Tuesday, December 02, 2008

The old man bike


Don't call it a hybrid!

That's right, I've officially given up on drop bars. My neck and my back thank me, and I get to upset all the roadies blowing by them up Sunshine (2000 foot climb up to almost 8k feet today - on December 2nd! Outrageous!)

In any case, I am now practicing what I preach (I've ranted about how great flat bar road bikes are before), I guess, in that I look goofy but I'm comfortable.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

hybrid...

Walt said...

Nice. Hide behind your anonymity, coward.

I prefer "skorcher". Yeah!

Hybrids are for losers.

Maybe I'll add some bar ends and a basket...

Anonymous said...

why didn't you make your headtube longer. you are a custom builder aren't you?

sdl said...

Put bar ends on the bar ends. (Meta-bar ends?) There's a real guy on a real bike that has at least 2 orders of bar ends. He definitely looks comfortable riding!

Anonymous said...

Ever go for the in betweener? Like the noodle, or some of the wacked out offerings of On One? They provide less drop and more positions.

And they can temper the perception of dorkiness by masking it with confusion.

Anonymous said...

add disc brakes and confuse everyone.

Walt said...

Anon -

The head tube is already huge. I used an uncut piece of S3 stock. The bike looks (from the side) like a ladder - super tall head and seat tubes, short (56cm) toptube.

In any case, yes, I could have raised the bars by 4 or 5 inches to get the drops to where I wanted them, but then the hoods would have been way too high - and honestly, it wasn't the reach or the bar height, it was mostly the hand position, I think. For some reason rotation my wrists out like that hurts my neck. No idea why.

Anonymous said...

Yah, definitely add some disc brakes. Also, add a riser bar (or even a Mary bar), that would be pretty sweet. Okay, now I am getting a little out of control in my "screw with the roadies". But that is how I would build up my "road" bike anyway.

Anonymous said...

Ummm...because you haven't held onto drop bars for at least 5 years...probably more? That may have something to do with your hands protesting.

Walt said...

Dude, risers? You're not thinking big enough.

BMX bars, dude. Maybe with bar ends. Or maybe one of those lowrider bike welded chain steering wheels? Think I could make an adapter for my 10 speed paddle shifters?

Anonymous said...

I'd just like to add my 2 cents...

Hybrid!!

;-)

Anonymous said...

These should do!

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/11tzXshZqkL._AA160_.jpg

Anonymous said...

Hey Boss,
fat slicks + flat bars = hybrid.
I'll try to send you a pic of a true old mans roadbike soon. Drop bars (w/ tall stack), rear rack, disc brakes, custom fork, slack geometry... i luvs it.