Update On The Whisky Parts Co. Winston Bar

The Whisky Parts Co. Winston Bar as seen on my T-6 Standard Rando v2

Last week I wrote an update on the Whisky Parts Co. Milhouse Bar, (which you can read here). This post will be an update on the companion bar released at the same time as the Milhouse Bar by Whisky Parts Co., which is called the Winston Bar. 

This carbon fiber bar is a 'mustache bar' and will accept MTB or road controls. I decided to mount it up on my single speed Twin Six Standard Rando v2. So, I used road 'long pull' style levers only, since I have no shifty-bits on this rig. 

Now I need to make something perfectly clear- I love the idea of a mustache bar and so I think the Winston Bar is rad. You may think the mustache bar is silly because it has very little drop to it so why bother? However; if you almost exclusively ride 'on the hoods' and wished that you had more hand positions, (I know, but I see this a LOT), then you would love a mustache bar. TONS of hand positions that alter your back posture and arm positions. You can definitely get a great position for climbing, cruising, getting aggressive, or you can even 'get aero' if you are so inclined. 

I'll be honest, many recreational drop bar riders really should be on mustache bars. I can also tell you why they are not on mustache bars- Because all the cycling marketing you see shows racy drop bar set ups and this is what 'they' tell you is 'cool'. Mustache bars are seen then as weirdo bars for urban freaks that love oddball bikes. That's really a shame. If you've never tried mustache bars, and don't give a rip what people think about you if you were to show up on a group ride with mustache bars, well then.....step this way! 

A look from up top.

 The Winston Bar differs from the traditional mustache bars offered now in some pretty significant ways, which in my opinion, improves upon the classic shape and has better 'modern' adaptability. For starters, you can see from the image above here that the Winston Bar has extensions that sweep outward instead of pointing straight backward, as standard mustache bars do. This aligns better with how your hands and forearms align when relaxed. The other important details are harder to see, but make this a more versatile bar for modern bikes, mountain or road, or gravel. The bar clamp diameter here is 31.8mm, which covers a large swath of bicycles out there. Traditional mustache bars tend to be 26.0mm clamp diameter, (Old road standard), or 25.4mm (Old MTB standard). The bars diameter changes from the extensions where MTB controls would fit to road diameter standard where my levers are here. So, instead of buying one bar for MTB and another for road, you just get this bar for both. That means swapping the Winston around to different rides is a distinct option, and makes spending the money it takes to get one a bit less painful. Because, let's face it, these are expensive bars. 

A look from the front.

The Winston bar, being carbon and having the length it does in the extensions has a definite comfort factor. You can feel it giving under your hands as you hit bigger bumps and it absorbs vibrations a bit as well. The fact that you have all those variances in hand positions makes the Winston even more comfortable. I chose to mount road levers and used a traditional mounting position. The laid-over hoods also provide a platform to rest your hands while cruising. The hoods protrusions add a nice grip for seated climbing. Getting to the lever tips to brake while your hands are back in the extensions is super easy. 

Not everything is hunky-dory with the Winston Bar though. I found that my Tektro levers, which want to have the brake line exit kind of off to one side, makes for a difficult routing across either the top side of the bar or underneath, and neither is clean and smooth looking. It may have been nice for the bar to have had a molded channel for the brake and/or shift housings. I experimented with two different routes for my housings and neither was particularly satisfying to me. 

The other bit that may or may not bother you is that the ends of the bar are supposedly capable of having bar end shifters inserted into them. Ah.......I'd not advise that. My bar end shifters end diameter is slightly over 19mm, (SunTour or Shimano, didn't matter), and the actual measured inside diameter of the bar measured slightly less than 19mm, meaning that my bar end shifters were too large to insert into the Winston Bar. Not that I want to run those, I never would, but the claim is there from Whisky Parts Co. and I am not seeing that as a possibility with the ones they sent me. I may have an odd set? I do not know. I have communicated this to Whisky Parts Co, but I have not had any feedback since then. 

So, other than those few odd-ball nit-picks, I am completely enamored of the Winston Bar. I'm very glad that something like this is available. Perhaps a less expensive alloy version could be offered, and if that happens, perhaps a few different widths would be good to see offered as well. I feel these would make really awesome bars for many bikes. Bike packing, fat bikes, gravel rigs, or even road bikes. Mountain biking? Sure! They definitely are great for a single speed, I know that much. 

So, there ya go. My take on the Winston Bar.

UPDATE: 11/14/21: Someone asked about the forward reach on the Winston Bar. I noticed that no specification was given by Whisky Parts Co., nor anywhere else easily "Google-able", so here you go- The forward reach is 75mm as I measure it from the point where the bar clamps to the stem to the furthest outward/forward part of the curve, center to center. 

Note: Whisky Parts Co. sent over the Winston Bar for test and review at no charge. I was not paid nor was I bribed for this review and I always strive to give my honest thoughts and views throughout.

Update On The Whisky Parts Co. Winston Bar

The Whisky Parts Co. Winston Bar as seen on my T-6 Standard Rando v2

Last week I wrote an update on the Whisky Parts Co. Milhouse Bar, (which you can read here). This post will be an update on the companion bar released at the same time as the Milhouse Bar by Whisky Parts Co., which is called the Winston Bar. 

This carbon fiber bar is a 'mustache bar' and will accept MTB or road controls. I decided to mount it up on my single speed Twin Six Standard Rando v2. So, I used road 'long pull' style levers only, since I have no shifty-bits on this rig. 

Now I need to make something perfectly clear- I love the idea of a mustache bar and so I think the Winston Bar is rad. You may think the mustache bar is silly because it has very little drop to it so why bother? However; if you almost exclusively ride 'on the hoods' and wished that you had more hand positions, (I know, but I see this a LOT), then you would love a mustache bar. TONS of hand positions that alter your back posture and arm positions. You can definitely get a great position for climbing, cruising, getting aggressive, or you can even 'get aero' if you are so inclined. 

I'll be honest, many recreational drop bar riders really should be on mustache bars. I can also tell you why they are not on mustache bars- Because all the cycling marketing you see shows racy drop bar set ups and this is what 'they' tell you is 'cool'. Mustache bars are seen then as weirdo bars for urban freaks that love oddball bikes. That's really a shame. If you've never tried mustache bars, and don't give a rip what people think about you if you were to show up on a group ride with mustache bars, well then.....step this way! 

A look from up top.

 The Winston Bar differs from the traditional mustache bars offered now in some pretty significant ways, which in my opinion, improves upon the classic shape and has better 'modern' adaptability. For starters, you can see from the image above here that the Winston Bar has extensions that sweep outward instead of pointing straight backward, as standard mustache bars do. This aligns better with how your hands and forearms align when relaxed. The other important details are harder to see, but make this a more versatile bar for modern bikes, mountain or road, or gravel. The bar clamp diameter here is 31.8mm, which covers a large swath of bicycles out there. Traditional mustache bars tend to be 26.0mm clamp diameter, (Old road standard), or 25.4mm (Old MTB standard). The bars diameter changes from the extensions where MTB controls would fit to road diameter standard where my levers are here. So, instead of buying one bar for MTB and another for road, you just get this bar for both. That means swapping the Winston around to different rides is a distinct option, and makes spending the money it takes to get one a bit less painful. Because, let's face it, these are expensive bars. 

A look from the front.

The Winston bar, being carbon and having the length it does in the extensions has a definite comfort factor. You can feel it giving under your hands as you hit bigger bumps and it absorbs vibrations a bit as well. The fact that you have all those variances in hand positions makes the Winston even more comfortable. I chose to mount road levers and used a traditional mounting position. The laid-over hoods also provide a platform to rest your hands while cruising. The hoods protrusions add a nice grip for seated climbing. Getting to the lever tips to brake while your hands are back in the extensions is super easy. 

Not everything is hunky-dory with the Winston Bar though. I found that my Tektro levers, which want to have the brake line exit kind of off to one side, makes for a difficult routing across either the top side of the bar or underneath, and neither is clean and smooth looking. It may have been nice for the bar to have had a molded channel for the brake and/or shift housings. I experimented with two different routes for my housings and neither was particularly satisfying to me. 

The other bit that may or may not bother you is that the ends of the bar are supposedly capable of having bar end shifters inserted into them. Ah.......I'd not advise that. My bar end shifters end diameter is slightly over 19mm, (SunTour or Shimano, didn't matter), and the actual measured inside diameter of the bar measured slightly less than 19mm, meaning that my bar end shifters were too large to insert into the Winston Bar. Not that I want to run those, I never would, but the claim is there from Whisky Parts Co. and I am not seeing that as a possibility with the ones they sent me. I may have an odd set? I do not know. I have communicated this to Whisky Parts Co, but I have not had any feedback since then. 

So, other than those few odd-ball nit-picks, I am completely enamored of the Winston Bar. I'm very glad that something like this is available. Perhaps a less expensive alloy version could be offered, and if that happens, perhaps a few different widths would be good to see offered as well. I feel these would make really awesome bars for many bikes. Bike packing, fat bikes, gravel rigs, or even road bikes. Mountain biking? Sure! They definitely are great for a single speed, I know that much. 

So, there ya go. My take on the Winston Bar.

UPDATE: 11/14/21: Someone asked about the forward reach on the Winston Bar. I noticed that no specification was given by Whisky Parts Co., nor anywhere else easily "Google-able", so here you go- The forward reach is 75mm as I measure it from the point where the bar clamps to the stem to the furthest outward/forward part of the curve, center to center. 

Note: Whisky Parts Co. sent over the Winston Bar for test and review at no charge. I was not paid nor was I bribed for this review and I always strive to give my honest thoughts and views throughout.

 

Alt Bars Are Back!

The Winston Bar by Whisky Parts Co.

Remember the mid-00's? those oddball handle bars which a lot of folks were putting on their oddball 29"ers were all the rage. Handle bars like Midge Bars, Fleegle Bars, Misfit made some which I've forgotton the name of, the H-Bar from Titec, and Salsa Cycles radically swept 17° straight handle bars. Those were crazy days. Then 29"ers went mainstream and the big companies said 'no more weird bars on 29"ers!', so folks just went back to being 'sheeple' and accepted the boring flat bar as it has been for two decades now. 

Well, someone or another at Whisky Parts Co. felt like they needed to wave their freak flag high and they have put forth a couple of weird bars in carbon fiber of all things. I wasn't supposed to talk about these until next week, but the QBP Mothership decided to open the floodgates of knowledge yesterday, and my reins were let go. So I posted this over at RidingGravel.com. But here I wanted to go a little deeper into why I think these bars are so rad. 

First, the Winston Bar, a mustache bar, is sooooo good! I was tipped off to this being in development last Summer, so I was already very excited about it. I like the idea of mustache bars,and  but for a couple of critical things, they were a perfect set of handle bar for me. Instead most traditional mustache bars are merely 'near misses'. They are almost always too narrow. Plus, they have extensions which pointed straight back. Lame! Make those sweep some! Make them in modern stem clamp diameters. Make it so I could use MTB controls and road controls. Well, Whisky Parts Co. figured this all out and made them compliant in carbon fiber, not to mention light in weight. 

And the Winston Bar is about as perfect a mustache bar as I could hope for. Wide but not too wide, and the extensions have sweep but are not crazy in that regard. They feel more ergonomic than mustache bars which point straight back. That long extension lends these bars a lot of compliance too, so the Winston feels great on gravel. I've had them long enough now to know. They are just about the best bar for anyone that doesn't like drop bars but wants more hand positions than flat bars have. 

The Winston Bar may be the best single speed gravel bike bar ever.

 I know some folks will be weirded out by the slammed over sideways look of the levers, but don't think about 'losing the hoods position' because you'll never miss it if you can open up your mind to the possibilities of the mustache design. Those levers sitting sideways are like flat bar controls that you still can grip on in about three different ways, plus they make a great platform for laying your hands down open for cruising and to give your hands a break. 

The slightly swept out and down nature of the extensions make the ergonomics for gripping the extensions far more comfortable. Plus, this extension positioning allows for a real advantage in levering a bike set up as a single speed rig. Kind of like a wheelbarrow handle grip, this aligns with your shoulders and hips to provide a better power transmission at low cadences, such as you might see on a steep, long climb. If you ever try these, this will become quite clear very soon after your first ride or two. 

The 70mm rise of the Milhouse Bar makes your seated position radically different.

The Milhouse Bar is one that doesn't seem quite so obviously awesome at first. A riser bar with a moto inspired cross bar, it seems more.....unnecessary to be made in carbon, but that thought leaves your mind when you see it for real. The light weight and width are good things for fat bikes, cruiser bikes, commuters, and yes, BMX bikes. Adventurers more interested in 'looky-looing' than covering ground as fast as possible will like these. 

I almost stuck these on one of my fat bikes. I still might. Adventure is what fat bikes are all about, right? But I already have two carbon Jones Loop Bars, one on each fat bike I normally use, so taking apart those to fit this bar is kind of a step backward. But I do still have the original fat bike I owned, the Snow Dog, so that is an option there. We will see... 

Meanwhile these Milhouse Bars are pretty nice riding bars as well. The rise and sweep is great, and you can cut them back, but 810mm of width is nicer to have than you might think. I don't know that I'd ever shorten these. Plus there is that cross bar. Hmm.....it isn't very big in diameter. It seems a waste not to figure out how to utilize that bit for accessories somehow. 

Anyway, there are some oddball, high end handlebars for ya! I'll be reporting back again soon on these. Now for the disclaimer: Note: Whisky Parts Co. Sent over the Winston and Milhouse Bars at no charge to Riding Gravel for test and review. We were not paid, nor bribed, for this review and we always strive to give our honest thoughts and opinions throughout.

Alt Bars Are Back!

The Winston Bar by Whisky Parts Co.

Remember the mid-00's? those oddball handle bars which a lot of folks were putting on their oddball 29"ers were all the rage. Handle bars like Midge Bars, Fleegle Bars, Misfit made some which I've forgotton the name of, the H-Bar from Titec, and Salsa Cycles radically swept 17° straight handle bars. Those were crazy days. Then 29"ers went mainstream and the big companies said 'no more weird bars on 29"ers!', so folks just went back to being 'sheeple' and accepted the boring flat bar as it has been for two decades now. 

Well, someone or another at Whisky Parts Co. felt like they needed to wave their freak flag high and they have put forth a couple of weird bars in carbon fiber of all things. I wasn't supposed to talk about these until next week, but the QBP Mothership decided to open the floodgates of knowledge yesterday, and my reins were let go. So I posted this over at RidingGravel.com. But here I wanted to go a little deeper into why I think these bars are so rad. 

First, the Winston Bar, a mustache bar, is sooooo good! I was tipped off to this being in development last Summer, so I was already very excited about it. I like the idea of mustache bars,and  but for a couple of critical things, they were a perfect set of handle bar for me. Instead most traditional mustache bars are merely 'near misses'. They are almost always too narrow. Plus, they have extensions which pointed straight back. Lame! Make those sweep some! Make them in modern stem clamp diameters. Make it so I could use MTB controls and road controls. Well, Whisky Parts Co. figured this all out and made them compliant in carbon fiber, not to mention light in weight. 

And the Winston Bar is about as perfect a mustache bar as I could hope for. Wide but not too wide, and the extensions have sweep but are not crazy in that regard. They feel more ergonomic than mustache bars which point straight back. That long extension lends these bars a lot of compliance too, so the Winston feels great on gravel. I've had them long enough now to know. They are just about the best bar for anyone that doesn't like drop bars but wants more hand positions than flat bars have. 

The Winston Bar may be the best single speed gravel bike bar ever.

 I know some folks will be weirded out by the slammed over sideways look of the levers, but don't think about 'losing the hoods position' because you'll never miss it if you can open up your mind to the possibilities of the mustache design. Those levers sitting sideways are like flat bar controls that you still can grip on in about three different ways, plus they make a great platform for laying your hands down open for cruising and to give your hands a break. 

The slightly swept out and down nature of the extensions make the ergonomics for gripping the extensions far more comfortable. Plus, this extension positioning allows for a real advantage in levering a bike set up as a single speed rig. Kind of like a wheelbarrow handle grip, this aligns with your shoulders and hips to provide a better power transmission at low cadences, such as you might see on a steep, long climb. If you ever try these, this will become quite clear very soon after your first ride or two. 

The 70mm rise of the Milhouse Bar makes your seated position radically different.

The Milhouse Bar is one that doesn't seem quite so obviously awesome at first. A riser bar with a moto inspired cross bar, it seems more.....unnecessary to be made in carbon, but that thought leaves your mind when you see it for real. The light weight and width are good things for fat bikes, cruiser bikes, commuters, and yes, BMX bikes. Adventurers more interested in 'looky-looing' than covering ground as fast as possible will like these. 

I almost stuck these on one of my fat bikes. I still might. Adventure is what fat bikes are all about, right? But I already have two carbon Jones Loop Bars, one on each fat bike I normally use, so taking apart those to fit this bar is kind of a step backward. But I do still have the original fat bike I owned, the Snow Dog, so that is an option there. We will see... 

Meanwhile these Milhouse Bars are pretty nice riding bars as well. The rise and sweep is great, and you can cut them back, but 810mm of width is nicer to have than you might think. I don't know that I'd ever shorten these. Plus there is that cross bar. Hmm.....it isn't very big in diameter. It seems a waste not to figure out how to utilize that bit for accessories somehow. 

Anyway, there are some oddball, high end handlebars for ya! I'll be reporting back again soon on these. Now for the disclaimer: Note: Whisky Parts Co. Sent over the Winston and Milhouse Bars at no charge to Riding Gravel for test and review. We were not paid, nor bribed, for this review and we always strive to give our honest thoughts and opinions throughout.

Maybe You Need A Mustache (Bar)

The Soma Fab 3-Speed Mustache Bar

Got an old 29"er sitting around? Maybe you are thinking about getting one of those "gravel bikes" you've been hearing so much about. Well, you already have a gravel bike! It just needs a little love, maybe a few parts swaps, and BOOM! Gravel travel will be easy-pasy.

Now you may be thinking,"Sure, Guitar Ted! Easy for you to say, but what about swapping out the bars, and then I'll need different controls, and what about a riser stem, and......" HOLD ON THERE!

Maybe all you need is a mustache bar! Let me explain.......

Years ago this guy came in where I was working and said he had a special handle bar I might want to try. It was, at that time, a rare handle bar. It was a mustache bar that accepted mountain bike controls. He lent me the bar and it was a revelation. I LOVED it! But, he wouldn't sell it to me then and I forgot all about that until recently.

You see, most mustache bars are for road bike controls. The mountain bike controls on a 29"er are of a smaller clamp diameter, 25.4mm to be exact. So, when this idea of doing up my old Fisher HiFi as a gravel bike project came up recently, I was trying to configure in my mind this project with drop bars and road controls. Maybe a Gevenalle set up..... I'd need a stem, and maybe some other bits to make it work. This was not going to be an easy project.

Then I saw an image of a bikepacker with a pretty cool set up. The image was head-on, and it was clear he was using a mustache bar. As the character "Gru" from "Despicable Me" would say, "LIGHT BULB!!" Of course! If only I could find a mustache bar that fits mountain bike controls. A simple Google search later turned up a few good prospects. The Soma Fab 3-Speed Mustache Bar looks to be the best solution here.

Getting an mtb control compatible mustache bar means life gets waaaaay simpler. I can use the controls the bike came with- hydraulic levers, grips, and shifters. I do not need to get a different, weird riser stem, although I may need to play with the length. In return, I get all the hand positions, including a forward, aero position to cut through the wind. Downsides? Well, you won't find a super-wide bar, but the Soma 3-Speed Mustache Bar is claimed to be 540mm wide, which should be pretty good. You also won't get any straight-on accessory mount points for lights and such except right next to the stem.

But spending around $60.00 or less, (depending on your on-line source), you can pretty much count on an almost straight over swap of your components. You might have to lengthen the brake lines depending on how you like the levers. Pointing the levers pretty much straight down will require less length and probably will be close to optimal. Flared out is good in some cases, but will require more housing length.  Your stem length will also come into play. Shorter will require less cable housing length, longer and taller the opposite. You could probably get away with the stem you currently are using. If anything, you can go a bit shorter.

Another cool thing about mustache bars is that you can flip them for rise, or use them traditionally for a bit of drop. But the big thing is the varied hand positions. I'll let you discover this, but trust me, it's rad. So, stay tuned. I'm going to get these in and start the project after the New Year.

Maybe You Need A Mustache (Bar)

The Soma Fab 3-Speed Mustache Bar

Got an old 29"er sitting around? Maybe you are thinking about getting one of those "gravel bikes" you've been hearing so much about. Well, you already have a gravel bike! It just needs a little love, maybe a few parts swaps, and BOOM! Gravel travel will be easy-pasy.

Now you may be thinking,"Sure, Guitar Ted! Easy for you to say, but what about swapping out the bars, and then I'll need different controls, and what about a riser stem, and......" HOLD ON THERE!

Maybe all you need is a mustache bar! Let me explain.......

Years ago this guy came in where I was working and said he had a special handle bar I might want to try. It was, at that time, a rare handle bar. It was a mustache bar that accepted mountain bike controls. He lent me the bar and it was a revelation. I LOVED it! But, he wouldn't sell it to me then and I forgot all about that until recently.

You see, most mustache bars are for road bike controls. The mountain bike controls on a 29"er are of a smaller clamp diameter, 25.4mm to be exact. So, when this idea of doing up my old Fisher HiFi as a gravel bike project came up recently, I was trying to configure in my mind this project with drop bars and road controls. Maybe a Gevenalle set up..... I'd need a stem, and maybe some other bits to make it work. This was not going to be an easy project.

Then I saw an image of a bikepacker with a pretty cool set up. The image was head-on, and it was clear he was using a mustache bar. As the character "Gru" from "Despicable Me" would say, "LIGHT BULB!!" Of course! If only I could find a mustache bar that fits mountain bike controls. A simple Google search later turned up a few good prospects. The Soma Fab 3-Speed Mustache Bar looks to be the best solution here.

Getting an mtb control compatible mustache bar means life gets waaaaay simpler. I can use the controls the bike came with- hydraulic levers, grips, and shifters. I do not need to get a different, weird riser stem, although I may need to play with the length. In return, I get all the hand positions, including a forward, aero position to cut through the wind. Downsides? Well, you won't find a super-wide bar, but the Soma 3-Speed Mustache Bar is claimed to be 540mm wide, which should be pretty good. You also won't get any straight-on accessory mount points for lights and such except right next to the stem.

But spending around $60.00 or less, (depending on your on-line source), you can pretty much count on an almost straight over swap of your components. You might have to lengthen the brake lines depending on how you like the levers. Pointing the levers pretty much straight down will require less length and probably will be close to optimal. Flared out is good in some cases, but will require more housing length.  Your stem length will also come into play. Shorter will require less cable housing length, longer and taller the opposite. You could probably get away with the stem you currently are using. If anything, you can go a bit shorter.

Another cool thing about mustache bars is that you can flip them for rise, or use them traditionally for a bit of drop. But the big thing is the varied hand positions. I'll let you discover this, but trust me, it's rad. So, stay tuned. I'm going to get these in and start the project after the New Year.