Obsession finds it's way into your mind almost completely unnoticed.

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.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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  • @Frank
    Oh yeah, "I only ride Belgian style" sounds way better then "I never ride in the drops." I'll remember that next time someone snickers at the virgin tape on my 'bars.

    Wacky enough I descend using the hoods as well, so I guess I also descend "Belgian style." I have a good grip on the hoods however, so never worried about it. I even ride my 'cross bike on the hoods most of the time and can still brake fine, even with with muddy cantilevers.

    I've always been envious of riders who can stay in the drops for long periods of time.

  • In group rides I'll do the hoods and the drops, depending on how strong I feel that day (I like riding the top of the bars too but tend to only do that when on solo rides). Some days everything is just clicking perfectly, and riding in the drops is a dream, not to mention I feel like I get more power out of the quads in that position. Riding on the hoods hurts my hands after awhile, I think I may need to play with the position of the brakes a smidge. I wind up having to switch hand positions often.

    As far as descending goes, if you're going fast I'm not sure how you can do it without being in the drops and still feel in control. One of my favorite things is to hit the corners and push on the bars to help corner, and it's super easy to do that in the drops.

  • @nvvelominati
    I've got to come clean here, i do the exact same thing.
    I will purposefully go out of my way just so i can ride past some shops displaying a nice set of bars in their window.

  • @Gianni

    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.

    ++1 to that.
    That is a truly beautiful thing.
    I love the fact that your saddle to stem drop is like twelve feet, and you have a reverse angle stem.
    Agree about anatomics. They look wrong to me and they seemed to offer an odd hand placement when i was reaching for the levers whilst in the drops.
    I was a bit of a Cinelli slut in my past.
    My favorite bars were my Cinelli Criteriums. They looked beautiful from they front as they had a wonderful downward curve similar to what you might find on a sprinters track bike.
    On reflection though i believe that they had too much drop as i found it hard to spend any great time down there.
    New bike will be coming in the next few weeks. Will be interesting to see what the compacts will feel like.

  • I'm glad Mouse brought this thread back up to the top, as I just noticed something the other day and was waiting for an appropriate thread to post it in.

    Observe, figure 1 - Kraftwerk's Tour de France album cover art:

    I never noticed this until the other week, but the bikes have what appear to be track bars, yet you can see a real derailleur/jockey wheels on each bike. The have brake levers as well.

    The album art was based on this Hungarian stamp:

    As you can see, the stamp features bikes without a rear derailleur.

    At any rate, I thought it was interesting that they chose to add a little detail like gearing to the TdF album art, yet left the handle bars the same, despite it being what I would consider an unconventional setup, unless at one point in tour history riders were using bikes with track bars?

  • If you look at the bikes on the stamp they have brakes too. And it wasn't until the late 30s that the more square handlebars we are used to came into vogue, after they were popularised by Belgian Tour winner in 1935 and '39, Sylvère Maes.

  • @Oli
    The Oli time machine strikes again, you've probably forgotten more about cycling than I've ever known.

  • I learned that from Richard's Bicycle Book in about 1977...I still can't remember my wedding anniversary though.

  • I sometimes lie to SWMBO that I am actually looking at porn on the web rather than looking up how to get a freehub off with cutlery because I don't have the right blinking tool

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