It starts with a casual observation. You hardly even noticed when it happened, but something shifted in your mind. A bit later the same observation is made again, this time in a slightly different context. It happens again and again and the observations layer atop one another like sheets of tracing paper that, when flattened together, form a complete picture.
And so, having gone almost completely unnoticed, an obsession is born.
My obsession over classic-bend bars has been developing slowly over the last two years or so, fueled by three principle factors (mimicking the pros, form, and function), and buffered by another (investment). The fuel for the fire included the observation that many of my favorite pros ride classic-bend bars, the FSA K-Wing bars I was riding didn’t allow for a very smooth routing of the cables from my Ergo shifters, and I was not satisfied with the quality if my shifting. On the other hand, I liked the scalloped area that the K-Wings offer, and I was reluctant to move away from a bar that I spent quite a bit of money on, especially for a bar that would also represent an investment and which I wasn’t sure I would like any better. However, those same scallops caused sharp bends in the cables which adversely effected shifting performance. Not to mention, I haven’t seen a pro riding K-Wings since, well, ever.
The classic-bend bars have been weighing heavier and heavier on my mind recently; my shifting has never been as good as I think it should be, and I have become increasingly convinced that the problem was the cable routing and that classic-band bars would likely resolve the issue. Also, both Brett’s and Marko’s latest build projects involved classic-band bars, and I love the look they offer. Add to that to the fact that I’ve recently grown especially tired of the angular look of the K-Wings, particularly in marriage with my 17-degree stem, and you’re asking for trouble.
Yesterday, a flurry of text message exchanges with Marko over bars sent my obsession over the precipice. That, combined with a particularly frustrating day at the office turned obsession into action; the Hand of Merckx guided me into a chance meeting wherein I ended up with a like-new 3T Rotundo Pro bar for less than half the retail value. No shipping, no waiting, just good-old-fashioned instant gratification. Impulse buy satisfied and bar experimentation available at a palatable cost, I disappeared into the basement to labor on my machine for a few hours to install the new bars. And, although rainy weather today will keep me from riding Bike Number One, shifting performance on the work stand showed a considerable improvement in the crispness and speed of the shifts, and sitting on the bike in the workshop seems to validate that the classic bend is indeed very comfortable. Both of those test seem pretty conclusive, obviously. And, most importantly, it looks Pro.
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View Comments
@Steampunk
Yeah, and if you rode near big shop windows, you would most certainly take a careful look at yourself in that sweet V-Kit.
@frank
Agreed! Di2 is Ok. The satisfying perfection of shifting finely adjusted Campy it is not! But my racer friends who have switched, swear by it. I can't get over the lack of feel or the visual element of the "attachment" hanging below the bottle cage.
For the record, I ride K-Wings - taped half way. That's how they came when I bought the bike. Replacing the tape, I have learned that you can't tape the ones I have the whole way up. If you do, you strain with the cable routing and it reduces the accuracy of the shifting. ;-}
@frank @Steampunk "Self absorbed admiration of one's own vanity". "Intellectually homeless". Well played both of you. Marvellous efforts which I look forward to employing (and taking full credit for) in a range of different situations. Perhaps we need a sub-lexicon for useful phrases of potentially broader application.
BTW, love the Shakespear shout-out in the title of this post. I assume it is meant to suggest you are drowning in bars, rather than a mad tart with poor swimming technique.
@frank
Yes: I suppose, on some level, I'm avoiding the temptation (because that is a very fine kit and I'm a much awesomer rider in it), and I won't deny I do like taking the occasional gander at the guns in the shadow on the ground, but this whole vanity thing is not something that works in cycling for me. See Joshua's recent post on The Man with the Crystal Globes.
God damn it...do I have to be the first to say that bike gives me considerable carbone?! Sweet jesus it looks perfect, the new bars are a improvement, gaagaa googoo. Daddy want. Frank, you have a calling and it's not whatever you do from 8-5, you could be a bike stylist to the stars maybe work with Joe out of his place in Hollywood. Nice, nice bike.
Your chain is on the small ring, fucktard.
Spot on Steampunk! You have time to look at the reflections you sure as hell have more left to dish out.
@Marko
Holy crap that was funny. The wife doesn't think so, but she is a Huevo fan anyhow, so what that F does she know?