on 5/5/10 7:08 PM, JoelMatthews at joelmatth...@mac.com wrote: >> You can disparage that as following "impractical race standards" all >> you want, but the fact of the matter is that lower bar height works >> better for me. > > Not disparaging anything. However, if you read through GP's Readers > he goes to great detail that he designed bikes for what he felt was a > more comfortable upright riding. I guess one can put race slicks on a > Chevy Malibu if that is ones preferred tire, but wouldn't it make more > sense to buy a Porsche?
I'm not sure if that's as appropriate an example. For myself, I've raised my bars as I've switched to Rivendell bikes, but neither of them are above the saddle at this point. I think that puts me as a bit of an outlier. ;^) For a goodly number of folks who wanted to ride a road bike in years past, they were told that they'd "get used to" the bars being low. That running the bars below the saddle was the way it was. Maybe 20 years ago, running the saddle and bars at the same height was not common on a road bike. It is one of the reasons that mountain bikes caught on - suddenly people could use a comfortable position to ride. It took a darned long time for that to ease into the popular acceptance on road bikes. I will say flat out that the Rivendell bikes I have (QB and Hilsen) handle better than any other road (or cross) bike I've owned. There's no drawback to dropping the bars, if that is what you are used to or comfortable doing. The Rivendell designs allow a pretty amazing range of positions. Maybe that's the difference - it strikes me that GP designs a bike that allows for comfortable upright position - whether that's nearly upright, 45 degrees or flat backed. - J -- Jim Edgar cyclofi...@earthlink.net Cyclofiend Bicycle Photo Galleries - http://www.cyclofiend.com Current Classics - Cross Bikes Singlespeed - Working Bikes Gallery updates now appear here - http://cyclofiend.blogspot.com "I thought the idea was to waste the rest of our lives together.." -- Cyril, "Breaking Away" -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
