motocross was such a good jimmybike
My estimation has always been that “dirt drops” were sort of a workaround before modern flared (but not outswept) short reach/short drop handlebars (like cowchipper/ritchey butano/etc) managed to get saturation in the market.
Is this incorrect? Oversimplification? Dirt drops are different enough there’s no overlap?
On the dithering front - there are so many good 26" full-suspension MTBs on FB right now it’s tempting me so bad. I could pair with Sensah 10s shifters, GRX clutch rd and have such a sick alpine gravel bike. I need to delete my FB account 
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Yes. Dirt drops (much like the mustache bar) are actually pretty terrible shartmo and limit hand positions in the interests of aesthetics. Sorry not sorry to those who disagree but some 44-46cm short and shallow grav grav bars are absolutely superior in every possible way.
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mustache bars are a blight on bike aesthetics.
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Agreed. But like dirt drops it appears to be quite the eye of the beholder situation.
AFAIK dirt drops started as dudes flaring out existing drop bars to get extra leverage on the drops and to keep from smacking their wrists on the bars when shredding the gnar in the drops.
Modern flared gravel/allroad bars are better in every single way. Salsa cowbell are my fav.
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I might be into the bars if he isn’t
@BicyclePears what are the details on these prototype bars? Cromo and 25.4 I’m guessing?
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Man as jealous as my Bicycle Pubes mega-fan co worker would be, those aren’t quite what I’m looking for. Thanks doe.
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Tell yr coworker to buy the pubes-me-down tracklocross
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yeah tell em it can come equipped with the peepoop ano ti bars. they can own a piece of regrettable history.
I’m getting a rigid flat bar bike built for me soon and I’m dithering hard on tire size. I want it to be 29er, and the goal of the bike is for it to function as an ATB, to take me into remote habitats , that often might be loose and sandy. 2.4 is too small. Should i get the bike designed around 2.8s so that I can still run 2.6’s when big tires disappear, or should I get it built around 3.0’s? Future-proofing (lol) is a major goal of this bike and it seems likely that 29x2.6 won’t disappear in the next decade. Do low-tread, faster 29x3’s roll noticeably slower on gravel than a 2.6 mezcal?
I don’t have a ton of experience with 29x3 tires. SupportiveUpstandingPartner has 27.5 x 3’s on her hardtail, and I quite like how it rides, even on XC groomer dayrides, though perhaps it gets a bit bouncy. It does have a huge advantage over my 29x2.4 bike over anything sandy.
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Personally, I didn’t like 3.0s at all. That’s at least on a rigid mtb. They were so bouncy and floaty and not fun. Then on paved and railtrails it was so slow. 2.6 with clearance for 2.8s is the best balance I think of just enough tire for the vast majority of terrain without sacrificing everything when going in between gnarly sections. I had 2.6 Mezcals on a bike and really liked them actually.
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gET a kArATe mONkEy
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This.
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Agreed. I’d only ride tires bigger than 2.6 if I needed to float on sand or snow because any larger and the uncontrolled bounce of the tire makes handling vague and tire weights get out of control.
I do think that for truly sandy places you do need that 3 or even 4 inches of floatation (though it compromises, like, everything else) and if I had to ride that kind of stuff regularly then it would make sense to have clearance for it.
any reason not to get a Kona Unit? Sliders vs the surly thing in the rear? Its a touch cheaper.
The 29 x 3 WTB Rangers are pretty fast and supple. I have not tried the XR-2s yet to compare but they should also be fast. For trail riding I think the XR-4s are freakin’ amazing in desert climes.
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I love my 3’s and 4’s on trails but I’m not little