Mimic those who are better than you; this is the underlying principle of nearly everything I do in life, whether in my work, in sport, or hobbies. The less I know about something, the more inclined I am towards this, and the more faithfully I mimic. As my skill and knowledge develope, I mime less and reason more, applying my own mistakes as well as those of others to the process we commonly refere to as becoming ‘experienced’. This process continues until I grow into an opinionated sponge; while I continue to mop up any and every piece of information and advice I can get my hands on, I follow the path that is influenced still by advice, but dictated largely by the unique journey that lays behind me and the lessons I’ve learned along it. But still the underlying premise remains: The Pros must be onto something.
So it was that I became obsessed with classic-bend bars; Gilbert, Hushovd, Basso, Potato, Cadelephant, the Brothers Grimpeur – many of my favorite riders cruised into my heart aboard classic-bend bars. Not to mention the likes of Coppi, De Vlaeminck, Merckx, and Maertens – none of whom had a choice but rode them nevertheless. Over time, the swooping curve of a classic, round drop has found its place alongside the Quick Release, Delta Brake, and Record Hub as some of the Most Beautiful Bits of Kit.
I love the way the bars sweep up from the drops and position the hoods at an elegant, upward pitch as the bar continues it’s journey upward to meet the stem. Each classic-bend bar does this, yet the particular sweep of the 3T Rotundo does it more elegantly than any other; the exact radius of its bend and the pitch of its rise is perfection. I have another set of classic 3T bars which predate the Rotundo whose radius of the bend is within a millimeter of that of the Rotundo and yet the aesthetics are not it’s equal. Like all things of sublime beauty, there is something intangible about its curve that sets it appart from others.
But aesthetics are only skin deep, and the real measure of the bar is how comfortable it is. Since getting ahold of my first Rotundo, I’ve moved to classic bend bars on all my machines. I was apprehensive about the move from an ergo bend, which I’d always ridden, to the round bend of the Rotundos. Whereas I had always assumed that a flat section of bar would be more comfortable to grab hold of, this turns out not to be the case. Evidently, my hand is not straight and is in fact quite good at bending and forming to various shapes. Riding in the drops, wrists pointed inwards towards the V-Locus, my fingers grip the curved surface of the drops perfectly. The classic bend also reduces the reach from the drop to the brake lever, which means that long descents with frequent use of the brakes are also much more comfortable.
The positioning of the hoods is a slightly different matter and depends somewhat on the groupo. Bikes Number 1 and 2 both wear 10 speed Campa Record, while Bike Number 3 wears Dura-Ace 7700. The design of the Campa hoods resemble the Power Triangles of Merckx, while the design of the Shimano hoods more closely resemble pegs. The transition from the bar to the hoods on my Campa bikes is smooth like Keith Stone, allowing you to choose multiple positions along where bar meets hood. The design of the Shimano levers, on the other hand, cause them to stand up from the bar more abruptly, meaning that there are fewer comfortable positions available. It’s not really a significant issue, but it does provide less positions which can play a factor on longer rides.
As an aside, the matching 3T ARX stem meets nearly every expectation one can have of a stem; it’s light, stiff and simple. My only complaint is that it is only available in a 6 or 17 degree version; those of us who pay careful attention to how low or how high our bars are find that these two combinations don’t provide enough flexibility to dial in the position; I’m running the bars on Bike Number 3 and am stuck riding my bars about 5mm higher than on my other bikes. To be fair, this is not a shortcoming of the ARX stem in particular; very few manufacturers offer choices outside 6 or 17 degrees. However, for perfect positioning, 3T and others should add an 8 or 10 degree stem to the mix.
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@sthilzy
Saw something not dissimilar to this on the walk home last night...guy on his flat bar commuter that had vertical brake levers attached half way out along each side of the handlebars. Weird look indeed!
@scaler911
That you in the pink skinsuit?
Alpenrose is one of the better tracks in the state, no? With how much into crit racing youse are I'm shocked, you hear me shocked, that track is such a small part of the scene. Go hard turn left.
@Marcus
If he'd ridden dirt jumps, bmx or motocross he could have whipped his way out of that from the top of the hoarding for huge style points.
@frank
No such luck, I am recent convert to The Rouleur and my father has his back issues in Venezuela. With my stuck in London, no access to the older edition so of Journalistic V.
@minion
Not me. Local team called 'Gentle Lovers'. Not sure about their kit or team name, but all the guys are super fast.
Alpenrose is the only velodrome in Oregon. In fact, it's the only one from Seattle to I believe Sacramento CA.
@Blah
The track does. I'm a skinny guy, bumping elbows with meathead sprinters 10 feet off the apron has no appeal to me, except to watch.
@sthilzy
I think the flags off the back and the X-box controller glued to his cap suggest significant eccentricity, before even looking at the bars config
And what do you reckon that posterior EMS looking thing is in the middle of his control tower? A claxon perhaps, or a spotlight on himself?
I had the great good fortune to ride at the Montreal velodrome a few times (never in competition, just to have a go) where they held the 76 Olympics prior to when they tore up the track to turn it into an exhibition hall.
Damn, it was steep. I learned first hand as well what is was like to fall off at speed on the banking. I recall the timber was Babinga (sp?), and I had splinters all up the side of my leg and arse that took weeks to get them out.
Funny how you can feel wistful about an experience that led to a great deal of pain.
This one is with the new ARX stem, cobbled config, and after the pro-fit (which I still need to get around to writing an article about). I got the 17 degree ARX for the gravel rig and now I need the matching bars. Winter project for gravel rig: new rotundos, cables, ritchey integrated cable drop headset.
@marko
whoah, that BMC is seriously foxy - is it aluminum? - is it yours? - love the detail around theseat post/ top tube junction - nice!
Great fun this morning on group ride - sudden unexpetced attack of vertigo at 25kph - I imagine a similar effect can be experienced by taking speed - entire bike suddenly went sideways, like the wheels went fully lateral to waist height, then back, then back up again, and repeat to fade - had to chuck anchors out and nearly took the entire the group out - apparently I didn't vary from my course until I slowed suddenly to pull from the line up, though that's not what it felt like to me - settled down after a few minutes, but fully non rideable condition - usually get it jumping out of bed too quickly, or if sailing - first time on bike - not niceski! Don't recommend it, too freaky
Never know what the day holds ahead, endless surprises
@Dr C
Best you go and see a Doctor...
Seriously though, that doesn't sound good on a bike. Only tie I've had that was the getting out of bed thing although it waited until I was having a pee. Next thing I knew I was in the shower. May have had something to do with some wine the night before. it's a nasty feeling though, not half as much fun as going into enough oxygen deficit to cause tunnel vision and loss of colour picture.