For long distance riding?

Go for it.

I just switched over my Woodrup to a moustache bar and I am incredibly impressed. I've got three rides on it I think. I rode it for slightly over 50 miles last weekend and have never been so comfortable on my road bike before! Maybe it's my mountain bike background that makes riding anything but the top/hoods out of my comfort zone, but on top of that, riding a normal road bar puts a lot of strain on my previously broken elbow. I've yet to experience any pain since I switched.

I have a messed up neck also and riding regular style drops does bother me when I am in the drop position for to long. I think one of the reasons I like the Jetter/Jettrek I just built is because of the ergo style bars and the raised height of the stem I chose keeps me in a more upright position and it doesn't bother my neck or back riding it.

Nitto stems for $100? I guess that is what the current exchange rate is doing to prices.

I have one bike that is too small: 54 when it should be 56. When I first built up my Trek 560, I was using a standard rise, Shimano 600 quill stem with a set of Nitto Randonneur drops. At the time I had I had some neck problems — but nothing like Randy — chronic muscle tension was all. Still, I was always craning up to see the road, and I was fearing my drop bar days were over.

Solution: I ordered a Nitto Technomic stem with nearly no reach to it at all. This shortened up the cockpit. I moved the seat forward to be sure that my knees were over the pedal spindles. The result — I can still apply the correct, proportional, tripartite weight distribution between the saddle, bars and pedals, and their is no stress on my neck. The difference is that I am in a much less aggressive posture. In urban traffic it is a positive boon.

Technomic stems with their long rise come in a very extensive section of reaches — here in Japan anyway. The one that I have on the Trek is so short that I cannot walk the bike with my usual grasp on the reach — it's like 20 mm or something. Like a shopping bike. The bike is to small for me as I said ... I'm 5' 9". But a 6' friend rode the machine for 25-30 Km or so last week with me on the Vitus, and he had no discomfort at all. Technomics are great. They are a solution for a lots of stuff that might be wrong with fit and posture. Just choose the correct reach.

I also have a Technomic on my Simplon 56. But it has a 54 TT. Because of the larger frame size and its specific geometry, I use much less rise in the stem and it is a model with a much longer reach. On my Vitus 979 I have a standard Cellini 1R (?) for days when I feel in fighting mode and am not going to be battling crowds of taxis and hordes of dangerous schoolgirl cyclists [charingko].

Oh ... I should add that I normally ride in the horns.

Randy — I really recommend this. It may be offensive to some people when they see a stem towering above the crown set, but this setup can be applied to any vintage bike. It is effective and relieves a lot of stress, but the drops are still there for the 10 or 15 minutes that you may fight a wind in your face.

Sorry — all the pics of the Trek are with the 600 stem.

PS — PM sent to you ... Randy

We do a lot of stem extension conversions at the shop I work at on all types of bikes from vintage road bikes to new cruisers with some being almost a foot long in height, they maybe ugly but at least they are riding comfortable.

I got this lightly used Technomic stem from Ebay for $35.



At the time the pic was taken I was okay with the bars level with the seat. I've since had to raise them another inch or so. Could still put them up several inches higher if I need to, though I hope I won't. I guess I could have just put bullhorns on it, but as far as I can see, all that would have done is given me the same position on the tops that I already have, while removing a bunch of other positions that I still like to use.

Randy, what make/model are those bullhorn bars on your Specialized? I can't remember seeing any like that before, and it looks like a good bend.