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itto is a small Japanese business producing components. Although the range includes modern innovations like bullhorns, few of its beautifully polished and extremely strong bars, stems and posts would look out of place on a 60s or 70s classic bike. Our stock is made up of alloy components, but we often bring over the company's cromoly steel bars on special order, and right now we're building up to a special shipment of Color Project stuff, that is, classic Nitto kit in bright anodised colours -- see bottom of page.
BARS: 'TACHE | TRACKBARS | DROPS | BULLHORNS | STRAIGHT BARS | RISER BAR ||
SHIM || QUILL STEMS | AHEAD STEMS || SEATPOSTS || COLOR PROJECT
The moustache bar, properly designated the RM-016AA, is the ultrashallow drop designed by Grant Petersen of Rivendell. It rides a lot like a flipped North Road bar, but the full curve of the outer bends allows more positions, everything from an aero tuck to sit up and beg. Oh, and it's really wide. Just the thing for wrestling a fix up a one in five. Grant recommends a tall, short-reach setup for this bar, and who are we to disagree? We stock the bar in 25.4mm and 26.0mm clamp sizes, so you can get the moustache on either a roadbike or an MTB. |
The B-123AA is Nitto's classic alloy track bar. We've been importing it ever since it was recommended to us by Joss Winn, one of Hubjub's very first customers. It's a very short drop bar with a curving flat, pleasingly reminiscent of the classic Maes patterns of the 50s. At 20cm+, it is vertiginously deep. And it has that ultracool 'NJS approved' stamp. There are a few size options, but every single one of 'em has a 25.4mm clamp, so you'll need a Nitto shim if you're planning a 26.0mm road stem. Restocked in 36cm only. |
We've stocked the B123AA deep drop track bar since the very beginning. With so many changes happening, we thought you might like to have a good look at Nitto's alternatives. These are always available on custom order, and we usually have a couple of variants in stock. The cloudy silver one is the B125AA shallow drop, a shiny NJS-cert drop bar that's 3 or 4cm shallower than B123AA. It's presently a custom order. The iconoclastic black variant is a new oversize clamp B123AA-SSB for the 31.8mm oversize stems -- we're out of stock until Spring. But we have a couple of the little shiny one, the B123 cromo bar in 34 cm, heavy at 650g but stiff as you please. The zoomed photo shows them all separately. |
We championed the randonneur bar a few years back, and now count the design thoroughly revived. In rando bars the ends of the flat sweep gently upwards, splaying the bends slightly outwards and allowing one to grasp bends or drops without turning the wrist. Cycling fashion moved on in the 40s and 50s, but the rando remains a good choice for long rides and bad surfaces and we have at least one customer taking theirs offroad. We'll be restocking the new 26.0 B136AA shortly -- for the moment it's B135AA only. |
No mistaking those flared ends, a full 52cm apart. Yep, this is the Nitto RM-014 'Dirt Drop', ancestor of every offroad drop bar of the last couple of decades. Pay close attention to the flats, however -- yep, Nitto have reintroduced this most requested of all styles with a 31.8mm oversize clamp. Given that you need to raise dirt drops much higher than flat bars, that's likely to cause you grief. Fortunately, we can provide a 45deg oversize clamp stem -- it's on the Skunkworks. Restocking shortly. |
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| 45° 31.8MM STEM? THIS WAY |
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The Mod177AA noodle bar is a Rivendell design. It's a wide, moderately deep drop bar with a twist. Or, more properly, a kink. The flats curve gently back towards the rider. This makes upright riding unusually comfortable, so the Noodle is a great choice for riding in traffic. Plus it's 26.0 clamp, which makes life easier... Presently 44cm only. |
And here's the much-requested 48cm Noodle, a variant on the extremely popular M177 style. (Sorry for the photo -- they're straight out of the crate.) The 48cm Noodle has the back-curved flats that so many road riders have fallen for, but also has a couple of inches of extra width, which might be just the thing for burly chaps. They're heat-treated to cope with the extra leverage, which cranks the price up a fair bit... |
If you're worried about sawing the drops off your Syntace, let the Yoshikawa family take the strain. The Nitto RB-018 bullhorn, which may be the most elegant ever, has exactly enough of a turnup to take your old aero levers. The bullhorn has a 26.0mm clamp, so you won't need to shim it if you're using a road stem. Presently 42cm only. |
We've had a lot of requests for the RB-021, and we finally managed to source the bar a couple of years back. It's yer basic urban pursuit bar, just enough drop to the hooks, all rendered with Nitto's usual amazing finish and with a convenient 26.0 clamp. A classic in the making. Restocked. |
The Nitto B-2500AA courier bar is probably our most-requested item ever. It's basically a half-metre length of aluminium tube, dead straight, with a raised clamp area in the middle. The clamp is 25.4mm, which means a track stem or a shim. (Mail us for other options.) Limited stock of silver and gold. |
This is the B-260AA riser bar, the somewhat beefier replacement for the 259AA which we stocked for years. It's a plain riser, 25.4mm clamp, perfect for a town bike if you like classic looks and the chance to sit up and look around. Restocking shortly. |
Ah, the Nitto shim. If you've worked with older bikes at all, you will be aware that it is possible to make a perfectly functional shim out of an old Coke can with some industrial snips. The only way we can justify charging you the price of several pints for this is to point out i. that it is beautifully machined from billet, ii. that it is positively guaranteed to give a clean strong joint between mismatched components, and iii. that it won't score your collectable period track bars. Sorry, no shims this month. |
The Pearl is Nitto's standard alloy quill. It's a model of understated elegance. The image in the zoomed photo is out of date, since we now stock both 26.0 and 25.4mm clamp versions. Thus, in theory, we can now offer a Pearl to match either 'road' or 'track' bars. 25.4mm users get the bonus of an NJS stamp. |
At 195mm, the Technomic Deluxe is probably the tallest quill on the UK market. (Nitto's basic Technomic is even taller, but our distributor has dropped that from their line.) The new stems have one of those uniquely Japanese satinised polishes and an elegant clamp design using the same triangular nut as the Pearl. Said clamp is a road-friendly 26.0mm, making it ideally suited for raising the bars on any frame with a threaded fork. Restocked, including a few in 50mm. |
Nitto's NJS Pro AA is a decidedly non-standard alloy quill stem with full NJS keirin certification. The acute angle puts the bars level with the headset or lower, which is good for aerodynamic positioning on the track. Although not usually recommended for road riding, the Pro has a cult following among couriers and flat-out commuters. We can only source the stem with a 25.4mm clamp, so you'll need to partner it with a track bar. Various extensions and angles are available besides the ones you see here, as are more expensive steel versions. Drop us a note for details. Last few; restock some ways off. |
Bored with black? Done in by dun? Us, too. Here's the Nitto UI-5gx, a shiny alu road stem. It's a neat four-bolt design, impressively light, 26.0mm bar clamp, and polished until you can see your face in it (distorted as in some shinjuku pachinko parlour). The stem clamp is designated 1 1/8", but it ships with a nicely machined collar so that 1" types can install it. Restocked, but getting patchy at the distributor. |
This is the Nitto UI-21ex, our first new Nitto A-head stem for a while. It shares much of the design of the UI-5gx, but with a 31.8mm clamp to partner oversize bars like our black B123AA-SSB or the new Dirt Drop. It's designated for a 1 1/8" fork. We can supply an adapter collar if you want to put it on a bike with a 1" front end. Limited stock. |
A-head with a twist. The Nitto CT-80 is made not of alloy but of cro-mo. No CNC here: the stem is assembled from several sections of steel by means of the best fillet brazing job we've ever seen. Judicious choice of tube keeps the weight down -- around 300g for the 100mm version in the photo -- but does nothing for the price. (On the other hand, if you and your bike are targetted by a hit squad with a rocket launcher, your stem will probably survive the blast.) 25.4mm bar clamp, so we're kind of expecting that you'll partner it with a track bar. The riser clamp is 1 1/8", but we can sell you a little shim thingie if you're on a 1" fork. Limited stock. |
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| BEHOLD THE BAREKNUCKLE |
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Nitto's NJSP72 seatpost is usually anglicized as the 'Jaguar', although Rivendell call it the 'Frog'. It's a simple, elegant alloy post with the rock-solid two-bolt clamp design required for NJS keirin certification and the usual amazing Nitto finish. We source it in 27.2mm and 27.0 diameters and in both 44 and 30mm clamp widths. Since most gaijin will be unfamiliar with this choice, we had better explain that 30mm spacing is a keirin thing. Unless you've bought one of the special narrow saddles from our NJS range, you'll be wanting a 44mm clamp. Restocked, but no 27.0/44. |
The S-83 is a spinoff from Nitto's upmarket keirin posts. Despite its lower price, it has a nice finish (not as flawless as that on the Pro-AA, natch) and a neatly screened white-on-silver logo. But the main attraction is that two-bolt clamp, solid, well-made, and clearly descended from the NJS-certified designs. At present, it's available only in 250mm / 27.2 dia / 44mm clamp. Restocked. |
This is our first new post in a while. The S-84 is cromo, with a very beautiful and restrained piece of brazing holding the clamp assembly to the riser. Brazing aside, the reason for the post's popularity is its layback. The clamp sits a full 40mm behind the column, a big plus if you like a Grant Petersen-style riding position, or if you have a Swallow saddle. For those not in the know... it's hard to get a modern saddle clamp under those stitched-together wings. The S-84 lets you clamp at the back of the rail. Result! At present, it's available only in 250mm / 27.2 dia / 44mm clamp. Restocking shortly. |
Every year Nitto, Sugino, MKS and others get together in the so-called Color Project, in order to release track/courier stuff in limited-edition anodized finishes. In the past we bought over a small batch for stock but from now on we're doing batches on custom order. There's a special pre-order page here so you can easily send us your preferences. Follow us on Twitter for the latest. |
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