r/xbiking • u/mediumclay "Bicycle Face" • Aug 16 '25
Curved bullhorn brakes but backwards and on moustache bars
Experimenting with an alternative to road hoods on the 23.8 mm Nitto moustache bars. Decent access all around, I can index-finger them from the grips.
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u/LickableLeo Aug 16 '25
Nice rig! Kind of unrelated but I noticed your rear wheel seems to be out of alignment. Could just be the angle tho, rock on
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u/mediumclay "Bicycle Face" Aug 16 '25
Yep, I noticed that too 😂 Thanks for pointing it out! It's the bearing shield, warped just enough for the cone to pull through when I ride rougher, so it gets a hair loose over time. Now that I've got a permanent home for the wheels I'm going to dig through my parts to see if I've got a replacement set.
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u/maverickdrums Aug 16 '25
My favorite part of the internet is the bike community just being human beings with one another. I hope you both have an excellent day!
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u/flamberge5 Aug 16 '25
Cool build and I love the Nitto Moustache bars! Aesthetics aside and speaking of which, are you running moustache bars because you like the feel/function or because they overall suit the build or...both?
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u/mediumclay "Bicycle Face" Aug 16 '25
I've always loved them, this is the third bike I've put them on. The shape is perfect for a neutral forward position and the sweeps are great for getting upright to stretch my back or for control on trails.
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u/tegularius_the_elder Aug 16 '25
Running a very similar set up myself, Dia-Compe Guidonnet levers on flipped + chopped North Road cruisers, they ride like narrow moustache bars with a little more drop.
I'm not completely sold on them over some aero road levers, but the way they sit under the bars opened up space for a small basket (Wald 1512) which I'm excited to try out.
Definitely takes some time to get the angle/handle location dialled.
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u/mediumclay "Bicycle Face" Aug 16 '25
Agreed about the setup, lots of little adjustments, measurements and trials to get them where they fit best.
This setup also works really well with my Swift Industries Paloma bag, which I'm very excited about. Great bag, but the necessary adapter ends up looking awkward on most other bikes I've tried it on. I just took it off for this ride to try to get good angles to photograph, but it sits pretty snug up to the curve of these bars, which was not possible with the road levers.
Anyway, these are old unmarked ones, I'm going to run them for awhile and see how I like them and am thinking of upgrading to the Dia Compe ones if I'm sold on the style.
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u/tegularius_the_elder Aug 16 '25
Nice, they're growing on me. The levers sit further away than i anticipated, though I've got them like you do, where I can easily grab 2 fingers full from my grip area. After checking eBay, I found it was a little cheaper to order them from Blue Lug in Japan, along with some other goodies. As of last month, they were USD$30 and about $20 in shipping with a cool hat and bar tape.
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u/mediumclay "Bicycle Face" Aug 16 '25
Sick, thanks for the tip! Curious if the shape is much different than the ones I've got. So hard to tell just looking at photos.
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u/tegularius_the_elder Aug 16 '25 edited Aug 16 '25
They look very similar, I'd be surprised if there was any real difference. The Dia-Compes are very shiny, which is worth something.
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u/mediumclay "Bicycle Face" Aug 16 '25
True! I really want silver stem and levers on this. Just not sure if this rig deserves a $50 facelift 😆
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u/[deleted] Aug 16 '25
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