the world's greatest flop and chop: metallico super bull

if youve been around long enough to remember that bullhorns used to be few and far inbetween (and we were all cheap), then you probably recall the ol' flop and chop bullhorn technique. take some old road drop bars, flip em' over, and chop em' accordingly. throw some bar tape and ta da you have bullhorns for at little or no cost to you.

metallico of japan used this technique on the great nitto B123 keirin spec drop bar:

(via chariandco)

now you may be thinking, why ruin a perfectly good handlebar? it's njs, keirin dudes use it... hold your thoughts:

this is the most detailed, and intricately thought out bar i have ever set eyes on:

The drop bar is customised at a small East Osakan workshop, an area famous in Japan for its hundreds of tiny 'kodawari' engineering, and small parts factories.
The Nitto NJS drop bar (steel) is cut down to a short bull horn length, and the ends are welded up with dome shaped cro-mo steel. The bars are then painted at the ex-3Rensho paint shop in Kansai, Japan.


(via tracksupermarket)
now, i'm not sure if it retains it's njs certification, but it seems so damn nice that really, who the f*ck cares about the njs certification. it's a bill over the original B123, but with all this custom work as well as the paintjob for a pretty unique handlebar, i would pay the extra bill.

jmik