TenSpeedV2

It is a stated fact that the handlebars are installed backwards and actually upside down. This is not opinion. This is fact. Due to that, it then becomes a fact that it belongs in the JA thread. If your fork was backwards, it would be the same thing. This is no different.

And you are correct, I have never, and will never try this. My bikes are set up correctly.

pcf

So are bullhorns.

There are no rules for handlebars, only opinions.

Ride what feels right. After a few hundred miles, they feel right.

TenSpeedV2

Bullhorns are backwards? Aside from your bar setup, the only other thing backwards is your thinking. This is backwards? From what?



You are supposed to run them with the horns facing inwards?

SquidPuppet

I look at it this way. Everyone's ass is different. Because of this, we all easily tolerate someone who uses a different saddle, installed at a different fore/aft position, with different tilt than we use. We all understand how important it is to have a comfortable seating position. If someone uses unconventional methods to position his hands, wrists, and back at just the height and angle to find comfort, I'm OK with that.

TenSpeedV2

OK. But is the saddle backwards?

prooftheory

Why chop tho?

SquidPuppet

I knew that was coming.


In racing motorcycle design, the goal is to position the hands in line with the steering axis. Neither in front nor behind, with slightly behind being the lesser sin. The goal is to pivot with the hands rather than sweep back and forth. This gives the rider the most accurate feedback from the front tire and allows for more precise steering and braking inputs. So when I look at bullhorns mounted correctly, it looks as "wrong" as it possibly could be to me.

TenSpeedV2

Where exactly is the steering axis? On my bullhorns, I ride with my hands where the hoods would be on drop bars, not all the way out on the horns at the ends. Actually, I can't since I am using tri base bars currently and the horn itself is super short.

SquidPuppet

On a bicycle, having your hands in line with the steering axis makes standing to climb very crowded and inefficient. That's part of the reason (combined with fit) why stems are long and bars put riders hand so far forward. It just has to be that way on racing bicycles with the current love of small frames. In my thinking, the correct solution is a way longer top tube and a way shorter stem. That would put your hands in the best place for steering and stability and still give you room to climb while standing. It would also help with toe overlap on small frames. But it would add weight and look unconventional so it would never be accepted by the Velominati.

TenSpeedV2

You can defend this until the grave. It's JA all the way. Chopped, and flopped.

pcf

So you probably won't like these 2 speeds I just finished either.

How much time have you spent riding this setup?

Carcosa

No.

None.

North Coast Joe

Looks like they'd put your hands right at the steering axis, per the Squidster.

Never ridden any like those, but I can't get over their look (and not in a good way).

Who am I to tell you what's comfy for you. If we ride together, though, you can lock up next to my bike (it'll make me look like I know what I'm doing).

jeirvine 

Man. Tough crowd here. I spend most of my time in the Classic and Vintage forum, where it's a bunch of geezers who all say: "Looks great! Ride and enjoy." Only time you see heat over there is if somebody removes the braze-on's from a classic road bike to make a fixie. Different strokes I guess.

checoles

When Amateurs Pretend To Be Mechanics

Enjoy. I know I did. Seems very fitting with the whole subject of chopping and running setups you would normally agree with.

Salubrious

The main bit of information in the above statement is that you don't get it. The rest is just filler. Since you are clearly much younger than myself (and if you care):

I've been riding drops since I was in high school.

I'm now 62. I've ridden on the Tour Divide twice- last year and this. The entire route is about 2700 miles, 200,00 feet of climbing. Deal. Bikes are what keep me alive and healthy.

This year I used a Salsa Cutthroat with the stock Woodchipper bars, which are wide and dropped. Before I left for the TD I had a fitting to make sure my seat was set up right. Despite that I was having a lot of numbness and pain issues associated with my hands this year on the trip. Some took several months to heal. I had been working on a Jones which was not quite ready for the TD this year but it is now. Its got Jones bars as well which have lots of different places to grip and they seem far more comfortable- and not that different in terms of hand position.

The idea of having the bars further back is not at all that weird. If you find that the bend in a set of flipped bullhorns does the trick that's awesome. The fact is everybody is different, and as you age, you might find that you yourself are different some years from now (or weeks if you happen to break some bones in an accident). I could put up with a lot more pain years ago, but oddly, I can ride a lot further now than I could in my youth, despite being in better shape back then.

The one concern I have with this is that the grips progress down the further back your grip is, which might make it easier to loose the grip on the bars entirely.

If you've not heard of the TD:

Carcosa

I think I said earlier in this thread I'm glad OP is having a good time with his bike, but he is just asking for it at this point.

So much jackassary going on in there.

BillyD

Scrodzilla, please leave the thread. Do not return to post in this thread.

TenSpeedV2

Reading this thread has me like....

TenSpeedV2

Nope, and none. No plans on it either. My bikes are setup properly, with the handlebars facing the correct direction.

seau grateau

It's really not necessary to try something to know that it's not going to work for you. I have 100% certainty that installing my bars backwards is not going to give me anything close to the riding position I want, and would be extremely dangerous and stupid given the kind of riding I do -- I'm guessing most of the people bashing this setup are coming from a similar place. So this whole "don't knock it til you try it bit" is pretty boring.

SHBR

I know there are some great threads over there. (there was a frankenbike thread, that seems to be missing, but it was insane, custom C&V logo, even anodized the stem, had all the best hardware you could ever imagine, all of it obsolete)

I still like this thread though, its rather amusing to see grown men, some of them older than me act like children.

All over a picture and some words.

I have bikes that are old and clunky, no love, but who cares? They are my bikes and they are not for sale.

prooftheory

I'm still convince OP is a troll.

BillyD

Different strokes for different folks. Apparently this thread isn't for you. Probably a different thread would be more suitable. Calling other people names is frowned upon.

prooftheory

I'm not calling anybody a name. I am accusing them of instigating trouble.