Product Review..ODUB 50mm bars by DMR Bikes

Christmas is coming and these would fit perfectly in a knee length stocking!

Wow, these things look sick. Put them on your bike and they look even better. On my enduro bike, wrapped in my DMR Defy stem and Grips, Hope levers and ‘Lordy Lordy’ I was stoked. There is something about a little more rise on a pair of bars that makes the bike look that bit more moto, and I could be wrong but isn’t that what we’re all searching for, I know I am.  As a kid we were lucky enough to get our hands on the throw away bars of some Factory Suzuki MX riders. The boss, who happened to be my mates Dad would cut the cross bar out and throw them in the bin. We would retrieve the odd pair and put a bit of dowling in to replace the missing tube, and if we had a pad, that would go on immediately. We’d put these bars on our ‘trackers’, that were mullet set up forty five years before mullet was even a term. All we knew was that Motocross bikes had a smaller wheel on the back, and ours were made up of different wheel sizes, only because that’s all our mates brother could get from the skip. You were considered lucky if you had two wheels the same, unlucky if you had a reverse mullet and looked like a butchers bike. Anyway, my point being is that as soon as we put these bars on our pre-BMX dirt machines, they made us feel like we just had a cool bike. You see, although most of us could never afford to do it,  motocross was our life back then, we watched every race at our local track at Golding Barn Raceway. We’d go up and watch the pros practice there, and straight after any racing we’d head to our little track and get our legs out round the corners and have our own little motocross race.

Many decades later, I find myself taking a pair of handlebars out of the wrapping, bolting them onto my bike, setting up the cockpit, standing back and having a flashback to the good ol’ days. Although my bike, forty years on was a very different beast, I was so stoked. I hadn’t even ridden my bike yet and I was hooked on the look. I was going to make these bars work whatever. I’d like to just thank DMR, and Olly Wilkings (ODUB) here and now for making my bike scream ‘come ride me’ and some very happy memories. 

Going up in rise from 20mm to 50mm is a leap, so I decided to take a spacer out, making the front end feel little lower to begin with. I played with the rake until I found the comfortable riding position. My first ride out and I was in heaven, and after a few more tweaks like lever position, I decided to cut them down to 770mm, to avoid hitting the trees and my little pinky. 


I have nothing bad to write, at all. I have had these bars on now for over a year and can’t imagine ever taking them off. As far as a mid fifties bloke can and ability will allow, they’ve had a good thrashing. I have ridden bike park, XC, Enduro, and lapped my local hill until I got bored of 30 second trails. They feel so comfortable as my riding position seems to be a bit more upright, which is a personal preference, and when I pulled up to manual the first roller, there seemed to be an effortless transition, and the front wheel came up without fighting.  On the many enduro rides they have felt unreal. A certain winter session in Grogley woods had me smiling all day long. Whether it was the extra rise but again I seemed to be able to lift over the roots easily, and maintain a more flow coming out of tight turns and move around on the trail much more. We hit a huge puddle to get some shots, that required speed in and power out, and I could not get enough of this. 

For those in doubt, they’re not going to make you look like Dakota Norton, the 50mm rise is not that extreme, but apparently if you do ride a bit of motocross, then you’ll feel right at home with these. 

These bars have helped with my jumping too, maybe the high position gives me a better view of where I’m supposed to land, and I can’t really explain how, but I have a new confidence. I’ve never been that consistent at jumping bikes considering how long I’ve done it, but that seems to have changed over the past year. Since getting these bars I’ve found myself slowly expanding the boundaries of my comfort zone.  Since using these bars I’ve also changed to a slightly longer frame, and I’ve felt right at home with these ODUB 50mm up front, the whole bike feels so stable.  

To be honest I was sold on the aesthetics, I love looking at my bike now, more than ever, and when something looks and feels right it will put you in a positive state of mind. If your happy when you head out of the door, wearing your favourite riding kit,  and on your favourite a bike that just looks so cool, you’ll ride better. These bars make me ride better. 

Photos: Josef Fitzgerald-Patrick.  (Forever grateful for the shots)