Originally Posted by
Jeff Neese
I don't know if you're being serious, but I find that to be one of the dumber ideas in bicycle design. You can't change the handlebar height without also readjusting the brakes. Who thought that was a good idea? I've had a couple of Trek Singletracks that had that built into the stem. Immediately replaced.
I don't know why that became such a staple of 80s and early 90s MTBs; the Ritchey 150mm that originally came on that bike is a super nice piece, and the KLEIN MC2 is an icon; they can sell for as much as entire bikes; but yeah, you're pretty much locked into your setup unless you want to re-cable the brakes.
I couldn't figure out a decent alternative setup on this bike, so I had to ride it a few times with no front brakes till I got the bars right, before I ran the cables.
I think the setup I came up with looks pretty slick, with echos of a BMX gyro, especially on a klunker build, with moto bars and a top-loader, but this is a very style -concious build.