'87 Fat Chance- Dirt Drop with Origin 8 'Gary Bar'

shogun700

Retro Guru
So I powdercoated my old Fat a couple months ago, and after staring at the stem for awhile, I decided to grab a set of Origin 8 'Gary Bars' from ebay, and see what it would look like with a dirt drop setup-I bolted on a few other parts, so it at least looks like a bike. I like it, but can't decide if the stem has just a bit too much reach for drop bars.

Anyone care to share an opinion? I'm not married to the dirt drop setup, just wondering if it looks right.

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Good looking bike! I have had a few wickeds that I considered doing a dirt drop set-up on, and another friend that had an early FAT that he used for running aspalt laps on with dirt drops. Cool bikes for that configuration.

Is that your normal saddle height, or is the post just stuck in for the pic? I love riding drop bar mountain bikes and I always set the drop to be almost level with the saddle to keep me in the drops comfortably without being hunched-over. Being bent over is great for aero on road bikes, but just doesnt work off road..at least thats what I have found. In the end its really all about you and your size and how you fit that set-up. That looks like a pretty big frame and the extension on that stem puts it out there quite a bit. If you are a big person that has a long torso thats probably good, otherwise maybe too much reach? Those must be the newer version of Gary bars. I have a set of the older ones and they have a much shallower drop. If you lowered that seat a bit the bar to saddle orientation would work better in my opinion.

One rule of thumb I stole from someone a while back is to measure between the middle of my saddle and my grips on a bike I know fits me well and is comfortable. You can take the same measurement from the middle of the saddle to the drops and see how close you are. They should be comparable.

This stock mag pic of an MB1 with a more conventional diamond frame with drop bars is a good reference
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Here are several of my past off-roadable drop bar set-ups w\sloping top tube frames.

My Vassago Bandersnatch
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My Black Sheep Monster
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My Fargo
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These pics are just for reference, and what works for me is not necessarily what works for anyone else so take my info with a grain of salt. Do keep in mind though that these bikes got ridden on every singletrack trail I ride a conventional mountain bike on, and I never had trouble keeping pace through the rough stuff with my buddies on hardtails and FS bikes. The key for me is having the drops of the bars high enough so I am not leaning my upper body weight fully into the drops. The drops become a command center where you spend most of your time. Sorry for the long reply.
 
Awesome info, and thanks for the input and the pics. Your tips about saddle height in relation to the bars are a big help. My arms and torso are reasonably long, so the reach on the stem isn't too much an issue. The seat post is just stuck for clamping purposes on my workstand, I forgot to lower the saddle a bit before I took the pics.

I think the saddle ends up somewhere just above the height of the bars, so I might be able to make it work. What you said about the drop portion not being too low makes a lot of sense-especially with that stem, I don't want all my weight over the nose of the bike. Crank arms/pedals would be a big help in getting the setup correct-I need a fresh press-in BB spindle, so that's on hold for now.

Interesting about the bars-they look shallower in the ebay listing, but I think they sent the correct ones. I'd prefer less drop, and the curve is a bit tight. I can see from your pics that my stem isn't unreasonably far forward, that was my primary concern-the Bridgestone pictured is about what I had in my head for a proper looking setup.

Thanks for the 'long' post mate. :D
 
Heres my set up with garys. Aesthetically I found having the stem the same angle as the downtube most pleasing which you seem to have managed, this did put the weight a bit forward though not uncomfortably so. I'd also work formk a complete bike as it never looks right till you get it finished.

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with panniers it did a good job of not throwing me over the bars.



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Pickle":18hx8xx1 said:
Not feeling the whole drop bar thing I'm affraid. But, each to their own.

To be honest, until about 3 months ago, I thought they were kinda dumb. I'm not sure what changed my mind about them TBH, but I'm holding Retrobike personally responsible.....

Kaiser, your Garys look shallower than mine, and with less horizontal top bar and more sweep. Might just be an optical illusion I suppose. The bike looks great though, and the relationship between the stem, saddle and bars looks similar to what I have and gives me faith that it will actually work.
 
Here are a couple of pics I took this morning of my Gary bar.
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Same as kaisers I think. The biggest issue I had with them was that shimano bar-end shifters would not fit without being modified first. I did get them to work by dissassembling the shifters and grinding down the inner surface of the three expansion segments of the shifter mount fitting. Thats a big hassle for sure, but does work. The pictures I posted above of my three bikes show them all equipped with On-One Midge bars not Gary bars. I never actually used the Garys yet.

Here are a few pics of original WTB dirt drops I had a while back. This is a really nice bend.

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Thought I would add a few shot of Midge bars as well

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By comparison to the Midge and original WTB dirt drop the original Gary bar almost looks and feels like a moustache bar.
 
Hmmmm, the stem does look a bit long, but I'm just starting a drop bar build, so can't speak from experience. Abit shorter with a bit more rise seems like it would fit better.

Good thread!
 
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