Bekologist

hbar angle is ...curious.

how do you intend to ride in the drops without slipping off?

Machka 

That's my usual handlebar angle ... in fact, we tilted the handlebars up ever-so-slightly after about the first half kilometre. I'm more concerned about the top of the handlebars being comfortable. I rarely ride in the drops ... very rarely.

azesty

This bike may have started out blue, but it is now red from embarrassment after having a picture of its non-drive side posted in a public forum!

z

Machka 

My bicycles don't like to do things the conventional way.

Chris Pringle

Gorgeous bike from one of the most respected touring bike manufacturers, Machka! May it take you to many awesome locations around the globe and give you MANY years of riding pleasure. Looks like that one is a keeper!

antokelly

Yes class bikes i was seriously considering selling my sherpa and buying the club tour mainly becauce of the 700c wheels.Will you try and add front panniers or are you sticking with just rear.the reason i ask that i'm going to be using front panniers for the first time on the sherpa i did do a test run and to be honest it never fazed the bike one bit.
anyway well done on the new bikes there really class safe riding.

Bekologist

might be time to try a trekking handlebar.

Machka 

I've used bullhorn bars, and they're OK, but I like the bars I've got. I've been riding with them like that for years, and tens of thousands of kilometres ... and they're comfortable.

Machka 

We'll just be going with rear panniers. Our usual touring setup is one set of panniers, rack bag, and handlebar bag. So ... we'll see how they handle with that setup.

2manybikes

The thread title did exactly what you hoped it would, to me.

I think that blue is the best color for a bike. I have one the same blue.
What bottle cages are those?

Bekologist

if you very rarely use the drops, and have your drop bars actually angled UP for more comfort as pictured, you would get more usable hand positions from a trekking bar, euro style, providing even more comfort for the next tens of thousands of kilometers.

mikhalit

@Bekologist, not necessarily trekking bars will fit those who like drop bars. I had butterflies and hated it, same for my wife. Those curves are actually stealing a lot of space from your palms.

@Machka, what's the tall fork steerer spacer are you using? Is it just a piece of an aluminium pipe painted black, or is it a stack of multiple spacers (can't see the little details on the photo)?

nubcake

Does it really matter as long as she is comfortable? She has ridden more miles than many of us even hope to do. The beauty of cycling is the individuality in personal set ups. There are thousands of opinions as to how things "should" be done but in reality there is no right answer other than what works for you.

Bekologist

I doesn't matter, but i'm making a constructive suggestion because of her handlebar tilt and mention she very rarely uses the drops.

Machka would get more usable, comfortable hand positions setting it up like a euro tourer with a trekking bar. she's got limited hand options right now. the drops are slightly hazardous for use in that type of a setup when there's that much droop at the end of the bar.

nubcake

Not really. When I ran drop bars I had the tilt very similar to what is in the pic above and had absolutely no issues holding on in the drops

Bekologist

I think that's great, but recommended angle of the drops from most every manufacturer is zero to 5 degrees. Excessive droop in the drops is a sign of poor fit and increase the hazard of using the drops.





is the position of your road bike handlebar the sign of a poor fit

nubcake

When I had mine tilted up like that it was not because the bike did not fit, it was because I felt I had more control descending from the hoods on rougher trails.

Most manufacturer claims are written by lawyers, not riders. Cross top levers even come with a sticker saying they are not safe when used alone because they lack the stopping power needed. Many kid trailers say do not ride over 15 mph, most bikes come with warnings that say check every bolt every ride, check spoke tension every ride, etc. The world if full of warning written by lawyers because of how sue happy this country is. Some people just prefer things a different way that others because people are just different.

Bekologist

again, i think your opinion is just great.

however, in the world of bike fits, there are certain truisms.

if machka went to get a bike fit, the bike fitter would be more than likely suggesting the same things I have been mentioning.

machka can ride with her handlebars in the flipped up, smoking a cigarette position if that makes her comfortable. as an observation on bike setup, as the bars are set up now, its a sign of a poor bike fit, outside most manufacturers recommendations, and considered hazardous to a rider when using the drops.

2manybikes

That's a nice color for a touring bike.

maxine

Hazardous how, exactly? I'm genuinely curious, because on the one hand, we have alleged bike fit "truisms", and on the other hand, we have three actual posters with actual experience (Machka, nubcake, myself) who do or have in the past had their drop bars set at just about the same tilt, with no ill effects over thousands of miles (collectively) of riding.

I don't normally ride in the drops, but will often do so when I'm on one of those flat, devilishly windy Maryland Eastern Shore rides!!! As a result of riding in my oddly-titled handlebars . . . I've never crashed my bike, fallen off my bike, had my hands fly off the handlebars, annoyed the cows I've passed, or . . . anything.

Perhaps (as sometimes seems to happen in Bicycle World ) this is a case of a "truism" that applies mainly in the pack racing context being cited as gospel truth for all other forms of biking??

Bekologist

if you don't ride the drops, you won't notice your hands slipping off the bends when your HB tape is wet or you're tired.

drops with a lot of cant to them make using the drops less secure and a rider can slip off during sudden impacts, when fatigued, or when the tape is wet.

you're not holding the drops, you're squeezing the space between the drops and the brake levers.... not holding on tight.

The lack of secure grip should be fairly simple to grok.

the fit issue is a wholly separate deal from the safety concerns, but they are related.

Rowan

Just what are you on about, Bekologist?

The guide when setting up drop bars like this is for the ends to be pointing down to the rear axle. Machka likes her hoods in the position as illustrated. Her desire has come from years of experience. She rides the drops without issues, wet, dry, windy or calm.

The issue of using the drops is related more to the saddle. But this is a touring bike... and after years of experience in all sorts of riding conditions, it is what is most comfortable for her, and especially as she now has shoulder injury issues.

You can debate all you like the virtues of one set-up over another, but the imperative is the individual's comfort, and in this case, that's how Machka wants her bars.

Mine aren't so much different, although the hoods aren't quite so high.

Oh, and as to fit. She did have a pro fit done when we bought the tandem. The dimensions we walked out from the shop with were identical to the set-up on her other bikes, including the upward ends of the bullhorn bars. Maybe we do know what we are doing.

Machka 

I just read that very brief article because I was curious if it would tell me why any other handlebar position than the one in the image was a sign of poor fit ... and the article couldn't tell me.

The article tells me that if I don't set my bars up the way the manufacturer recommends, I won't be "using the bar to its full potential". It goes on to tell me that if my "bars are excessively tilted up it basically makes the drops unusable or extremely uncomfortable".

However, the article does not tell me anything about handlebar position as it relates to fit.

I've ridden four 1200K randonnees on two different bicycles, and heaps of other long rides on those two and another two bicycles, with my handlebars in the same sort of position as I have them on this new touring bicycle. If there were any upper body fit issues, I think they would have appeared during those rides. Instead, I've been comfortable on my bicycles.

As for the "hazards" of having my drops tilted like they are ... somehow I've managed to keep my hands on the bars quite comfortably during the occasions when I have ridden in the drops over the past decade of riding.

2manybikes

I have one of my single speed bikes with the bars just like Machka has in that photo. The tops are nice and high if my back is sore. down on the ends of the drops I'm lower, which is a huge help in a headwind with only one gear. And of course the deep part of the drops even lower for speed or headwinds. Suggesting that you can't hang onto taped bars in that position, is absurd. It's a great position for a long ride too. More of a difference between up on the tops and low in the drops.

2manybikes

Only a decade?