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| The now rare, unusual Luxy Bar as shown in 2012. |
I remarked to Mr. Roll that this handlebar is just what is in vogue now with the Pro riders - Narrow at the hoods, canted in levers, and wide at the drops. Could this be the coolest aero bar of them all, given what "The Rules" are now days?
I find it sort of an ironic situation. That is because when the Luxy Bar came out, almost 15 years ago now, lots of folks scoffed at it. One of the biggest criticisms of this bar, and many others including the very popular, at that time, Midge Bar, was that the hoods were canted weirdly and pointed inward. That was "dumb" and "who would find that comfortable?" Plus everyone said it just looked too weird to consider the Luxy Bar anyway. They dismissed this concept out of hand.
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| Last year these started popping up. |
The UCI has had to take into account a trend recently for Pro road riders to want to cant their levers inward in an attempt to gain an aerodynamic advantage. This coupled with super-narrow widths for the handlebars prompted a rule to be enacted regarding the possibility for these things to cause instability, broken handlebars, and crashes in the Pro ranks.
Meanwhile gravel riders have also taken to canting their levers inward more with an aim to use a narrower flared drop. The thinking there being that a wider drops position is needed for descending sketchy terrain and for stabilizing the bike in looser conditions as well. The tops and hoods position can be narrower due to the narrower tops and canted in levers giving the rider an aero benefit without the aid of aero bars, which are prohibited at many gravel events.
Imagine an updated carbon Luxy Bar with an aero/flattened tops section and maybe a bit less sweep to the extensions. Sounds like the perfect racing drop bar for gravel, right?
The good ol' Luxy Bar was perhaps just too far ahead of its time to click with the gravel riders out there, but it certainly does the things that many of the faster riders are looking for these days, it would seem to me anyway.
The original WTB dirtdrop did that, too. My levers were always angled inward. Comfortable and in a crash they would push in even more, reducing the chance of damage.
ReplyDeleteThere were also claims that STI levers would not work because the levers were not vertical. I thought it made them easier to use.
Then Shimano and SRAM released levers that angled outward for better shifting ergonomics. I laughed so hard
I built up a dirt-tourer back during covid confinement. Reading your drop bar articles had piqued my interest in flared bars. I would have liked to try the Luxy bar but of course that was unobtanium by then. My second choice was the Midge. On One had them for a good price but the shipping from Merry Olde England doubled the price. Nope! I finally landed on the Junebug from Soma as it was supposed to be a near clone of the Midge. Those were dark days to try and get components.Overall I've been happy with it. My only problem with these is that on any drop bar I need the top portion leading to the hoods to be more or less level. Doing this on the Junebug rotates the drops a little further forward than I would like. I tried angling them down a bit and telling myself it was fine but ultimately I couldn't tolerate it and so put them back level. I'm hardly ever in the drops on this bike anyway except for speedy descents so they've worked out OK. I do like the canted brake hoods and find them to be quite comfortable. To be honest though the only thing that keeps me from replacing them with my favorite Mustache bars is the fact that the 'Stache bars are aweful with a front bag.
ReplyDeleteI still ride the one set I have and am still amazed how well they ride and the fact that nobody copied them!
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