So, this is an old idea, but it's gaining more traction, especially now that people are running short rigid forks on street rigs and bottom brackets are getting higher.
Rather than a 3" rise mtb bar with no cross bar, people are starting to look at customized bmx-style bars.
I've been running Immortis 4-piece 4" rise bmx cruiser bars on a DJ for a long time now.... The Immortis bars were based off the S&M C4 cruiser bars from a long time ago (maybe late 90's / early 00's???)
Cornfed's bike from a while back: Unsecure image, only https images allowed: http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c24/john_n_/miscbikepics.jpg These are some Black Market prototype 3-piece bars..... I personally think they should just add that crossbar and do 4-piece....
Been running "tall" bars for some time now these being S&M aluminum 5.5" down from 7.5".. Unsecure image, only https images allowed: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v108/sublimewind/Bike%20Pics/IMG_20150311_165505.jpg The others I ran where 7.5" and it was great for street, but when it came to park or dirt it was too much for transitions, pump tracks it was just way too much.. The 5.5 works better.. Unsecure image, only https images allowed: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v108/sublimewind/Bike%20Pics/IMG_20140730_221630.jpg Ive gotten a pretty awesome amount of hate for it to be honest, I care less, but its pretty amazing the hate you can drum up over a bar choice..
Looks like the 4pc bars are making a comeback. Maybe we'll see the smaller bar diameters make a comeback as well. Really I don't care much about what size bar you run as long as you ride. Makes me think of the brakeless thing and guys not riding dirt because they don't have brakes and they aren't comfortable. So you are cool but you can't ride, why did you bother coming out? What I mean is if a part is holding you back then you need to rethink the part, other than that run what you brung.
I just finish building this Transition BLT and went for these DMR Cro-Mo wingbars. They have about a 3" rise with a 8° Backsweep and 7° upsweep. The BLT BB is pretty high compared to other dirt jumpers so I probably could have gone with a 4" rise bar but for now I left plenty of steer tube so I can put an extra spacer or two under the stem.
Unsecure image, only https images allowed: http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu106/noosa2/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsgqcmciqk.jpeg
I've been thinking of this since installing a shorter rigid fork.
Do the mtb brand bars with cross bar have a 31.8 clamp area? Trying to figure out if I could still use my stubby Atomlab stem and try some 4" bars. OR I have plenty of BMX stems and could use it with 4" BMX bars.