Steam Bending Mustache Handlebars

After spending a ton of time researching how old wooden handle bars were made we found nothing. It seems to be a lost art and we put weeks into experimenting with techniques to achieve a method for steam bending in 2 different directions, giving us a beautiful set of mustache handlebars. We’ve been steam bending 1-inch wooden dowels to make wooden bicycle handlebars for a replica of a Wright “Van Cleve” bicycle. In the 1890s, just as bicycles became popular, cyclists had to put up with constant shocks when riding over unimproved roads. Some bicycle manufacturers, like the Wright brothers, used wooden handle bars to help smooth out the bumps – the wood gave slightly with each impact, just like the wooden handle on a hammer gives each time you strike a nail. The National Park Service has asked us to duplicate a bicycle the Wrights made at their shop on Williams Street in Dayton, Ohio, which is now an historical museum. These handlebars will grace a replica 1897 “Van Cleve,” a racing bicycle the Wrights made just before they began to experiment with gliders and airplanes.
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