Check your PM.

There are plenty of handlebar options with shallower drops, even shorter distance front to back. My wife is 4'10" and she had had issues witht that. She got some kind of Specialized bars that are down bars, but are short from front to back, and shallow to.

My Nitto Randonneur bars are also shallow from top to drops (the ergo triple bend bars just bug me... too looooooooow)

I run bar end shiftes with an shimano XT changers in back (Sora?) Anyway... yeah, bar ends are cheaper and cheaper to replace is they bust. they work great... indexed.

The core of the bike is fit... how you feel draped over it. the rest is tweaking.
If you feel comfy, then upgrade it little by little. Full brifterization will cost you a bit of do-re-mi. But you will be shifter out over your bars, so you better get that part of your ergonomics worked out first.

sounds like a cool bike

Yes, if you try to sort through everything at once, it can get complicated. Just think of the bike as a collection of systems that all work together. Break it down into systems, but understand how those systems interact with each other. For example, you can choose a handlebar/stem/brake lever/shifter system, but understand how your shifters interact with your drivetrain, and how your brake levers interact with your brakes. So when you choose shifters, you will choose them based on your drivetrain.

Make sense?

If you want drop bars, but a more upright position, you can achieve that by changing your stem.

Look at the differences between these stems to see what I mean:

Racing angle; Racing angle with drop bars

Touring angle; Touring angle with drop bars

Hybrid stem; Hybrid stem with drop bars

That hybrid stem with drop bars is raised to a ridiculous height—a height you yourself won’t aim for—but you can see how the combination raises the drop bars.

Alternatively, you can change to a flat bar (with bar ends or aero bars), or trekking bar, as you suggested.


Pick out a triple based on crank arm length and gearing combination you want. Getting the crank arm length right will be an important part of bike fit. Your wide range cassette will be based on indexed or not. Get a copy of Frank Berto’s book and read up on gearing—it will be worth it in choosing a system. From there, you can choose the rest of your system.

Break it down into small steps. Buy parts here and there until you have the parts you need to complete one of your modifications. Meanwhile, ride your bike. The end result is worth the effort, because you’ll have a bike that fits you perfectly, and is set up the way you want it set up.


Nobody. :)

It might be pricey, depending on what you get. I bought a bike for the frame, and am taking everything else off. When I looked at it, I realized I had a full Shimano Deore gruppo, plus a wheelset. Just what I needed for another bike that has crap components. So getting those Deore components and wheelset was a bonus.

I think you could buy a bike, strip parts, and sell the frame. It’s cheaper than buying components individually. The downside is you probably won’t find a bike with exactly the combination of components you want—especially a triple crankset with short crank arms. Therefore, I would suggest building your system around three things: 1) Your handlebars/stem; 2) your crankset; and 3) your shifting (indexed or friction). Decide those three things, then build a system around those. You can’t really do that by buying a bike and stripping it, so just decide what you want, and start collecting parts. Meanwhile, ride and enjoy your bike. Over time, you will build the perfect bike for you. :)

Blue Order - Thanks for your help and your patient explanations. I really need to learn how the parts interact with each other, and more importantly if they CAN interact with each other. Not knowing what will work with what is part of why this seems overwhelming to a newbie like me.

I understand what you are saying about the stem angles above. But, don't you also have to consider the relationship of the seat height to the bar height? The touring bike is set up where the rider would have to be in a more aggressive riding position than the racing bike example even though the touring stem angles up more. I think I will be most comfortable if the bars are at least even with, or perhaps just a tiny bit higher than the seat.

Sigurdd50 - the bars on this bike are smaller than some I have seen, but they are not as good as the ones your wife has. I have seen those bars used on Specialized WSD bikes, and they really are quite different and look like they would be a lot better for those of us with small hands and short arms. I like the shape of them. It seems to me that bike manufacturers are slowly getting better, but still there are very few that have figured out that every single part of a bike needs to be smaller. Even when they have tried hard to make the frame work, they stick on regular size cranks or handlebars or brake levers. And many of them concentrate too much on the "standover" height. Yeah, I can stand over the bike, but the bars are still way too far away from the seat.

I'm not sure how to post pictures here, but I will try to figure it out if anyone is interested in seeing this little beauty. Thanks for all of the advice.

Yes, that's how the drop bars should be set up, level with the seat. First get your seat set to the right height, then set your bars to the right height, relative to the seat. The higher your bars are, the more upright your riding position will be.

Absolutely!

Well, I haven't figured out how to insert the full-sized images in the post, but you can click on these thumbnails if you wish to see the larger version.


http://img467.imageshack.us/img467/9...1463ba9.th.jpg
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Emsara, I forgot that your frame was quad-butted valite! Based on that, and the fact that the women's specific design fits you so well, making some further modifications is a sound investment (in your cycling pleasure.). Build your bike around shorter crank arms, a triple crankset and wide-range cassette, and higher bars, and you will be very pleased with the results!

What size frame is that? What is the standover height?

It's a very beautiful bike, in fantastic condition! You did very well for yourself! Congratulations!

I'm not sure of the frame size, but the standover is right at 28". I don't have a lot of clearance, but I do clear it flat-footed. Should I measure from the center of the BB to the center of the top tube?

It really is a gorgeous bike. I'd still like to know how much it cost when it was new, but I do know it was a heck of a find at $50!!

Blue Order - how big of a cassette do you think I can use?

If you have an inch or more of clearance, it fits.

Yes, that would be the frame size.

Unbelieveable!

Not sure. They go up to about 32-34 teeth on the largest gear. Something like a 12-30 or 32 would be pretty wide range.

I didn't ask my question very well. I was actually wondering how many gears in the cassette. It has six now - do I need to stick with the same or can I look at 7 or 8 or ?

Somebody else here might have a better answer than me.

I think you will have to stay with 6 gears, unless you change to a different (wider) hub that will accept 7 or 8 gears. And then you'll probably have to cold set your dropouts to a wider spacing to take the wider hub (not hard to do.).

That's assuming you have a narrow-spaced six speed (i.e., one that is the same width as a five speed, but with six gears.). On the other hand, if you have a wide-spaced six speed, I think you will be able to fit a narrow-spaced seven speed cassette in there without making any other changes (except when you change from a wide-spaced to a narrow-spaced cassette, you have to change to a narrow chain.).

You'd have to get a bike mechanic to tell you if it's narrow or wide-spaced, unless you have a set of calipers and can measure your hubs...

I found one of these for $200 and found the fit to be really good for me. But again, I've only been riding super tall bikes that I can only stand over by leaning and standing on my tippie toes. Would this be considered a worthwhile investment considering one can be had for $50? Also, the saddle is a Selle Italia and it comes with toe straps. I don't know if these are stock parts but I noticed they're the two differences that instantly stood out when I looked at emsata's pics. Thanks.

While the asking price sounds high, the real question is whether $200 is worth it to you. It comes down to this: any decent new store bicycle is going to cost you $200, or more. If this bike is in great shape (newish tires, cables, etc.), fits you like it should, and it will make you enjoy riding again, then it is the right thing to do. Its way cheaper than a gym membership.

I took your advise and ordered a copy from an Amazon reseller ($1 for the book, $3.99 shipping). Some professional advise about what vintage components work well together could be very helpful & well worth the $5 investment! Thanks for the tip.

" Who made a crappy frame and used good components? That's the bike I want to find!!!"

This old thread asks a good question and there was at least one bike like this. I did a repaint on a 71 Raleigh SuperCourse and wanted to upgrade the drive train. Eventually I found a Ross Professional Grand Tour new in the box on e-Bay for $105 + shipping.(this was about 5 years ago) The bike had a heavy mild steel (high tension) lugged frame but was equipped with the ornate early Shimano 600 group. I stripped the bike down to a bare frame and used the new parts and wheelset on my SuperCourse. I never did anything with the frame/fork & I eventually sold it to a kid who wanted to make a fixed gear bike. Ross made a lot of bikes, so there must still be some out there. This is the picture I used on Craigs list, its the only one I have of the bike. If you find one & want to use the frame, be sure it has a seat post. They are unusually small & would be hard to find. Don