I have today is courtesy of Brant and he sent along several others which I shared in a post here ten years ago.

What I saw was not what I was expecting, not at all! My idea was more closely related to what the Cowchipper ended up being. This bar, which ended up becoming called the "Luxy Bar", after some pub/bar Brant was familiar with somewhere, ended up being sold through the Ragley brand, which was connected to Chain Reaction Cycles UK.

It was heavily influenced by Sam Alison from Singular Cycles, who had the most input, as I understand it, as to the final form of the bar. What was finally decided upon remains the most radical, useful, and unique dirt drop bar ever released. Oh.......there have been weirder ones, but they were imminently unusable designs for one reason or another. No.....this one nailed so many things missing in dirt drops. The radical sweep is probably the number one thing here that separates the Luxy from all other flared drop bars. I liken this bar to how Jeff Jones might have designed a drop bar to be. Fair assessment or not, the swept extensions of the Luxy are very reminiscent of the Jones Bar.

The Luxy immediately made me think of all the failings of the Woodchipper. This was what the Woodchipper should have been. Usable extensions that kept your levers up and the brake levers reachable from the drops. No weird ramps and the bend of the drop was perfect. In fact, the Luxy had really minimal drop, which is another awesome feature of it. The final icing on the cake was the straight 31.8mm top section which, up until that time, I'd never seen before.

The total package was brilliant. I was very sad when the bar, after a run, maybe two, was no longer in production. If you missed the initial selling of the bar, you missed it. And despite some solid promises over the years, Brant hasn't been able to, or won't, bring it back again. Too bad. The Luxy is truly one of the classic flared drop bar designs. Nothing else comes close.