pragueinspring

I used to ride my Varsity that way. It was for almost 10 months that I did that. But that was when it had duct and electrical tape as bar tape and it couldn't shift properly - and had original wheels which were replaced for Aluminum.

After I restored the bike I put everything in proper position.

I'm down with the drop-bars flipped up solution.

FerrariMX5

A lot of times when I ride my bike I just ride with no real destination. I tend to write like that too. I have observed that Uni Cycles are impractical, but people buy them and ride them. I do not understand why. I've read that some wealthy people buy Trek Pilot 5900's and by the time they buy a pair of shoes with cleats, proper riding jerseys, shorts and a pair of $15.00 comfort socks they have spent $5900.00. I do not understand why. Some people buy each member of their family a bike at the nearest local Wal-mart, I don't know why but they do. Some people sit at home and watch people exercise on TV. Again I don't know why. But if someone sets up their bike to make it more comfortable, easier to ride, more fun to sight-see, easier to shout and point, easier to ride at a slower pace, easier to hang their wal-mart bags with a gallon of milk on one side and a six pack on the other, I am beginning to understand why. They may have invested as much as $35.00 (purchased from the local Thrift shop) for their up-right modified, but I do not see any of them as being any serious competition in a race that takes them 100 miles away from home. All Bicycles should be FUN and are a great source of excercise even if they are only ridden indoors as a stationary. I think the ones that FLIP the bars just do it for the FUN of it. By not conforming to the Norm, they are all Non Conformists banded together. What gets me is they are always smiling as if they really are enjoying their $35.00, slow shifting, Chain Clicking, Tire Wobbling, Upright bikes as much as I enjoy my Campanolo C-Record, with its Quiet Shifting, Close gear ratio, light weight, High Speed, tucked in position, chin to the handlebar, dropped down, race minded, traffic mixing, home brew, road bike. (Hope no one steals mine), but I know mine is safe from the hands of the Up-right crowd. Mine is just not what they are looking for. If I loaned it to them they would just say no. Thank you, but no thanks. But you know what? They are bikers. and I respect that.. I think we all do. Besides, perhaps it is easier to light up a smoke and keep it lit while riding in an up-right position.

dougb

I think I've heard this called "Chicago style". I don't know why.

Bogester 

I don't think this guy was white trash....and I'm pretty certain he wasn't from Chicago. (bottom row, center picture).

https://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/album56?page=1

luker

When you have little wings sprouting out of your ankles, you can act any way that you want.

luker

ya know what I wish? I wish when they flip the bars, they turn 'em around too, so that the ends point backward toward the rider instead of forward, like the horns on a bull. That would be a lot cooler.

Blue Order

I pass a bike with the bars flipped up and around like that every night on my way home.

randya

Drop bars suck! They were put on the all the 70's bike craze bikes so that Joe College could imagine he was a bike racer. I put drop bars on my Raleigh 3-speed in about 1967 for the same reason. In about 1980 I took the drop bars off all my bikes that had them, and have never used another set since; it hurts my neck to even think about drop bars anymore.

mswantak

Coppi!? Hmmph! Sounds like some thievin' guinea-wop from Milwaukee. I'll bet he ain't got no receipt for that bike and he's using it to run numbers for the mob.

lotek 

with the bars turned up I can fill em with mad dog, turned down it just runs out
and spills all over the ground and my pants.

with guzzoline at close to 3 bucks a gallon (predicted 5 by summers end by one doomsayer)
I think we are gonna see more of these, and the pickins at the yard sales and thrifts is gonna
get slim.

marty

wonkemtel

Early MTBers! Thise are just bar ends for climbing!

rokrover

Ozneddy, you let our secret out! I rode like this in Brisbane (Qld. NOT Florida) in the 60's. We'd have a 12-gage shotgun shell with trigger in each bar end for urban defense. No sense blowing your legs off - had to point the right way, eh?

caloso

The bottom one looks like they're set up for commuting: lights, racks, bells, nice comfy tires, fashionable clothing.

Plus ca change....

bovine

No kidding, check out the thighs on the girl on the right. Jesus.

USAZorro

Imagine the hubub that would result on the road forum if someone turned carbon bars on a Litespeed upside down.

USAZorro

Drop bars keep me young, and let me feel like I'm going fast.

Would never put 'em on my Superbe, but that's me. Better that people are riding, than choosing not to because the bar type/position doesn't suit them.

See? I can be tolerant too.

alanbikehouston

Thanks for the interesting historical photos. Fifty years ago, the guys in my neighborhood did the opposite. We flipped the bars on our Schwinn cruisers to make them look more like racing bikes.

Sammyboy

I have seen this bar orientation referred to by the fixed gear "community" (and I use the word lightly) here as Ghetto Style.

ozneddy

careful rokrover , they may hear u ! (shhhhh it,s a secret !)

bkrownd

They're cooler if the ends point straight up.

bikemeister

My dad told me people used to flip the bars around because it looked old and cheap, and thus your bike was less apt to be stolen. I think it's cheaper to just flip the bar around for an easier riding position than getting a high rise bar. Homeless people tend to be poor - not always, but usually.

mswantak

What!? How could they be? Look at all the money they save on rent.

peripatetic

I don't think that you have to narrow this to just white trash. Here in NY, the trash who ride with the Ghetto style are mainly Puerto Ricans. I think it's the preliminary step before they've managed to upgrade to a nice Schwinn Cruiser with the blasting portable music, flags and enormous horns.

In San Diego, all the beach trash (black, white and latino, though, admittedly, mainly white) do it because they're going along the boardwalk at about 1/2 mile an hour and really need to be as upright as possible to keep their rugged, leather-forming tans even. And when you need to carry your bags full of empty bottles and cans to the recycling hubs, it's a lot more beneficial to have hooks to hang 'em off of. I also think it's kind of a "trashy" and homeless-person trend. (Yes, even in poorer communities, there are trends and fashions, though probably not recognizable to most others as such.)

Personally, I agree with luker--I just can't resolve myself to the handles turning up and then forward. But in my current obsessive attention to detail, I've also become a bit snobbish about thick tubes, as well and ugly 'comfort' saddles, as well.

luker

I have seen a guy riding about on a beautiful copper-colored bike from the 70's in my neighborhood lately. He's hoboed the bars. I haven't gotten close enough to see the manufacturer, although it looks (right now) to be in very good shape. Crap, I'm gonna get a reputation as a bike stalker!

outakontroll

I was riding in the 70's and I turned some bars up but it was because the bikes at my disposal where cheap chunks of led,that only resembled a fast road bike. it's not fun in the drops when the bike sucks, so we flipped the bars road weelies jumped ramps, cracked frames and taco'ed some rims. so for me and my friends it was about having fun with what you had.