Accessory bar

Gambatte
Gambatte Posts: 1,453
edited October 2007 in Commuting chat
Mornings and nights are getting darker (honest!) and I'm thinking about the amount of gadgets I have on the bars compared with the amount I'll have with a couple of sets of lights. So I figure I'll get an accessory bar.

Is there much to choose between them? anything to look for? anything to avoid? recommendations? good deals?

Thanks in advance. :)

Comments

  • Mog Uk
    Mog Uk Posts: 964
    Be interested in hearing an answer for this.. I've just got my lights out of hibernation and my bars are now crammed.... :o

    203652084-M.jpg
    Manchester Wheelers' Club
  • Gambatte
    Gambatte Posts: 1,453
    I'm thinking about this one. main reason being that all the others take up bar room themselves.

    http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.a ... 0Extension
  • dirk_van_gently
    dirk_van_gently Posts: 826
    That's a seriously cluttered handlebar!

    I have one of the Minouri Space grips T bars, I think it was about 10 quid from wiggle.
    http://wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx? ... 0Extension

    The original mounting clamp is quite frankly badly designed. The steel band that wraps around the handlebar eventually broke, as I thought it would. I repaired it by replacing the steel band with a couple of robust cable ties. .

    Here it is with my Smartlights mounted on it

    04-10-07_1047.jpg

    Sorry for the quality of the photograph, using a phone camera.
    If you see the candle as flame, the meal is already cooked.
    Photography, Google Earth, Route 30
  • Jon G
    Jon G Posts: 281
    Dirk Van Gently wrote:
    I have one of the Minouri Space grips T bars, <snip>
    The original mounting clamp is quite frankly badly designed.

    I've got one and felt the same about the design - it keeps working loose and flopping over, and is needlessly difficult to remove when not wanted in use.

    Jon
  • Jon G
    Jon G Posts: 281
    Dirk Van Gently wrote:
    I have one of the Minouri Space grips T bars, <snip>
    The original mounting clamp is quite frankly badly designed.

    I've got one and felt the same about the design - it keeps working loose and flopping over, and is needlessly difficult to remove when not wanted in use.

    Jon
  • Jon G
    Jon G Posts: 281
    Dirk Van Gently wrote:
    I have one of the Minouri Space grips T bars, <snip>
    The original mounting clamp is quite frankly badly designed.

    I've got one and felt the same about the design - it keeps working loose and flopping over, and is needlessly difficult to remove when not wanted in use.

    Jon
  • Jon G
    Jon G Posts: 281
    Dirk Van Gently wrote:
    I have one of the Minouri Space grips T bars, [snip]
    The original mounting clamp is quite frankly badly designed.

    I've got one and felt the same about the design - it keeps working loose and flopping over, and is needlessly difficult to remove when not wanted in use.

    Jon
  • Jon G
    Jon G Posts: 281
    Dirk Van Gently wrote:
    I have one of the Minouri Space grips T bars,
    The original mounting clamp is quite frankly badly designed.

    I've got one and felt the same about the design - it keeps working loose and flopping over, and is needlessly difficult to remove when not wanted in use.

    Jon
  • Gambatte
    Gambatte Posts: 1,453
    Went for the swing grip.
    Best price I found was JEJames, seeing as its my LBS seemed a good idea what with the postal strike 'n' all

    Some reason I can never get images to work on here. Theres a couple of images in this album.

    http://picasaweb.google.com/garryneedha ... 4626484946
  • dirk_van_gently
    dirk_van_gently Posts: 826
    I think the swing grip is better, but it was another 3 quid, and I'm a bit tight.

    What I did to repair the Space grip was to replace the metal band that wraps around the handlebar or stem with 2 robust cable ties. I'd post photo's but I would have to take it appart. I simply threaded the cable ties through the rubber widget that is on the square nut, then put that back inside the little stem arrangement, put it in place, and pulled the cable ties tight, then tightened the bolt to finish it off. So I'm thinking that if you replaced the cable ties, with the releasable variety that would make it a lot easier to remove, but probably no easier to refit.

    To post images, you need to click the IMG button insert the URL of the image, and then click IMG again to close out the tag.
    If you see the candle as flame, the meal is already cooked.
    Photography, Google Earth, Route 30
  • Gambatte
    Gambatte Posts: 1,453
    Dirk Van Gently wrote:
    To post images, you need to click the IMG button insert the URL of the image, and then click IMG again to close out the tag.

    Tried it,

    I’ve searched the forum for if there was any strange methodology, tried using the img button as well as manually typing in the prefix and suffix. Don’t have any problems with images or URLs etc. on any forum, except with images on this site.

    Weird.

    (Just tried it all again, before posting this, still no joy)
  • Gambatte
    Gambatte Posts: 1,453
    Actually used the extension bar on the way into work today, 15 mile commute.

    It took a while to decide the actual configuration of what was going where last night. But the fact of the extension bar being thinner than the handlebars meant that particular configuration was the best bet.

    Don’t know if you had the same situation, but I find the design of the Smart lights makes them ‘front heavy’ on the bracket. Within ½ a mile (down a ‘bouncy’ road) I’d gone from having a beam pattern on the floor at least 5 bike lengths infront of me to having one 1 bike length infront.

    Should be easy enough to sort, with a bit of extra ‘sticky’ packing but worth bearing in mind

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