It used to be that if you were a drop bar user, or wanted to be a drop bar user on a mountain bike, and you wanted an off road specific drop bar, you had to scour the classifieds, search e-bay, and keep an eye out on Craig’s List for a vintage WTB drop bar in decent used shape. If you happened upon one, you paid big bucks for it. Then came along On One with their Midge Bar. Then WTB re-entered the off road drop bar market again. Suddenly off road drop bar use was “on” again. Within a short period of time, another off road drop bar by the name of “Gary” showed up which bore a striking resemblance to Midge. Could they be long lost siblings? Hmm……well, before I get way off track here, there has been a new addition to the off road drop bar choices, and it is the Woodchipper, by Salsa Cycles.
The Woodchipper comes in two widths- 42cm and 46cm.
Salsa Cycles introduced the Fargo 29″er adventure/touring bicycle for 2009, which was designed for a drop bar. However; Salsa Cycles did not have an off road specific drop bar in their range. Well, they set out to do something about that and they did it in a unique way. Twenty Nine Inches has a 46cm Woodchipper to review and it will be installed on a couple different bikes during the test period. I’ll be back next time with an “Out Of The Box” post where I will detail out the specs and draw some comparisons to other offerings in this style.
Note: This product was provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for reviewing. We are not being paid or bribed for this review. We will give our honest opinion or thoughts through out.
I hope you’ll hate it.
I’ll then be a gentleman and take it off your hands for what they cost you, just to find out if I once again agree with your review of a product.
Any chance you could post some comparison photos of the Woodchipper bars & a Midge?
Because the Fargo came with the WoodChipper bar that must be a reference to the movie “Fargo,” right? Remember the bloody wood chipper at the end of that movie? Gross!
Anyway, Salsa is a MN based company r – I know Fargo isn’t in MN but in the movie they are traveling through MN to get to Fargo. So it does kind of make sense.
Does this make sense to anyone else or am I just reading too much into it?
I thought it meant Go-Far….
@Josh: I will have comparison shots with Gary Bar which is very similar to the Midge.
Keep on it, Dust…
Dust-Awesome. I’ll go with that. Saw the movie in MPLS waaay back. If it’s true, it just may be the best reason to get a set for my Monstercross rig I’m building up. Only right I get some “Mr Whirly” cranks from Surly as well since they are named after a Replacements song. Gotta luv the humor of the QBP guys….
I have had three days with the woodchipper bars on a Singular Gryphon. The Gryphon is very graceful frame and when steering is applied it rolls through the arc gracefully. I guess I mean there is no hesitation, a smooth controlled turn. I was on a leash waiting to go somewhere so I rode a quick twisty little trail close to home. The bars were comfortable but it is going to be tough to clear the new growth this spring with the wide sweep of the Woodchipper. Close growth trails are going to be a constant jockeying of bike and bars which will take some of the speed off the ride.
Open trail or paved riding the bars are nice. You can find all sorts of good comfortable combinations. Watch out for mailboxes!
Tight turns and climbing out of the saddle the bar-ends do touch my thighs. There was an earlier mention using STI shifters to avoid the bar-end contact when bending on a climb. I expected no problem since I geared the bike but one inevitably pops up to roll a hill. Gonna have to watch the bar-ends.
I think I would like the bars better with less sweep and could park the car in the garage again.