When I started mountain biking in the mid 80ies handlebars were flat, had a bit of sweep and were maybe 60 to 62 cm widish. This is just a guess, in the era of roller cam vs. U-brake, handlebar width never really was much of a discussion topic. Years later bikes were taken on a low fat diet and my handlebars got straighter and a whole lot narrower. To offset the narrow, straight handlebars, bar ends were born and for a long time I ran Onza CWA bar ends on a Bontrager Titec PG-118 bar. To drop more weight, a Scott AT-2LF bullhorn handlebar got mounted to my geared Merlin. Narrow bars, 135 mm long zero-degree stems and a huge saddle to bar drop made XC race bikes that climbed well, but performed pretty miserably going downhill. 1.95” tires made the whole experience even sketchier. My thinking in the 90ies was optimize a bike for the long climb, as I spent less than a sixth of that time going downhill.
The new century arrived, I got older, gained some wisdom - retiring 26 inch wheels and going to 29 was one of those wise decisions - and I lost some flexibility. The 29 inch wheels placed the bar naturally higher despite running a slammed, negative stem. I started my 29er career with a 120 mm long Thomson X2 with -17 degrees on my rigid Niner One 9. A flat Salsa Pro Moto Carbon bar with 660 mm width completed the cockpit. The bike climbed like a mountain goat and descended well - I liked it a lot. Fast forward a few years to my Niner Air 9 Carbon and it received a 20 mm wider Syntace Vector Carbon Lowriser with 12 degree sweep. The stem kept its length but became a taller Zipp Service Course SL with only -6 degrees. My hands grab higher yet again. It felt awkward climbing the first 20 minutes I owned the bike. That’s about the time it took to adjust to the new position on the bike.
I’ve never been a biker focused on accumulating X thousand miles a year or train X number of days a week. I’m out on the trails to have fun, enjoy the outdoors and do something healthy for body and mind. My rides are rarely point A to B type of rides. I rarely plan and rather decide turn by turn. The climb is much more important than the mountain top at its end. There are no goals to reach, distances to cover or elevations to climb. The ride is the purpose. My are nice to have but they cannot display the most important number of all - the fun factor. In the close to 30 years of mountain biking all my bikes kept a XC geometry that was dialed for efficiency. Then comfort came with the 29ers. It’s now time for an experiment to play with the variables of riding efficiency, comfort and control! Here’s what I’ll be doing: I’m cutting my stem in half - leaving 50 mm to be exact - and add the lost length to the ends of the handlebar. Welcome to a new setup with a true CNC work or art by stem and a deliciously swoopy Watson Cycles Parkarino handlebar.
Watson Cycles’ Parkarino handlebar is all about control. Andrew Watson bent one up after he “nearly killed himself” a few times on a fat-bike. With a whopping 720 mm width and a 31 degree sweep it puts hands in complete control over one’s rig, he says. The Ti also makes a rigid ride a little smoother. I’m certain that the huge bars will offer more control. The material and the sweep should improve comfort. What’s to discover is if the bar in combination with a short stem will affect climbing efficiency and how - or if it’ll merely be a matter of getting used to a new setup. I’m curious to find out and will report back once I get enough time to test the setup.
★ The Parkarino Handlebar Specs ★
| Material: | Titanium |
| Shim: | 31.8 or 25.4 mm |
| Width: | 720 mm |
| Sweep: | 31 degrees |
| Rise: | none |
| Weight: | 345 grams |
★
