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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I posted a comment on that thread, I'd be interested to see some photos/vid of you on your bike straight from the side.
Well, crap! Thanks a heap. The missus, looking over my shoulder, asked 1). Is this what you waste your time with on here? This doesn't even have to do with cycling; and 2). What the hell are memory seats? You see, I subscribe so fundamentally to Rule 25 that we still drive a Flintstones-era Volvo, and I maintain that automotive engineering hasn't really advanced since then (when we bought this car secondhand in 1998, I was convinced that it would be the last gas-powered engine I'd buy"”oops"”although maybe that's why I'm stubbornly holding onto it). Apart from the ceiling cover having come off, the dash coming unstuck, and the passenger-side rear window not responding to the driver-door controls, the car is a beaut and runs like a dream. But now, the very idea of memory seats has her revisiting a long contentious debate. "But I don't need memory seats to assert you're number one, honey" didn't get me very far. Thanks a lot, Frank! Afternoon ride couldn't come soon enough...
@Marko
Not just that, it's in the lowest gear. That's the gear that offers the most aesthetically pleasing angles between chainrings, cogs, chain, and derailleur. It's not hardman to photograph your bike in a big gear; it's hardman to ride it in a big gear. Uphill. In the rain. On cobblestones.
@Nof Landrien
Nice account on the bars you've ridden.
I think it depends greatly on the shifters. Seems my bars with similar bends (though with anatomic drops) that have Shimano shifters have that same problem. The Ergos with the 3Ts seem to have a nice, smooth perch. I suspect SRAM may have the same. Solid rain all this week, so this bike won't see the streets as I'll be on the Rain bike; but once I ride it, I'll be curious to see how they fare.
I was giggling like a schoolgirl about this last night and almost pointed out the lowest gear. But there's nothing aesthetic about this. 53x11 is aesthetically beautiful. On the cobbles, uphill, in the rain. But also against your designer grey stone wall. That said, I tend to "park" the bike in a fairly high gear in order to start light on cold legs, but lowest? Unless you live halfway up Mont Ventoux and can only go up from your home (and if you start by going down, you really are a fucktard), leaving the bike in the lowest gear is weak. Photographing it as such is even weaker.
@Steampunk
I always park it on the small cog and small chainring to minimize cable stretch. It's what I read in an MTB magazine years ago. Never occurred to me that the same mightn't apply to road bikes, given the different (i.e. existence of) aesthetic requirements. Got me thinking, now...
@Geof
There you go.... see what listening to a bunch of knuckle dragging MTBers will do.
And what about the fact that Franky boy is sporting a bike computer? I thought that the big fella didn't roll with them?
@Geoff... I may be late to this debate, but WTF? I thought we were talking about bars, and you lot are off on one about gears. Jesus. For all of you brave enough to run carbon bars... Well done, and kudos: you're fine, you're fine, you're fine, you're toast (with carbon splinters in your face, quite close to your eyes, hmmmm)..... As for me, I'll happily forego the extra money, extra weight and run alu bars... But I'm LOVING the old school drops in the photos... That's what I aspire to run when I drop ten years, twenty pounds, and get a fuck-sight more flexibility... In the meantime... Sorry, deda 100s, with authentic pussy-whipped shallow drops. That's me... Rule 9 is my salvation (I only ride when it's raining)
@Marcus
No, I said you should throw out your piece of shit HR monitor and ride on feel. Small, simple computers is what it's all about. Rule 74.
@Roadslave
This post is up there with your Stetson post, "looks cool, looks cool, looks cool, ooooh, messy." Nicely played.
Good thing you live in the UK, then, right mate?