90-190; 135mm face plater What size stem are y'all running with your swept back bars? I know the conventional recommendation was 110-120mm, but am open to hearing the opinions of those here. On Wednesday, February 18, 2026 at 6:24:58 AM UTC-6 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote:
I love the Choco bars. I never considered them until seeing a man with a purple RoadUno sporting Chocos at a Wednesday night ride. They just looked so right. When I got Charlie I decided this was the bar. They give lots of real estate and look awesome and feel great. I put another pair on my purple Platypus and they are the most perfect-est (that can be a word!) bar I can imagine on that little bike. I’ve long been devoted to Billie bars but I might like Chocos even better.
![image1.jpeg]() Good call on the choco bars. I actually just put some on my charlie Sunday, and have done 50 miles with them so far. I'm going to finish out the week with them and then move to albastache to see what i like better. So far I prefer the choco to the albatross.
Oh, I forgot to mention how it handles with weight in the rear. I really don't know, yet. I just put the rack and the basket on and haven't really loaded it up. Not that I ever do - mainly I carry a fleece vest of windbreaker in a bag, sometimes with a small pair of binoculars - a couple or 3 pounds at most. And I but a relatively small basket back there to discourage carrying big loads. I don't foresee any handling oddities at all.
I will say that moving the basket, and thus the load, from the front to the back of my Clem helped handling tremendously - or at least noticeably. The steering became less nervous.
On Tuesday, February 17, 2026 at 1:41:09 PM UTC-7 Gordon Stam wrote:
Well thanks Lawrence. Yeah, I could maybe try an Albatross, or maybe even a Wavie, but I think you can go a bit crazy trying to find the perfect bar, not to mention accumulating an expensive stash of slightly scuffed but otherwise unused bars. For right now I'm going with the Chocos. They actually feel pretty good and that curve where the grip section transitions into the relatively straight front section is a really nice place for the hands. And when sitting up the hands fall nicely onto the back portion. I think as I put more miles in I'm going to become attached to these Chocos. They are sporty.
I do have a plan in mind for bar swaps though. I got another set of levers - Dia Compe SS6s - and I'm going to put them on the Billie Bars (or whatever the next bar I end up with is) complete with another set of long Jones grips, maybe blue, and set them up to easily swap out with the Chocos. The Faceplater stem makes that easy and as long as the cable pull is similar between the levers a swap over should take just a few minutes. Why, I might end up with 2 or 3 (or more!) different handlebars choices. I think that's called a plethora of riches - or maybe maybe a sign of personal confusion. I have even thought about putting together a drop bar setup, but that would mean changing out the brake cables, and a shorter stem. And changing out the stem would also entail removing the shifters (stem mounted) which would add to the PITA factor.
Finally I have to put in another plug for mounting the shifters on the stem. I'm using the Rivendell Thumb Shifter Clamps and as long as you have a couple inches of room on the stem they fit in there quite nicely. I like that it frees up room on the bars, simplifies bar swaps, and allows you to shift both derailers with either hand - sometimes simultaneously! It's kinda like having the shifters on the downtube but a lot easier to get at.
Looks beautiful, Gordon! I imagine you’ve considered this, but maybe the Albatross would be the ideal bar? More flare than Choco and much less backsweep (and potential for knee interference) than Billie.
How do you find it handles with weight on the back? I’m currently considering a front or back rack + basket on my own Charlie. The Charlie is now built out and on the road, thanks to our unusually dry winter out here in the West. At first I thought that it was a bit of an odd duck - I felt sort of perched on it and my choice of Choco bars at first felt like it left something to be desired. They seemed a little too narrow but I did like their "tucked in" feel, especially on fast downhills where they reminded me of clip-on motorcycle bars. And the curve up front felt pretty good. I tried some Billie Bars to get a little more flair but being longer they interfered with my knees on tight turns (especially on the left where I have a mirror mounted) and the curve in front of the brakes was not as friendly as the Chocos. So the Chocos have got the final (or at least current) nod, flipped over, and with those long Jones grips. I'm liking the setup. I also got some fenders installed and a rack for the back and it now feels pretty good, and appropriately functional. I think it will do exactly what will do exactly what I wanted it for and that is to provide a faster and longer range alternative to the Clem - though the Clem rules when things get rough and squirrelly, or for general farting around with no particular destination in mind - which describes my best rides. The Charlie ought to do that just fine as well, only a bit faster and a bit further, and with no mud or snow involved
Here's the current iteration:
And here is a link to pictures of the evolution of the build, so far:
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