We are always on the lookout for interesting handlebars from the past. The Lauterwasser caught our eye a little over a year ago. We weren't sure if it was a very practical bar for today's bikes, for its super long reach design requires a very short stem or at least looks best with a very short stem. But it was hard to ignore the enthusiasts asking us to make one -- some citing it was the most comfortable bar they ever tried.These first two pictures are our prototype. The second two are from Velospace and Bikecology. The picture from Bikecology is an actual bar made by Jack Lauterwasser himself. The Velospace one on the Raleigh -- don't know if it is a restored original or just a replica.
Ours doesn't have quite graceful curves of the original, but it cuts a nice profile. We are also adapting it to fit today's components. We chose a 22.2mm OD grip to fit flat bar levers mainly because we felt aero levers wouldn't be very ergonomic on this design. Width is about 47cm. We expect to get the first production in June or July.
Read more about Jack Lauterwasser from this BikeBiz article.
Glad to see someone's doing these bars.
ReplyDeleteIf these are for flat bar levers, any chance there's enough space for grip shifts? Might make for a nice drop bar townie to use an IGH.
ReplyDeletei am pretty sure they might be long enough for gripshifts, though we never installed any on the sample.
ReplyDeleteYes Yes Yes. I want. I have and love the Major Taylor drops. These would also be great.
ReplyDeleteyummy.
ReplyDeleteblack please?
that might work well on my juice.
Excellent! I've been searching fo r originals for a long time. Any loose idea on what these will run?
ReplyDeletemy guess is 40 to 50 bucks. Mike: Because of all the pronounced bends and that they are in aluminum, I don't know if they'll be stiff enough for off-road. We might do a steel version if the people want a tougher version.
ReplyDeleteSo, what's the status on these? Those of us who want one, still want one.
ReplyDelete