{"id":183654,"date":"2026-10-23T18:22:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T09:22:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelug.com\/blog\/?post_type=global&p=183654"},"modified":"2026-10-23T18:25:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T09:25:46","slug":"my-private-surly-research-torsion-bar","status":"publish","type":"global","link":"https:\/\/bluelug.com\/blog\/global\/my-private-surly-research-torsion-bar\/","title":{"rendered":"My Private Surly Research. Torsion Bar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Y’all had a chance to read this post yet?<\/a><\/p>\n

The excitement has been slowly sinking in. If anything, I’ve been feeling it even more since returning from Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

And the more I think about it, the more grateful I feel toward SURLY for putting so much into making this special frame happen.<\/p>\n

Here’s a quick reminder of the release schedule.<\/p>\n

\uff1d\uff1d SURLY \u00d7 BLUE LUG 20th Steamroller \uff1d\uff1d<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In-store release: November 2nd (Mon) 12PM<\/h4>\n

Online release: November 8th (Sun) 7 PM JST<\/h4>\n

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And then, out of nowhere, another baton was dropped into my hands.<\/p>\n

It was stiff and lightweight. But somehow, it felt pretty heavy.<\/p>\n

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While things were quietly moving forward behind the scenes with the FRANK & BEAN-colored STEAMROLLER, another company was hard at work in Kawaguchi, Saitama, Japan, bringing a certain handlebar back to life.<\/p>\n

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SURLY Torsion handle bar<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yep. THAT handlebar is coming back.<\/p>\n

The legendary TORSION BAR.<\/p>\n

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If I remember correctly, both we and the folks at NITTO started talking about bringing it back around the same time.<\/p>\n

I still remember when Kato-san unexpectedly showed up with an original Torsion Bar. We ended up getting pretty excited over that one handlebar. Ah, good times.<\/p>\n

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Why does such a simple, almost ordinary-looking handlebar fascinate us so much? I’d never really thought too deeply about it.<\/p>\n

The first time I encountered one, the day I was reunited with one, and every time in between, it just felt right. The shape, the comfort, the way it naturally fits your hands. It was always exactly what I wanted from a handlebar.<\/p>\n

So, with this revival happening, I figured it’d be a good opportunity for all of us to dig a little deeper into its history.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Via surlybikes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

SURLY’s story began in Minneapolis in 1998.<\/p>\n

The 1\u00d71 appeared almost as a counterculture response to the mountain bike and sporting bicycle scene of the late ’90s.<\/p>\n

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And alongside it came a whole range of components. One of them was this handlebar.<\/p>\n

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Reading through that old product description again brought back memories of all the trails and roads the SURLY crew showed us during our recent visit.<\/p>\n

Everyone lives and plays in different places.<\/p>\n

The roads we ride in our daily lives and the trails we explore for fun are just as varied.<\/p>\n

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Relatively flat terrain. Towns connected by abandoned railroad lines. Beautiful stretches of nature in between.<\/p>\n

Maybe this handlebar was born specifically for the kind of mountain biking people enjoyed in that environment.<\/p>\n

Let’s look back at the era from that perspective.<\/p>\n

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Via mountain bike action<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

This was what mountain biking in America looked like in 1998.<\/p>\n

I’m sure plenty of people were fascinated by all the technological advancements happening at the time.<\/p>\n

I was ten years old back then.<\/p>\n