Jones bar...

[bakerjw]

Well, I had to go and do it. Just when I said that I didn't need anything else for my XC bike, I picked up a Jones H bar.
For bikepacking, it makes so much more sense to have the extra room out over the front to hang a bag.

[bigeyedfish]

I just bought one a few days ago, and so far I love it. I'm getting away from drop bars in general because I never used the drops, but I wanted to keep as many hand positions as possible. The space to move your body forward and back is great. The extra space for lights, bags, etc. is a bonus.

They are expensive, but I just couldn't find anything that could compete with them. I bought a take off set at the lbs so I did save a few bucks.

[tinshedchris]

I've been on his bars forever...tried to switch back to "traditional" mtb bars and just couldn't get used to the position again.

Jeff knows his stuff.

[bakerjw]

I got the h-bar yesterday and it installed very easily. As expected. I do have to restring the shifter cables though as they are too short but I have plenty of cables and extra sleeve around so it is no big deal.

My old handle bar had some bar ends on the ends of them. With the old bars, I would often ride with my hands perched up on them on long rides. It gave extra positions to place my hands.



Sooo... Once I mounted the h-bar, I slid these on turned to the inside and sticking up. I'll post a pic when I get home. I then slid on the shifters and brake handles. It makes the bike look like it has horns, but the extra hand positions that it offers are really good.

I do need to work on positioning of the bar to get a comfortable ride. My stem is an adjustable model so I can raise or lower it as needed and obviously I can tilt the h bar as needed too. I suspect that it will be a very comfortable ride once completed.

[bakerjw]

Pics as promised. Nothing is wrapped yet as I still have to see how the angles and positions feel when I'm out on a ride.

[Mike Honcho]

I love mine. I really like the idea of how you mounted those bar ends vertically - might have to give that a try. For me, besides the extra mounting room, the "cruiser" position is a much more natural position for reducing strain on wrists and elbows.

I have a set of Ergon's for grips that have the smaller 3" bullhorns. There is a hand position with the perfect angle with that set-up, where the meat of the thumb part of palm rests on the grip, and the outside meat of the palm rests on the bullhorns. Completely takes the mind-numbing pressure off the thin part of the palm in the middle.

With everything there are some drawbacks. I don't have as much control in rough technical stuff with them, but most of my endurance racing will not be extremely technical except for short stretches.

[bakerjw]

One thing that I noticed is that there is a lot more flex than my flatter RaceFace bars. Might be a good thing though.
O do expect to make some changes with positioning before all is done though.

[LINK]

I'm on the fence about getting a Jones bar. Do you Jones owners feel a change of stem length is needed when switching to the Jones bars from a standard mountain bar?

[bakerjw]

I have an adjustable handlebar stem so I was able to adjust my Jones bar up and down as needed. After rotating it to a good angle, I adjusted the stem to an appropriate level.

[bigeyedfish]

To use the whole bar, you don't really want to lengthen the stem. The main hand position for me on long rides isn't at the ends of bar, but closer to the loop. I use standard length grips and tape the rest of the bar, so my hands are often in front of my brake levers when I'm just cruising around. I'm pretty sure Jeff Jones has actually suggested getting a shorter stem for a lot of people.

[wahday]

The design is such that you shouldn't need to swap the stem though I did shorten mine by 10mm. The main thing to be aware of is that the Jones Loop H-bar has no rise (the version w/o the loop has a low rise). A long steerer tube and spacers is ideal but u can also use a high rise stem (harder to find) or a steerer tube extender (looks clunky but works ok)

You can see how many spacers I have on mine below. This is pretty normal.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[killian_1]

I've been itching to try one on my ECR.  Think I'm gonna go ahead and get one soon.

[tdurack]

Love my jones bar. 17" Monocog Flight, 5'7", long legs, short torso. Moved to a short stem (spank spoon 35mm) and fork with long steerer tube. Works for me.

[LINK]

Thanks for your input fellas.

[Sparkyga]

Rode on a Jones bar 710 mm for the past year. I couldn't imagine riding on flat bars willingly anymore. So easy to mount a handlebar bag of virtually any size! Using the Ergon grips for swept back bars without bar ends. Super comfy.