sprintr

What should it be? What should I use as a point of reference? Should they be pointing straight down? Forward a little?

I replaced my bars with the Control Tech Formidable bars and now I am not sure if they are in the right place. The bar position is exactly where I want it, but I feel like the levers are too high up. Not aesthetically pleasing...





HEEEELP!

Sirrobinofcoxly

I know for me, I pretty much have the bottom of the drops level with the ground, and then the brifters are more or less at a right angle from there.

Like this:



There should be a nice smooth transition from the bend of the tops in the bar to the hoods. You don't want a major dip that will be a) uncomfortable, b) ugly.

Unless I'm misunderstanding what you mean...

sprintr

This is exactly what I mean... anyone else with pics?

Sirrobinofcoxly

Oh I see. This is just a sneaky way of getting some good bike pics. Pfft.

sprintr

No, as you can see from my edit, my problem is real. And compared to yours, mile look a tad high.

ChunkyB

Not hijacking, but I just wanted to say that's one of the prettiest bikes I've ever seen. I've seen it in other threads, and it's beautiful.

To the OP, your brifters do look pretty high. It's a pain to fine tune, especially if you've already wrapped the bars in tape. I'd suggest taking the tape off, and tweaking them, and then trying them out a little bit.

Sirrobinofcoxly

From your pic, I would suggest moving the brifters forward, so that the levers are more vertical. See how that feels. It probably won't take much to make a huge difference. One popular method is to take a ruler, and run it along the bottom of the drops (the flat part). Then move the brifters down so that the bottom of the lever is 1-1.5 cm above the ruler. Doesn't work for everyone, but might be a helpful reference point.

...And thanks for the kind compliments, Chunky. I'm a very proud boy

foresthill

I never could find a decent placement for my shimano hoods. No matter where I put them, there was an angle between the bar and the top of the hoods. Hurt my wrists and my hands went to sleep often.

I ditched shimano and upgraded to SRAM :-)

ChunkyB

I calls 'em like I sees 'em.

sprintr

I agree, that IS a sweet looking bike... also, thanks for the comment. I am thinking of doing just that.

ChunkyB

Good luck. It probably depends on lots of things, and it's probably different for everyone, but they do look pretty high. Be sure to post some after pics when you get them all dialed in.

sprintr

After:




Thank you both for your replies!

ChunkyB

That looks so much better. It's weird because it looks like you only moved it forward a cm or so, but it makes a world of difference. I hope it works out for you.

BTW, I love your bike. Cannondales really are the bomb.

Surferbruce

i'd still rotate your bars up just a tiny smidge to smooth out the transition to the hoods, but thats just me.