[cocheese]

On the first few rides it became evident that the narrow Easton carbon bars and the short stem were not going to cut it. Monte hooked me up with a sweet 140x15 Thomson stem and the bars came from the source, Jeff Jones. I ended up putting a BB-7/Paul combo on it because the hydro lines on the Juicies were not long enough to accomidate for the Jones bars. I rode around the neighborhood with the kids tonight and immediately noticed how much more stable the bike feels with the H Bar. The angle of the bar is natural feeling and seems to be the default angle of my arms if relaxed. I'm going to head out tomorrow and do some trail testing. Anyway, here's a pic of the build as of today. The next thing I might add would be a sus fork, either the Reba or the WB.

 

[cocheese]

Oh, and I love this time of year. My yard finally dies which means I have more time to ride and less time mowing, weedeating, edging, blowing, etc... I'd have a yard man if I wasn't such a miser!

 

[unit]

Nice

Wow that green is almost a perfect match for the hubs and headset. Love it!

How do the levers work/feel with the bb7s? I wanted to run the same set up but feared that the lack of springs in the levers might not be ideal for the bb7.

Great looking ride!

 

[Monte]

On the first few rides it became evident that the narrow Easton carbon bars and the short stem were not going to cut it. Monte hooked me up with a sweet 140x15 Thomson stem and the bars came from the source, Jeff Jones. I ended up putting a BB-7/Paul combo on it because the hydro lines on the Juicies were not long enough to accomidate for the Jones bars. I rode around the neighborhood with the kids tonight and immediately noticed how much more stable the bike feels with the H Bar. The angle of the bar is natural feeling and seems to be the default angle of my arms if relaxed. I'm going to head out tomorrow and do some trail testing. Anyway, here's a pic of the build as of today. The next thing I might add would be a sus fork, either the Reba or the WB.

Cool to see the stem. It came from another 29er board member, but I'd have to search to find whom, short term memory loss and such.

Changing hoses on the Juicy's isn't too bad, just get a bleed kit along with the hose. I had to do it on my bike after adding the Jones bars.

Monte

 

[Timo]

Beautiful! I love the bike and thanks for posting. I'm not a fan of the handlebars, but then again I'm one of the few here running a narrow flat bar.

 

[cocheese]

Actually the dark green was intended to be the accent color with the gold/pear color as the main color. Something got lost in translation between myself, Tony, or the painter so it ended up reversed. Yes, the green is pretty close to the King green.

Well, the jury is still out on both the brakes/levers and bars. I was planning on testing both out today but it will have to wait until tomorrow. The bars sure do look odd, don't they? If these don't work I'm going to go with a 110mm stem combined with a long Ti bar with good backsweep.

Thanks Monte. I'll have to pass it forward if the H-Bars don't suit me. The stem looks about new to me. Must not have been ridden hard by the previous owner.

Thanks Timo. Yeah, the bars look downright goofy to me, sort of like a Texas Longhorn kind of thing. Maybe in Austin... They do feel really cool to ride. I'll have to see how they suit me on the trail before I make up my mind. Boy, they are certainly worth more than when I bought them. Might be a good investment!!!

 

[steevo]

Thanks Monte. I'll have to pass it forward if the H-Bars don't suit me. The stem looks about new to me. Must not have been ridden hard by the previous owner.

When you first posted that bike I thought it was pretty sweet. Now it has my old stem on it! I was the one who sold the h-bars and 140mm stem to Monte. Geesh, my stuff is showing up all over the place, that was my former KM frame that Marty put the Lefty on. It's great to see it all going to good use!

Re: the h-bars. I just couldn't get them to work for me so the stem and bars have only about 10 rides on them. Even with the 140, I felt like standed climbing put my hands further back than i like them, so back to riser bar for me.

Anyway, beautiful bike!

 

[Rainman]

Nice...

On the first few rides it became evident that the narrow Easton carbon bars and the short stem were not going to cut it. Monte hooked me up with a sweet 140x15 Thomson stem and the bars came from the source, Jeff Jones. I ended up putting a BB-7/Paul combo on it because the hydro lines on the Juicies were not long enough to accomidate for the Jones bars. I rode around the neighborhood with the kids tonight and immediately noticed how much more stable the bike feels with the H Bar. The angle of the bar is natural feeling and seems to be the default angle of my arms if relaxed. I'm going to head out tomorrow and do some trail testing. Anyway, here's a pic of the build as of today. The next thing I might add would be a sus fork, either the Reba or the WB.

A beautiful looking bike, I like green.

A tip: Try some of the ESI Silicone 'Chunky' Grips on those JJ H-bars for the ultimate in hand comfort.

Your levers look too far away from the bars and too high. Try tilting the levers down so they are comfy to 'one finger' brake when standing up and pedalling.

If you can, adjust the levers inward more so they are easier to reach.

R.

 

[GrumpyOne]

Please stop taunting me with photos of your Pereira. I've wanted Tony to build me a frame & fork just like yours for almost a year, but haven't been able to put the funds together yet. And you're not helping things by showing me that sweet sweet bike.

jw

 

[cocheese]

Steevo, ok so you are the original owner. I guess we keep things in the family around here. I figured that they were once a part of an H-Bar experiment.

Rainman, funny you should mention it. I am already planning on ordering some of the chunky ESI grips after reading your recommendation in another post. I just need to do it. The skinnt Pedros grips are not big enough for my hands, nor do they provide much comfort. I looked into getting the levers closer and it looks possible. There is no pivot on the lever though. You just turn a screw which closes the lever so that it is closer. You are right, they need to be tilted more as well.

GrumpyOne, Tony has been great to deal with. He builds a mean bike, period. The steel combined with the 29 inch wheel running low tire pressure (25psi) feels so nice that I don't really miss suspension. My last bike was a Turner 5 Spot which is about as polar opposite from the Ogre as things could possibly get and still be a mountain bike.

Some thoughts after yesterday's ride:

The H-Bars are quite interesting bars. I did some quite a bit of pavement riding yesterday and it seems that with the low gearing on the SS (32x22) I am putting a lot of pressure on my hands. This is only on the flats and spinning spots where I cannot evenly distribute the weight properly on the pedals, saddle, and bars. If this were a geared machine I don't think I'd have this issue becasue it's mainly a low gearing issue. I did find that I really like them for climbing. While they do put my hands back a little further than they would be with a conventional bar, I did not find this to be a negative. The soak up vibrations better than any bar I've ever owned. The difference between the 5deg/90mm Thomson/Easton Monkey SL combo and the 15deg/140mm/H-Bar combo is VERY apparent. With as stiff as the Thomson stems are, most of the flex is coming from the H-Bar. I'd love to try them on a geared bike as well as I think they'd be great for all sorts of riding conditions...singletrack, fire roads, paved...

The Avid BB-7's feel great. I know that they are new and will probably loose some strength at time goes on. Right now I like the even feel better than the Juicy 7's. It is the first time that I've ridden with the cable accuated discs. All the other brakes I've owned were either V or hydro discs. As Rainman mentioned, I've got to adjust the levers some more to where they are more angled and closer to the bar. They are very nice feeling levers though.

I heard some pinging coming from the rear wheel while really mashing up a steep portion of paved road just up from my house. It sounded like the spokes were pinging as I hit the bottom of each pedal stroke. I've never had this happen before. Anybody have any ideas?

I've heard that the King hubs can develop some play in them, but I don't know exactly what this is.

I'm still contemplating a Reba for the front. It would just make things that much more comfortable I think. Some of the trails around here can be pretty rough in places. I'm also contmeplating a geared bike as well. I have 90% of the parts just laying around and it is a shame to have them go to waste! Now if I could make up my mind as to whether to get a sus frame (Lenz, Ventana, Turner?) or a Ti hardtail (Black Sheep, Eriksen?). Choices!!!!!!

 

[unit]

I know that they are new and will probably loose some strength at time goes on.

I heard some pinging coming from the rear wheel while really mashing up a steep portion of paved road just up from my house. It sounded like the spokes were pinging as I hit the bottom of each pedal stroke. I've never had this happen before. Anybody have any ideas?

I have not found my BB7s to change for the worse...in fact as I learn more about how to dial them...they just keep getting better.

on #2...check your caliper bolts. Make sure they are tight, and check clearance between the rotor and the washers on the posts. Mine ever so slightly rubbed the caliper under heavy load before I realized it and dialed them in (just loosened the posts, and rotated the washers away/re-aligned the caliper and re-tightened).

Hope that helps. I want to try hydros some day, but for now the BB7s seem pretty good.

 

[cocheese]

Thanks for the info Unit. I really like the feel of the BB7's. They feel like V brakes but stop like discs. Call me crazy but I like the more manual/organic feel of cables vs. hydros.

I'll check the caliper bolts. I'm going to try running 32x18, so I'll be swapping the cogs around later tonight. The 32x22 is good on the steeps, but kills me on the flats. I'll probably settle on something in between, say 32x20?

Again, I appreciate the help.

 

[edemtbs]

Nice thread cocheese and nice bike!! So you've named yours huh - Ogre. Cool. I have yet to do that for my new ride.

Enjoying the handlebar discussion. Yesterday for the first time I rode with a Mary bar and Ritchey 110mm./5 deg. rise stem. I have to say I did not fall in love with the combo instantly. I've been running a cheap Easton low-rise bar w/ Cane bar ends that manages to reach a massive 28" in width and Thompson 110mm/5 deg. rise stem. I've loved that combo. The Mary bar created a weird twist to my wrist and I wasn't sure I would get used to it plus it may not be wide enough for me (I swear I used to be a total narrow/flat bar geek and now here I am with probably the widest bar possible). I'm so used to the current W I D E setup I figure I'll have to give the Mary some more time to get comfortable.

I really like the feel of the BB7's. They feel like V brakes but stop like discs. Call me crazy but I like the more manual/organic feel of cables vs. hydros.

I was at Absolute bike shop over the weekend and their favorite mullet combo was the BB7cable actuated w/ XTR lever for the front and v-brake XTR lever for the back. The BB7 has a great rep and you should love them in the long run. For myself the new ride has a hydro XT front disc - my first foray into disc brakes. They seemed great yesterday but I have to watch out for grabbing a handful of it The other thing I have to watch out for is trying to throw the front wheel on expecting the quick release lever to be on the left like I'm used to - it's on the RIGHT now.

Now if I could make up my mind as to whether to get a sus frame (Lenz, Ventana, Turner?) or a Ti hardtail (Black Sheep, Eriksen?). Choices!!!!!!

I think I have a preference out of this top shelf list of names

Enjoy the ride and have fun experimenting.

Ed E

 

[cocheese]

Thanks Ed. Yeah, the mullet combo is something I'd like to do in the future. It just saves all of the monkey business with the EBB or silders. Oh, thanks on the quick release tip. I'd hate for one of those guys to get sent into the rotors only to send me flying. Now quit this typing and give us a full pic of that Eriksen!

 

[edemtbs]

Thanks Ed. Yeah, the mullet combo is something I'd like to do in the future. It just saves all of the monkey business with the EBB or silders. Now quit this typing and give us a full pic of that Eriksen!

Yeah but as the frame builder will tell you, the frame is within 1/10,000ths of an inch straight and you'll never get the rear wheel that straight in a horizontal setup. But I'm with you on not having the other monkey business. Vertical dropouts are nice but you pay a price with other complications; ebb, etc. Horizontals work well for me. The other thing of course is that you have a cleaner frame look without v-brakes on the back if you go disc.

Oh, thanks on the quick release tip. I'd hate for one of those guys to get sent into the rotors only to send me flying.

Actually you won't get the wheel on at all of course - the rotor will be on the wrong side, opposite the caliper. I was super tired, it was raining and I was barely paying attention to what I was doing so I resorted to old habits; skewer lever is one the left. I was getting all frustrated until I looked down and realized what I was trying to do. Luckily no damage to the rotor or anything.

Ed E