linus, for being a dumb member, you're right on target here...

Hey I think I saw you today!

You passed me. :(

So, instead of this:

http://www.timhuntley.info/wp/images/trek02.jpg

It should look like this:

http://www.timhuntley.info/images/TrekPrototype.jpg

Yes? And that will supposedly gain me stiffness and weight savings?

...you now also get a bag to carry stuff :)

Jesus, being religious is good, but get some education and learn. Did you even understand what I was talking about?:rolleyes:

You won't notice the stiffness and weight saving when you ride, but it's less likely to have a steer failure.

I was just making a suggestion, hope you didn't feel offended by my previous posts. If you still can't get over the look of it, just ride as you are right now.

The bike industry created this dilemma. There was a time when you could buy a lot of different types of road bikes based on your riding style. Most bikes today are racers. I’d fathom to guess that most of us are not racing bikes.
Flipping your stem to get aero and becoming a weight weenie is cool and all but taking a realistic look at yourself and your riding style is most important. For me, I like to ride medium to long distances comfortably so my saddle is just a bit higher than my handlebars.

Except that (as I predicted) the bars are higher than they were with the flipped stem and spacers. But it's your bike man, you decide what setup to go with.

It's absolutely rediculous to sacrafice comfort for aero. And it's even dumber to sacrafice lung capacity and efficiency.

I think you should start there, and if it still feels too high, then flip it. If that feels too low, you could put the spacers back on or get a 0 degree stem instead. I have a 0 degree stem on mine, but my previous bikes had -17 with a larger frame. Whatever fits you best is the best, worry about stiffness and weight only if you are being excessive (too many spacers, too long of a stem, etc.)

just because you aren't comfortable and can't breath when you're bent over, doesn't mean the rest of us suffer from the same affliction. ;)

I don't think it was me... I actually did leave the CamelBak at home (not sure why, just felt like it) and wore my Lance Armstrong Foundation LIVESTRONG jersey. The Discovery jersey was in the hamper.

Still had the stem flipped up, though... :D

What a gorgeous day out there. Rode from Bowie to Galesville out on the bay. It was supposed to be a 55-mile loop, but a little wrong turn action made it my first metric century of the season... :)

DrPete

GG

It's not about me, it's about the bad advice consistently given to NEWBIES.

Heh...I flipped the bike and left the stem alone. I'm screwed.

;)

[QUOTE=iamtim]
http://www.timhuntley.info/images/TrekPrototype.jpg
QUOTE]

i don't think there is anything wrong with flipping up ur stem. as long as ur comfy and u can breathe well and ride on for days.. then it's all good. it's not like ur gonna be a pro or anything.. right?

Flipping the stem seems awfully drastic for most. Stems come in a bunch of angles and more gradual change seems more appropriate. Specialized actually makes a stem that goes from +16 deg to -16deg by changing out shims that fit over the steering tube. You can lower the angle just a couple degrees at a time untill you find what works best for you.

Nice one. The wife and I rode with another couple from bikeforums (bobby_c and his wife) and we had a very nice rolling 49-ish miles. Very windy though, so we were all pretty beat by the end of the ride.

My wife has improved so much in a short time. Even with the wind, her average speed yesterday was almost 2mph faster than she was doing this same ride last spring.

I hope that isn't a thinly-veiled reference to me.

Best suggestion yet +1000

iamtim, the bike looks great flipped, and if you feel comfortable on it great.

I like the look of it Post flipped, don't let the spacer cops and anti flippers get to you. Personally I like the look of spacers and a more horizontal stem as it looks more like the classic Road Bike Quill stems. It certainly looks better than having no spacers and having a stem point towards the sky.

My Reynolds Ouzo (with Carbon steerer) has a maximum recommended spacer stack of 1.5 inches, which is plenty of spacers. BTW I cut mine right at stem height with no spacers just because that's what I was after.

As Cydwaze asked, I would rather ride a Hybrid comfort bike than a Road Racing bike made to look all pedestrian, but thats just me.