Finally tracked down a set of trekking bars. It was not as easy as one might think; I suppose for those south of the 49th Parallel it's as easy as a trip to the LBS or a few quick keystrokes online with VISA in hand, but for this Canuck it was a real "trekk". To make a long story short, an obscure, out-of-the way LBS on the edge of town was the only shop whose owners/employees did not look at me as though I was from Mars when describing my desired bars. Not only had they heard of them, they were only too eager to order them for me and I had them within a week.

Much to my chagrin the installation did not go without a hitch. For some reason, the geometry of this particular set brought my controls in contact with a bend in the bars right where I wanted them to be. Not only that, the OE stem that came with the bike was too short and made the cockpit feel very cramped. After a stem swap and a number of adjustments I finally feel comfortable with the set-up. I love all the hand positions that these offer me and I can stretch out much more than I could with the flat bars. It's the next best thing to drop bars, IMHO. I hope the tape stays put; it's my first taping job.




I don't really like having to mount the light where it is but I just couldn't get the clamp to fit where the bell is so it'll have to do for now. Also, I lost my bar-end mount postion for my mirror so I had to buy a helmet-mounted one. We'll see how I adjust to that. Still very pleased overall.