Originally Posted by
EKW in DC
Thanks for that, irclean. Compliments of BarrackSi, I've got a set of trekking bars on my bike now, too. So far, I'm actually pretty comfortable w/ the stock stem, so I may hold off a bit and see what my thoughts are once I get a few more miles in. My bars are black, though, and the rigid fork I plan on buying in the next week or so is also black, so I may replace the stem w/ a black one for aesthetics if nothing else (regardless of what I decide to do sizewise w/ the stem).
I'll post an update to my pictures in the commuter bike photos thread when I get a chance and maybe post a couple handlebar specific ones here, too. In the meantime, a handful of pics from February (
sans trekking bars, pedals, saddle, Greenfield, computer, and probably a couple other upgrades I'm forgetting right now) are
here.
As for improvements, I agree. All the changes I've made over time have also been significant improvements.
Yes, our bikes are eerily similar. It looks like the biggest differences are that your fork is threadless, where as mine is threaded. I too plan to eventually switch to a rigid fork - at which time I'll likely go threadless. Also, my bike has the Altus 8-speed drivetrain where as yours has the Tourney (7-speed?). A friend of mine gave me an Acera derailleur that he was not using and I'll be switching to that eventually as well. Other than those slight differences it looks as if our bikes could have been built on the same production line. Congrats on your acquisition of the trekking bars! Make sure to post some pics once you have it set up. Here's some pics of my bike before the recent changes:
Shortly after purchase:
In full Winter Warrior set-up:
