Yesterday, I replaced the brifter on my 2015 Charge Plug, and put drop bars on my 1997 Specialized Rockhopper.

Rode the DROP-Hopper 6 miles to deliver my mother-in-law's Sunday paper. Just great! These are the same drop bars from my old MTB. The Rockhopper's frame is a little bigger and longer and it feels even better than the old bike. Using the front gear bar-end shifter in friction mode takes the finnicky-ness out of the front shifts which became more tentative after I added a larger large chainring. The rear is indexed and works perfectly.

For now I am not going to add toe cages back on. For one thing I noticed my feet are resting towards the outside of the pedals and the cages would force my feet inward. And in the snow and ice I do a lot of riding on the flat side and the cages will drag in the snow and scrape the pavement. The current pedals have mild pins And I've gotten used to riding flats on my folders.

I am always surprised when my wrenching is finished and functional.

I left the house without my take-a-look mirror and did the ride without a mirror. I wouldn't want to ride mirror less every ride, but it did get me to take some of the city's new bike infrastructure south of downtown. WIter sidewalks that function as MUPS and bike lanes that funnel riders onto sidewalks to take roundabouts and dangerous on/off ramp intersections. And the infrastructure goes further and spreads out more into the neighborhood than I would have guessed. It seemed a lot less dangerous than when this was part of my daily commute from 1992-2010.