I've been toying with Bosco bars on a mixte renovation for a charity auction - 
the Dia-Compe inverse levers work fine, CroMo or Al.

From: rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com 
[mailto:rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of René Sterental
Sent: Tuesday, March 12, 2013 1:10 PM
To: rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [RBW] Re: Betty Foy's new handlebar...

Shoji!

I can't believe it. It's exactly what I'm aiming for, minus the interrupter 
levers. But I distinctly recall trying my reverse brake levers on my Bullmoose 
Bosco. Is it possible that they do fit on the regular Bosco but not on the 
Bullmoose version? I might try the 55 Bosco now... such potential!

Thanks for pointing it out!

Rene

On Tue, Mar 12, 2013 at 9:23 AM, Shoji Takahashi 
<shoji.takaha...@gmail.com<mailto:shoji.takaha...@gmail.com>> wrote:
Hi René,

The Bosco bars can take bar-end shifters, so you can use reverse levers. Here's 
CNYRIV's (notably shortened Bosco):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cnyriv/7609435114<tel:7609435114>/

And brendanoid (not shortened, but also with interrupters):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76272304@N02/8099501186/

Nowadays, I've become quite fond of handlebar changes-- I think LBS's should 
offer kit deals for regular folks (nice displays, some sort of package deal, 
etc.) as many weekend bikes could surely be improved by a shape change.

Shoji


On Tuesday, March 12, 2013 2:44:41 AM UTC-4, René wrote:
As you know, I keep tweaking my bikes. I like doing it, and I keep searching 
for that elusive "perfection" that seems to keep changing as I change. An 
additional benefit is that some of the tweaks, most noticeable handlebar 
changes, seem to give the bike a whole new personality. Some bars do that more 
than others. Sometimes, the new personality isn't as nice as the previous one, 
but sometimes, the change is so amazing that you wonder how can this happen on 
the same bike where nothing else has changed.

My Betty was pretty much perfect after my last round of tweaks. The Hetre tires 
make the ride incredibly amazing, the Bullmoose Bosco bars made the ride better 
than anything before and I was pretty happy on my commutes. There was, however, 
a little something still missing...

The Bullmoose Bosco bar is pretty wide. It didn't seem so at first, but wide 
bars have their own personality. Also, since you can only use mountain bike 
brakes, the brake lever is halfway on the straight end which means that you can 
only access the brakes when your hands are on the grips or the ends of the bar 
and you are fully upright. When riding, one tends to drift forward with the 
hands, especially when riding faster and one of the favorite positions is with 
the hands on the curves of the bar. From this position, there is no access to 
the brake levers.

So, in order to keep experimenting, I ordered the Grand Bois Promenade bar, 
which looks like a mini Bosco bar but with one very significant detail I was 
looking for... it takes reverse brake levers! These allow access to the brake 
levers from pretty much any position on the straight back sections of the bar, 
including almost to the curves. The bar is quite narrow, especially compared to 
the Bullmoose Bosco bar. I ordered an 11cm Tallux 25.9 stem to position the 
bars in relatively the same position of the Bosco and have been riding it for 
the past couple of weeks on my commutes to work.

And here's the magic, the bike's personality completely changed. It goes 
faster, it zooms and floats on the road. At first the narrowness was 
disconcerting, but aside from feeling different at slow speeds by removing the 
"torque" wide bars provide, the position is very comfortable and it has made 
the bike really disappear from under me. I'm still tweaking the angle and 
height since I find my hands hurt a bit as there are no grips, just Brooks 
leather tape, but when riding faster, my hands go to the curves and I've 
experienced this feeling where it's as though all I can feel is my feet on the 
pedals but nothing else between me and the road. Ah, the other thing that feels 
different is when standing to climb a steep climb; that is really where the 
narrowness becomes more of an issue since I have to be careful for my knees not 
to hit the ends of the bars. They don't fit inside the bars like they do on the 
wider bars.

I'm starting to think that perhaps I'll try the regular Cromoly Bosco bars that 
aren't as wide as the Bullmoose Bosco and see how I like it with those. But 
then again, I do love those reverse brake levers on that bike. It's the one 
thing I wish Grant had done differently, although I understand that those 
aren't so readily available and the logical thing was to go with regular brake 
levers. But then again...

There is something about that Betty that makes it so special!

Photos to illustrate the story... http://tinyurl.com/brtgkt3

Enjoy...

René
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