Stridsland Bullship Bar Review: A Proper Modern Bullmoose – John Watson | The Radavist | A group of individuals who share a love of cycling and the outdoors.

Inspired by the “stub” Bullmoose bars featured in John’s various 1980s Ritchey restorations, Matias from Stridsland developed a modern version for 1 1/8″ steerers called the Bullship Bar. While there have been various modern takes on Tom’s original design, these are by far the closest to being a proper modern Bullmoose. Find out why and more below in a detail-rich gallery and review from John…

John’s 1980 Ritchey sports a stub high-rise Bullmoose. Tom’s handmade bars were fillet brazed, the Bullship Bar is tig-welded.

Tom Ritchey Bullmoose (Abbreviated) History

Tom Ritchey first developed the Bullmoose bar as a secure handlebar option for his early, late 1970s mountain bikes. The design dawned on him after racing Repack on Wende Cragg’s klunker, only to have his bars slip and cost him the win. Road stems, 25.4⌀ or 26.4⌀ and 22.2⌀ motorcycle bars required a shim that would sometimes slip.

A rare, uncut-width nickel-plated vintage Bullmoose is a sight to behold!

With the late 1970s and early 1980s bikes being limited to short 220 mm seatposts, the early Mountain Bikes made by Tom had but a “grip” of seatpost and were tall with level top tubes. Bullmoose bars were the easiest way to get the bars level with the saddle. Then, to attach the bars to the 1″ threaded fork, Tom would silver solder a steel “stub” into the steerer tubes of his bikes.

John’s 1980 Ritchey with a Cinelli 1A and high-rise moto bar…

Unlike the popular Cinelli 1A stems of the era, which would shear off inside and sometimes crack steerer tubes due to the conical wedge creating an acute load on the thin-walled steerers, these “stub” Bullmoose bars were the strongest option available as they were clamped onto these stubs that extended into the steerer tubes a few inches, spreading out the load. Eventually, Tom moved on to a double wedge quill design which was even more secure.

The silver-soldered stub offered the most secure Bullmoose attachment point…

Tom’s early Bullmoose bars used this system, although there are plenty of early “quill” style Bullmoose bars in his late 1970s and early 1980s bikes. Most of the 1981 through 1983 Ritchey Mountain Bikes utilized a stub design. Looking at the above photo on the right, it sort of resembles a 1 1/8″ threadless steerer tube, right?

John’s 1983 Everest has a “low-rise” stub Bullmoose

Ritchey initially offered a high-rise version but also made low-rise Bullmoose bars for those wanting a sportier, racier fit. The Bullmoose proved to be a worthy design feature of the early Mountain Bikes that left Tom Ritchey’s shop, solving for the level top tubes and short seatposts of the era.

A high-rise Bullmoose on a 1983 Ritchey

These high-rise Bullmoose bars raised the bars high, level with the saddle, in a secure and stable position. This high front end made steering the high-trail bikes easier. The only other alternatives of the time were road bike or BMX stems and high-rise motorcycle bars from Magura, Tomaselli, Inter-Am, and others. Eventually, Tom licensed the design to Nitto, who produced Bullmoose bars for brands like Specialized.

Stridsland Bullship Bar

Matias and I were chatting when I was working on my Everest restoration a few years ago. That spurred him into developing the Bullship Bar. He wanted a high-rise bar to go with his Beachcomber mountain bikes. We chatted about them being a great option for people wanting more rise from their cockpits.

The Bullship Bar works on all 1 1/8″ bikes, like vintage mountain bikes from the late 1990s and early 2000s, where the stack was low for racier fits. It also works really well on cargo bikes or city/commuter bikes, where you might want to ride more upright for visibility. I put them on the MONoPOLE mini cargo bike I’m reviewing.

Bullship Bar Quick Hits

Available in Black or Raw
$124/$146 + shipping
850 mm wide
25° back sweep
7° upsweep
120 mm rise (160 mm to barends)
45° stem angle
1-1/8″ threadless
Approx. 1000 g
4130 Cr-Mo
Post-weld heat-treated for stunts

Finish Options

The black Bullship Bars are ED coated only, which is a thin, smooth layer of black paint factories in Taiwan applies to the inside of frames. Think of it like a lighter-duty primer, ready to be painted to match your bike with a product like Spray Bike or just rattle can. You can run these bars “raw ED,” but they will form a patina over time. You can see this process happening to the clamping area on mine after the bike sat outdoors in the rain one afternoon locked up.

Stridsland’s other finish for the Bullship Bar is “raw.” These bars are raw steel, polished, and clear powder-coated at the factory. When you clear coat over raw steel, it will eventually patina or oxidize, as the only thing that will keep steel from rusting is actual primer. Since the bars are heat-treated after they’re welded, you needn’t worry about any structural issues forming from light surface oxidation.

Geometrically Speaking

As a broad-shouldered rider, I love wide bars. Although 850 mm is very wide for most people. My normal mountain bike bars are about 820 mm wide, and the Bullship Bar felt very wide comparatively. Yet, I do think they make sense for me on a mini cargo bike like the MONoPOLE where the extra width allows for more leverage while steering a heavy load. You can always cut them down if you prefer a narrower grip width.

Where they are very appealing is their height and extension. While they extend 70 mm proud of the steerer, the 25º back sweep actually puts your hands behind the steering axis. I was struggling with getting the bars higher on this bike – which I’ll touch more on with my in-depth review of it – having tried PNW Components 50 mm riser bars before and still craving more bar height.

The Bullship Bar puts my grips higher than the saddle on the bike, which is overall just a more comfortable riding position in general. Paired with plentiful back sweep, they allow for my brake levers to avoid contact with big boxes I sometimes carry to postal carriers here in town.

850 mm might be too wide for most, but remember, as you cut the bar width down, you are increasing the effective reach of the bar.

A Unique Offering

Programmatically, these bars fix my intended fit issues with the MONoPOLE. As an added bonus, they also look the part. Especially on a bike that’s already super funky-looking! I have a few versions of modern Bullmoose bars and love how they add vintage flare to modern builds. You’ll have to wait for the full review to see the entire MONoPOLE bike, though — and the 1980 Ritchey, for that matter, too!

TL;DR

I love what Matias is doing with Stridsland, making disc brake modern bikes with vintage appeal. Depending on how well the Bullship Bar sells, I could see him making a lower-rise version one day. The heft of the bar, at 1000 grams, is immediately noticeable in hand. However, on a commuter/basket bike/cargo bike, that weight is fairly negligible.

In summary, if you have a bike with a low stack, want to clean up the cockpit with a classic aesthetic, and don’t mind a 1000-gram handlebar, the Bullship Bar might be for you.

I was just informed that Hobo Hub Works in the US will be receiving some of these bars shortly!

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