atombob

I'm thinking of swapping out my old 1960's Cennelli bars for flat bars this winter. This fixie is my daily commuter and being I live in Oregon the rain isn't far away. I'm hoping that the flat bars might give me little more stability on wet and raining streets as well as in traffic. People tend to drive alot more in the winter here.

Any thoughts for setting a fixie up for winter?

DannyRocks

Get a good set of full fenders.

Flat bars or risers, I'd recommend getting a good amount of sweep, but see what works for you.
I don't know Cinelli that well, but you'll probably need a new stem w/ 25.4 diameter. I've stripped two decent stems trying to run a shim on them.

Oury's get kind of slippery when wet, I'd lean towards something else, but that's just my viewpoint ehrerof.

baxtefer

bar tape would be a start.
nothing like cold, slippery, wet bars to affect your handling.

TheDean

Why not just ride on the top part of your drops get a back fender and spend the rest on beer?

cc700

put your stem way up and use risers. it's mad comfy.

skanking biker

Uhhhhh ..... like buthead ...... uhhhhhhhh like wrap your bars

wrap it ! wrap it! wrap it!


errrrrrr ..... you like said "wrap it."

queerpunk

i ride flatbars. they are my main city-riding, commuting, and alleycat-racing handlebar. sometimes, i ride them with the (threadless) stem flipped upwards, with a real low ratio.

they're comfortable - they seat me a bit farther back on the bike than i did with bullhorns, which was nice cause my top tube is a hair too long. they're stable and i like how the bike handles with them.

go for it.

cc700

flipping your threadless stem with flatbars makes a HUGE difference. it's pretty cool.

andre nickatina

flats are okay. i prefer horns or drops for the winter because when it gets windy, you can crouch down and get aero and slice through the wind, but this is more for the cold, dry, windy nights than the wet ones.

queerpunk

yeah, it made my bike feel... well... i don't know. fun. right somehow. goofy and light.

mander

Putting tape, plugs and a pair of tektro aero levers (for the extra hand position, mainly) on those bars will make for a huge improvement in functionality. It will also make it look better (to mander that is).

atombob

Okay. Plugs are in they are just black so no core samples from these bars. I'll tape them up this weekend. Still I might swap out the bars for flat ones just to see how it rides. I do like the look of drops better though. Thanks for all the advise!