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10-21-11 | 07:25 AM

#13

bud16415

Senior Member

Joined: Jul 2011

Posts: 1,141

Likes: 5

From: Erie Penna.

Quote:

Originally Posted by trek330

Is that amateurish or frowned on.

Hey I resemble that remark J

I ride a touring bike both as a weekend or overnighter and also as a daily driver commuter grocery getter, with or without panniers, and with the hopes of finding enough time to do an extend tour at some point. When I got back into bikes a few years ago around the 50 age mark I found things were not quite what they used to be and struggled with all kinds of bike related issues getting started. Drop bars seemed much worse than I remembered them. I went thru a series of learning curves (self fitting) to find out what I needed to do to make being on a bike for several hours an enjoyable experience again. I would watch other riders trying to not look amateurish riding along on the tops or just finger tips on the tops, but their bikes when parked sure looked like a pro fitted bike. At that point I started reading a lot of Sheldon Brown and others and saw the clear advantage of multi hand positions and drop bars, removed all my bar wrap and vowed not to replace it till I figured out what would work for me regardless of what others thought my bike looked like. I replaced the number 7 stem with one that was adjustable and a long riser section. what I found was the most comfortable position for me was in the drops but when the drops were at a height where they split the difference with the tops and my saddle height, at least 3 inches higher than the classic fitting and a good 2 inches closer to me. That let me shove the saddle back to where my weight was balanced between my legs sit bone and hands. I always liked the hoods but with STI shifters and brakes and my hand size I never felt really good about stopping and shifting from ether position and raising the bars didn’t improve that. I did feel so good about staying in the now elevated drop position that I lowered the STI's way down on the hooks rendering them useless as hoods, I didn’t care as the control both shifting and stopping was so much better. My speed actually improved because I was more aero on high drops than not being in the drops at all because they were low. And with the tops high and upright it was perfect for a good secondary position more upright to get a back stretch. I then added a front only mountain bike brake to the top position as an experiment as I was thinking about adding cyclocross type brakes to the top. I found that the single mountain brake worked so good I never did make that change. I don’t use it for hard stops but to scrub a little speed off or hold the bike at a stop on a hill or when mounting its fantastic. I still missed the hood position and thought about adding fake hoods (tandem stoker type) as an experiment made my own from a old hoods off a 10sp with a triple layer of inner tube cover. And once again they worked so good I just left them. I reapplied the old bar wrap but first experimented with padding under it. 3M makes a double stick tape that has tough foam in the center. I put that stuff at all the pressure points and put the wrap back over it.

I have been still tweaking here and there and in no way am I recommending this fitting for anyone but me, but I am recommending figuring out what works for you and keeps you comfortable, pain free and injury free, and most important riding your bike. I feel safer with this riding position now as I have much better vision, less neck pain, less hand pain, less butt pain, and less knee pain. I have also noticed I can get more aero with bending my elbows for a fair amount of time. Downhill's and wind surges.

Drops 50% Hoods 30% Tops 20%

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