jeremyb

So i did a search but couldnt find it----I always see these like homeless guys or white trash riding around on old 10 speeds with the handlebars flipped over---why is that?

my guess is that a drop bar is too low for them, and that it was fashionable in the 70's, 80's to have a 10 speed but people didnt really like bending over and wanted their bars closer to them?

theres got to be more to it than that though? right?

thanks

Blue Order

I think it's a class thing. If you're a cyclist, you ride in the drops, they aren't cyclists (in their perception), and flipping the bars makes a more comfortable riding position.

Rabid Koala

We used to put sting ray bars and soft seats on Varsitys and Continentals to make "beach cruisers" out of them. Why not? They were heavy enough!

I'd never ride with flipped bars. That is just wrong.

mswantak

It ain't rocket science; your typical homeless guy, or 'white trash' as you so delicately put it, hasn't got $20 to blow on a new set of bars and isn't so image-conscious that flipping the bars is a big deal.

"If you're a cyclist, you ride in the drops"? Puh-leeze...

caloso

I always thought it was because it was a quick and dirty way of getting the bars up higher. It doesn't take any mechanical skill more than turning a nut. I always thought of it as a 70s thing. Then I happened to see this on the Library of Congress:





So, there's nothing new under the sun.

jeremyb

im not saying its rocket science, what im asking is if there was any major story behind it. a simple no is all thats needed. i was born in 1978, and also associated it with the 70's gas crisis etc, until i saw the old timie pics.

and white trash doesnt equal homeless. Theyre two different things.

Lamplight

I just assumed it was for comfort. I know as I get older, I find reaching way down there to the drops takes it's toll on the old back.

rvdv

Thats funny, I see that all the time in my home town,Toronto, Canada too.

CdnPeugeot

the upright dropbars were designed for carrying a 24 box of beer on your shoulders. you could steer & brake if needed...

Blue Order

OK, if you're a "cyclist," you understand the utility of being able to ride in the drops, and you use the drops when appropriate. If you're "not a cyclist," you adjust the drop bars for what you perceive to be a more comfortable riding position.

jeremyb

btw it makes a little more sense for those old time photos cause theyre riding fixies with no brakes.

48yearoldN00b

I saw a black guy riding a bike just like that today, was the purpose of your singling out white trash in the search of a reason somehow an attempt to imply that whites might have a different reason for adjusting the handle bars that way, than other ethnic groups?

I asked him about it, and he said it made it easier to ride wheelies, then he showed me, and rode nearly a city block with the front wheel riding high.

Eatadonut

So in your post, you say you saw a black guy. Are we to automatically assume all black guys are on par with white trash, because that's what I'm gathering.

luker

If a = b, and c = d, you have to really reach to automatically assume that a = d...

divineAndbright

I would assume its more of a comfort thing; if a "road bike" was all I could get my mits on I would do it. Meh those style of bikes are for racing, dont understand why they were put on the market so that any joe puke pail could get one. A lot of people call old ballooners and heavy bikes impractical, but so are they, even more so I think? If I rode one of those around these parts it would become demolished in about a year with all the old ussualy unmaintaind pot hole filled streets, not to mention about a million pinch flat tires.

luker

I dunno. The thing that kills road bikes in the wrong hands seems to be maintenance with a hammer and a crowbar, bailing wire and twine...leaving 'em out in the rain and the weather. Never putting air in the tires. Twisting the bars upside down and straining the crap out of the cables and housings. Swapping the seat out (using a pipe wrench) for one of those tractor seat jobs.

I got a bike from Scotland a couple of years ago. The guy bought it new in 1957. Rode it continuously instead of driving a car. Raced cyclocross on it. Completed a mongo 200km cyclocross race across a Scottish Mountain Range, three separate times. His idea of maintenance was (apparently) to dip everything in 30wt weekly. Edinburgh has crappy roads too...and that bike's still going strong. It is currently at the painter - I hope to see it again next month, maybe. Many of the parts (like the wheels) are original to the 1957 bike. I'm still scraping filthy oil off, but most of the parts are going to go back onto the restored frame.



I think that we don't give 'em enough credit for practical transportation.

brokenrobot

No, you're missing the point. What he's trying to say is that white people can't do stunt riding.

divineAndbright

Ok, but "I got a bike from Scotland a couple of years ago. The guy bought it new in 1957."

Yeah but thats 1957, "they dont make stuff like they used to" rings true!

ZachS

hmm, i've always associated so-called "white trash" with full suspension xmart bikes. maybe it would be cool to put upturned drops on one of those?

luker

yeah...I'm clearly white trash and I can't do tricks fer *****...

mswantak

Now we're onto something; maybe I'll try that on my Next.

number6

Yes, but they could not put duct tape around the steel pedals to allow for riding with bare feet.

zonatandem

No! You put the duct tape on the bare feet!!!
Seriously, next time you encounter someone with drop bars turned up, ask them why they do that. It will likely be a comfort or fit issue.

halfspeed

Yes, but if we're going to play the sanctimonious twit game we're going to have to make that leap.

ozneddy

its actually an old secret society that duz it, very very old and secretive, a bit like the mason,s u can tell who is a member by the upside down bars on there bikes, and if u were to ask them why they do it, they would come up with all kinds of excuses to put you off track (very cunning)