So, what do I think about the Wilde Bicycle Co. X Country Bar? The bar I introduced on Saturday here? Well, it is a different ride feel for sure and it rides better than a lot of MTB bars I have tried.
So that's a good thing. But what does that mean. Well.... That's the hard part. See, you cannot just say that it is "this or that" because you don't notice a lot going on here. (I'll come back to that point, so keep that in mind)
Of course, if you set any handle bar up in a goofy, inconsiderate way, it will feel awful, and the X Country Bar is no exception. However; I actually did consider how I wanted the up-sweep and how I wanted the stem height as I installed the bar. I considered the brake lever angle and set that up the way I generally prefer things. I angled and inset the Paul Thumbie mounts "just so". I am particular about thumb shifter set up because I don't generally use my thumbs to move the levers. I use my fingers and the back side of my hand far more than I use my thumbs. That's from years of thumb shifter usage back in the 90's.
So, if I considered all those things, and I got that even close to "right" for me, then the handle bar would be a LOT more friendly and enjoyable. And the X Country Bar was just that. Fortunately there is a lot of space to set the controls just the way you might consider setting them up, so that's also very nice.
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| The X Country Bar definitely has plenty of "wing span". |
The 800mm width is plenty wide for my tastes. I really don't think I'd want wider bars, and at times I choked up on the grips a bit and thought that I maybe could do with about 20mm less width. But since this is a test of the entire bar, I decided to use the entire bar. By the way, there are no cut down marks on the X Country Bar and Wilde doesn't say you can cut them down. Another reason I left well enough alone. I do need to ask about that though..... UPDATED: Jeffrey Frane says about cutting the bars down: " You can cut them down. Though I can’t say how far off the top of my head." So, I guess I'll leave the bars as they are for now!
See, the thing is that our single track zips along and goes through some pretty tight spaces between trees at times. Ever smacked the end of your handle bar on a tree? It isn't an advisable thing to do, by the way. Been there, done that!
So there were a few times I tried to think "skinny", set my sights dead center, and held on tight. So far, I have not encountered any 799mm or less spaces. But I bet it was close a couple of times! Just another reason that, for me, I might want a slightly narrower bar. You? That's for you to decide.
So besides thinking about how wide these handle bars are from time to time, I didn't think about these handle bars much. Yeah, I realize that I am supposed to be paying attention. It was just that I was ripping corners and honking up short steeps and, you know, generally having myself a bit of fun. Like you are supposed to do when riding single track.
I guess I didn't really think much about the bars and how they felt until I stopped briefly and leaned on the bars a minute. "Hmm.... These do have a bit of 'give' to them, don't they?" And that's when I noted that I hadn't felt that dreaded "zing" in the palms of my hands when your front tire hits a trail feature, like an embedded rock, suddenly. Remember, this is a rigid fork. So, yeah. That was very nice!
The bars didn't feel dead, but they weren't giving me fits in corners or on climbs when I was leveraging the bars for some added "grunt". So again, very nice!
What I didn't notice and all that was "very nice" added up to a positive experience with the Wilde X Country Bar. I'd go so far to say it has been a pretty "moto" component so far. And you know what they say about components that ain't moto.
Stay tuned for some gravel travel experiences with the X Country Bar.
7 comments:
Hi Mark, I too consider 800mm to be fair too wide for trail riding. I stick with 760mm carbon Race Face bars on all my mtbs. If I was riding open hillsides, potentially I can see the benefit of going wider but generally? No.
One other point - your On one was never intended for the kind of leverage forces a 800mm bar can generate. I found this with my old 26" Orange Five - at some point modern stuff doesn't really work because the bike as a system gets out of whack.
Hi GT. I think the name of the product is simply "Country Bar". The "X" is used to denote the collaboration between Jeff at Wilde and Nitto so you will see it listed as the Wilde X Nitto Country Bar. However, I don't think Jeff intended for the product to be referred to as the "X Country Bar".
@MuddyMatt - I'm not exerting all that much force on this bar, actually. This is some pretty tame single track, compared to what I've seen from the UK at any rate, and again, the bar is not rated for "enduro", whatever that actually means. I take it to mean that casual single track usage is "okay", and I think the 29"er Inbred is quite up to that challenge. I know I've pushed this very bike a LOT harder in the past, and it had a life without me running single track in Colorado and Kansas as well before I got it back again.
I don't fear for the Inbred. As well, how it handles is actually pretty good with this handle bar, so there is that to consider as well. And I'm going gravel riding with this set up next, so this all will be in the rear view mirror soon enough.
@Scott - You say, "I think the name of the product is..." I figured why not ask at the source? I don't like "I think" statements. So, let's find out for sure. I have a question in to Jeffrey.
Stay tuned.....
@Scott - And here is Jeffrey Frane's answer:
"The full title is Wilde X Nitto Country Bar., indicating this is a team effort between Nitto and Wilde. In conversation we just call them the Country Bar, as the first part is just a descriptor of manufacturer."
So, that's settled then.
GT,
Nice review so far.
Couple of questions,
Because the bars angle back quite a bit, did you have to run a longer stem? And with the larger sweep, has this had a positive or negative affect on handling?
From the pictures, it almost appears that where you hands rest on the bars would put you hands inline with the steering axis or perhaps behind.
Looks like a good bar! I've been using the new Whisky Scully bar a few weeks and I'm loving it. It has similar sweep to the Wilde bar.
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