I flirted with drops again and again, partly because I worked in the industry and the cool kids were all commuting on drops and partly because I dabbled briefly in road time trialing and rando riding. I tried every sort of drop bar over a period of aboout fifteen years: Randonneur (which splayed my wrists outward at a weird angle), standard road (not bad), Moustache (the absolute worst for my hands and wrists, which never adjusted to any place to grip the bar) and finally the Noodles (the most successful drop bar experience for me and the one I stuck with the longest, about ten years) Two years ago, I realized that my one dedicated drop bar bike was not getting ridden anymore. If I converted it then I'd have three upright bikes, one more than I really needed since I'd stopped racing, and so I sold the drop bar bike to an earnest young Reedie who was thrilled with it. I'm down to two bikes, with two different kinds of upright nars, and while I'm no longer a wannabe mega-miler all my rides are much happier and more comfortable.
Cockpit for my Bridgestone, aka my "pickup truck" (bigger front basket, Carradice Camper LF). I have no idea who made this handlebar -- I found it in a $5 box at North Portland Bikeworks -- but it's about the widest-stanced upright bar I've ever fitted on one of my bikes and boy, is it comfortable when I'm carrying those big grocery loads. I measured iot and it came to something like 65cm straight across from end to end. <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--uKfERE28Zw/V_ZcQdk5pcI/AAAAAAAADbM/umylefOBpd4IfDCJ5OaHddrBcIkB8C5UACLcB/s1600/SANY0010.jpg> North Road bars courtesy of QBP about ten years ago when I still worked at a shop. Very similar to the old Albatross and in this smaller width with a little bit of angle, perfect for my wrists. <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Q1IgXfLsmF4/V_ZewOC7DgI/AAAAAAAADbY/eZYg0naSOLUvLy8Iz3bp9Yr1d3gmH20yACLcB/s1600/24926584155_837ab99a8e_o.jpg> At this point, I've squeezed everything I can from the experience of riding with drops, learned all I need to know, and won't go back. Beth Hamon Portland, OR http://www.beth-hamon-music.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
