An experiment... (with credit to RobAR)

[pythe]

I promised pictures, so here we go!

I built this up to try out a pair of mustache handlebars I recently bought, and RobAR was kind enough to provide a pair of extremely fancy brake levers! ;-)



A ten mile ride ended terribly - wrist, shoulder, back, and foot pain seems to indicate some sizing issues. Eventually I'll pop the bars off and put them on a proper road frame.

(and Rob, I'll admit I tried to get the shifter to work. I think you're correct that the right shifter is toast, but I managed to tweak my front derailer cable so I've got a two speed!)

[RobAR]

Wow, Jeff! Too cool!! I expected that you just needed the hood rubbers. Good to see the whole set in use again.
I hate to bring up the subject of untaping the bar but, from the pics, the levers appear to be in an awkward position. Could lead to wrist pain, I think?
Also, out of curiosity - what are the old hood tops near the stem for?

Is that an old Mag 10 up front?!!
What about barend shifters? Thunk about that?

Experiments are great fun, huh?

[pythe]

My interest in these was piqued by this gentleman's website. Looking again, you're quite right: the illustrations show the brake levers quite a bit further in than I've mounted them. The third illustration there suggests mounting the vestigial hoods to make an additional hand position. I think it works out quite well and spend a lot of time up there, but part of that could be due to the long reach to get to the bends.

I'm afraid I've got no idea what the fork is; it's completely unmarked. A quick bit of research points toward a custom Quadra. I know it requires air, but haven't got a clue what sort of pressure!

A set of barend shifters are already in the plan; I'm going to have to see what I can take away from the local bike expo in two weeks! :-)

[Bill]

Now thats a very different type of ride! I like it!

[xerxes]

Mountain bike frames are made for straight bars and usually have a lot longer top tube than road bikes, so when you put bars with a forward bend in them like these, or drop bars, they stretch you forward a lot more than they would on a road frame.

You might want to try a really short stem, something like this perhaps:



I just recently put together a new bike using a frame I bought on Ebay. The frame was a little smaller than my previous one and it took me several rides to get it "dialed in" so that it felt right, trying different stems, moving the saddle fore and aft etc.

[1FJEF]

Xerxes, in the US it is tough to find an all alloy quill stem that is tall with little forward extension. In the eighties I would get them at the LBS to convert my drop bar bikes to flat or slight riser bars for a comfy ride.

[xerxes]

Try Ebay, there's hundreds of them:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=quill+stem&_sacat=0&_odkw=quill+stem&_osacat=0

Couple of short ones:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/STEM-SunLite-QUILL-TCO-PISTN-250x22-2x40SL-/200722039359?pt=Cycling_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2ebbf7423f

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ETC-Road-Bike-Cycle-Quill-Forged-Head-Stem-22-2mm-Fork-40mm-Black-/320930251207?pt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item4ab8ef01c7