Good to know. May just forego the BB adjustment if it's an option and tell 'em to put a new one in. I figure basic Shimano whatever should do the trick and be pretty cheap. It's been clunking around on and off for a couple months. Best just get it taken care of before the end of the month or next month when I hope to squeeze in a couple overnight/weekend bike camping/touring runs farther from civilization and bike shops! :-)

As for the chain - I recently replaced the chain. Skipped like crazy. Learned the hard way that the adage about always buying a new chain and a new cassette/freewheel at the same time is true... After a day w/ a bad skip, I got a new cassette, put it on and the chain hasn't skipped a beat since then.

That is correct. I've also got a Greenfield. The stock one had lost its rubber foot and wasn't that effective in holding up my bike when it was loaded up with a full commuting or grocery load in the old rack trunk/panniers. I love the Greenfield. Super easy to install. Beefy and strong and does a great job, even w/ new touring/utility panniers heavily loaded w/ milk and cheese from Costco. And it's made right here in North America, too, which is a good thing in my book.

I have a rear kickstand on my MTB (winter tank) and I agree those types are great. I should get one for this bike. brought mine on for a rear freewheel adn wound up also getting 1 rear shift cable and 2 wheels trued. they're gonna check my rear hub too and I know I have to clean and repack my front hub. man ... winter commuting took it's toll on this aluminum bike!

Hey gang, Nashbar has their trekking bars in stock once again. FYI.

Yeah I saw that. Good news for anyone who wants to try them out.

runrunn and irclean, just an FYI, I swang by my bike co-op on Saturday morning as part of a morning ride I was finally able to take. We took apart the whole bottom bracket assembly, cleaned it all out and repacked the bearings. There were two or three metal filings of mysterious origin amidst the grease and bearings. Obviously, we took them out. I say mysterious, b/c in the mechanic's estimation, everything looked good otherwise (i.e., nothing had been obviously damaged that would have caused the metal to be in there). Anyway, got it all put back together and the noise is gone. I hope it's as simple as that.

If the click comes back, I'll look into replacing the BB. In the meantime, $10 worth of work stand time at the co-op seems to have made the noise go away. Plus it was a fun, educational experience to pull the cranks, service the bottom bracket, and reassemble. Fingers crossed, fellow Schwinn hybrid owners.

I'm just adding some updated photos to this thread in response to another BF member's query about trekking bar setups.




This bike is very comfortable with the pictured trekking bar setup. I had it out today for the first time since I bought my new Norco in July, and I think with a few more tweaks (like a rigid fork & seat post, better wheels, and upgraded drivetrain & brakes) she will make a nice light touring bike.

I've had my trekking bars for around a month now, and I'm not 100% sure I like them. My buddy has an adjustable stem he's going to lend me and see if maybe they're just in a bad position and that's making me stretch oddly, since i have a ridiculously large bike (for my ridiculously large me). Mostly what I don't like is that I can't seem to hop up on curbs the way I used to... roll up slow, wheelie the front up, then bunny hop the back up just before it hits. I used to do it twice a day on my commute (before I could handle the hill) and now I fall every time I try it. And I feel a little stretched... I have about 2 more positions to try, not counting the adjustment on the stem, and then I guess I'm going back to flat bars... or maybe bullhorns or inverted drops...

So, as one who is fairly inexperienced with bike tweaking, I'm wondering what I would need to do to convert to trekking bars?

I currently have an older Novara Randonee with drops and old STI shifters. As I understand it, these would need to go, right? Would I likely need a new stem as well? I'd really like to do this myself, but if it's over my head I guess I can just have the LBS do it. How much do you think I'd be looking at, here?

(It wouldn't be the end of the world if the STI's had to go, either. They're older, suffering some problems, and I've been really close to pulling the trigger on a cheap IGH anyway; I'm just not sure if I'll have the moolah to swap all of that at once)

sudo, yes, the STIs would need to go AFAIU. The trekking bars diameter is the same as MTB handlebars. Lots of people swap the stem when they get trekking bars. Since the reach is different on them than on other bars. For me, I liked the new riding position afforded me by the new bars, so I still use my old stem - a longer adjustable one that came stock on my hybrid.

Yeah, if you go IGH, I'd think you should easily be able to find shifters that would fit the diameter of the trekking bar.

Does anyone know if there are drop bars in MTB diameter?
Just did my first foul weather commute and toke out the MTB (which has fenders). My hands were numb and I was tired after battling a 10 mph headwind with 25 mph gusts on the way home.
If noone makes them I think I might start, seems there is a demand.

I've seen pictures of an Ergon & aero bar combination with trekking bars for punching through the wind that looked more comfortable and versatile than drops (but really weird).

I have a buddy with a flat bar/aero bar combo that he swears by.

There are drop bars that fit MTB clamps, but they tend to be different from road drops. The ones I'm aware of (such as the On-One Midge sitting in my parts cabinet) are designed for off-roading, so they are very wide, with extremely shallow, heavily flared drops. This makes the drops extremely comfy, and gives you great control, but doesn't give you a particularly aerodynamic position. I also found the hoods position to be rather useless (it was too flared to be comfortable, and not that different from the drops in any case), but others seem to disagree on that.

You'll still need to change the stem (drops add a noticeable amount of reach), and most likely need to replace the controls (the Midge is meant for road brake levers and bar-end shifters), so converting to them is going to be as difficult as converting to normal drop bars.

Alternately, there are some drop-shaped bar-ends you could try. I have no experience with them.

I'm going to have to do the same, my trekking bars have me stretched out too far, so I'm going to get an adjustable stem as well. It will let me both raise them and bring them in a bit, which should solve it, hopefully. They're still more comfortable than flat bars, but I want them to be 100% usable.

The Nashbar ones are the same diameter as MTB bars.

1. get a minoura swing grip to mout lights on the stem
2. 2 mirrors that work well with treking bars are the Zefal "SPY" * a ULtralight from either
rei or Ortleib.
I use grip shifters and had no problems at all installing the bars and accessories.
Nashbar usually has the bars in stock. See if they have the gel pads and get 2
sets to put under the tape. Dont take off the strips that cover the glue, use scotch tape to hold them in place
while wrapping the bars. This way you can reuse the pads whenthe tape wears out