Nitto Forest Ambler

Like a scaled down Crust Jungle Runner bar, or a smaller first generation Jones bar. But wicked cool, cause Nitto makes it. Steel. Stiff. Strong. You can crash on it and nuthin’ happens.

Wrist angle isn’t an alluring topic to put in advert copy, but it’s a big part of what makes a handlebar comfortable or not. Here’s our test for tell if a flat bar is a good shape or not. Relax your hands at your sides. Now, raise your hands up to bar height, out in front of you, at stomach height. Hold the angle of where your wrists and hands natural fell when they were at your sides. Now look at the bar in question. You can just look at a picture of it, if that picture is an overhead view, looking down at the bar. Hold your hands out in space like you are holding the bar. If the angle you naturally hold your hands at is close to the angle the bar is going to put your wrists at, then the bars are probably going to be comfortable. If the bar shape forces your wrists to flatten out and your elbows to stick out, it’s probably gunna be uncomfortable.

Bars with lots of back sweep mimic your natural wrist angle. This relaxes ‘erything that flows from your wrists: hands, arms, shoulders, neck.

Backsweep also helps with hand ergonomics. Flat bars and even ultra swept back bars concentrate hand pressure in isolated spots. Flat bars on your Ulnar Nerve and the fleshy big pad on your palm, ultra swept back bars (like an Albatross) on the more minimal pad between your fore finger and thumb. Ultra swept bars are generally more comfortable than flat bars, and most folks run them high enough that hand pressure is minimized. But flat bars will never be as ergonomic as bars with a decent amount of back sweep. 30-50 degrees is pretty optimal.

You can go ultra ergo and run back swept bars with ergonomic grips like Ergon’s cork grips, but most folks are ok with some funny colored Ourys. Side note: in general, we hate the feel and look of those foam grips that remind us of mowing the neighbor’s lawn, or those terrible foam drop bar grips on cheap 80’s road bikes. However, the foam (they call it silcone to avoid calling it foam) is good for hand insulation in the cold. So if you have a dedicated fat bike, that’s the place to use those foam grips.

Ok, back to these Nitto bars. Good as off road bars for smaller riders, with narrower shoulders. 5’-5’6”. That sorta range. They’re plenty wide enough for off road riding, they’re just not super wide.  Fine width for larger riders who want a gravel or commuter bar.

Off road strong. 25.4 Clamp. If you are gunna shim them, use a 4 bolt stem and maybe some friction paste if you’re a bigger (150lbs+) rider.

Made in Japan.

Chromoly. Black or Nickel Plated. Tig Welded.

25.4 clamp, 22.2 control area. 666mm wide.