"change your bars, change your life." That speaks to me. I have drops and sweptback bars on a few different bikes and changing the bars and tires can make a bike feel new again. This goes for changing sweptback bars to more/less sweep and rise and also for different type of drops. End of the day - find what works for you on each bike and then swap things around to keep it fresh and most importantly fun and comfortable.
On Thursday, May 9, 2024 at 2:07:09 PM UTC-4 [email protected] wrote: ***Reposting with a correction*** A few things to keep in mind: -Riding in an upright position will recruit different muscles in your legs and butt, you may feel it to be a bit harder to ride fast in this position. You will also catch more wind which can slow you down a bit. -You should keep in mind the steering axis. If your stem is too short, you can create overly "whippy" steering. Making sure your stem is long enough will resolve that issue. -You'll also likely want a wider saddle. I have a "drop bar" Surly Midnight Special. It's a great bike but I'm not currently in love with the position even though my handlebars are mounted higher than my seat. I find that my "golfers elbow" is aggravated by the hand position and I rarely use the drops. I'm also not a racer, I don't enjoy super aggressive position in which is why I have my bars mounted higher than my saddle. I acquired a Long Haul Trucker that is a small for me if I built it with drop bars (albatross bars,) but it's absolutely perfect as a swept back build. I'm in a fully upright position on it and I use it as my sometimes work-commuter, bop around town bike. I feel I have the best viewing angle for checking my surroundings on this bike. I recently completed a build of a Velo Orange Polyvalent with their Wave bars. I'd say it's right in the middle of a fully upright and neutral drop bar position (not dissimilar to my angle on the Midnight Special.) It's currently my absolute favorite ride. If you have a bike you don't mind spending money to convert, I highly recommend it. As Igor from Velo Orange says "change your bars, change your life." He highly advocates for switching things up. If you have the dough to spend on a new bike built this way, I think the Platypus or the Clem-L are calling your name somewhere in the distance... Midnight Special photo is a little outdated. I no longer have racks on it, just a saddle bag support. Considering putting flat bars on it. Long haul Polyvalent On Thursday, May 9, 2024 at 2:00:33 PM UTC-4 Lucky wrote: Fellow older person here. I have avoided owning a “fast bike” for years due to drops killin’ me, but I recently acquired this sporty XO-1 and the Albatross bar is perfect for it! I might not actually be fast but I *feel* fast now (compared to my racked and fat-tired Atlantis) so that’s really what matters. Albatross is the GOAT. [image: image0.jpeg] On May 9, 2024, at 09:50, Wesley <[email protected]> wrote: Hi Jay, I'll second what's been said here and by Rivendell: the Albatross is the swept-back bar that is least radical / closest to a drop bar. I first put an Albatross bar on a bike of mine in 2007 and have kept them on at least one bike ever since. Unlike the other swept-back bars that Riv sells, they have a great hand position that is slightly forward of the stem clamp (demonstrated here): <IMG_2689.jpg> It's comfy for long hours on the bike. Like you, I find flat bars uncomfortable (they pain my wrists). With Albatross bars, my wrist position feels neutral and natural, a lot like on the lever tops on drop bars. The Albatross bar is on my everyday bike, with the drop bar road bike being used only when I want a lighter bike. -Wes On Wednesday, May 8, 2024 at 6:28:41 PM UTC-7 Jay wrote: I was always aware of bikes with a very relaxed geometry / setup, and it wasn't until I started seeing Rivendell bikes and watching youtube videos of people riding them that I really thought about it - is it more comfortable than drop bars, even if I have a more neutral (not aggressive) position on the bike (i.e., bars close to level with saddle)? Would this be a good option for just cruising around, but for 1-2 hours? If I didn't get along well with flat bars on mountain bike, would swept back bars be better? I'm going to ramble a bit here, my apologies in advance. I haven't thought long enough about this to formulate my question succinctly. Hopefully you get where I'm coming from. *Quick background* - been riding a little over 20 years (closing in on 50!) - started with mountain biking (hardtail, singletrack); moved to road; tried mountain biking two more times (I love being in nature) but didn't like the thrill/danger, and hated the idea of driving to the trail head; have been mainly on the road for last 15 years, though with 10 years of 'gravel' bikes/riding - I've had ongoing issues with my cervical spine (nothing serious) and this leads to some problems when riding in any sort of aggressive position on the bike; I see a chiro regularly; stretch a lot; workout / strength training; have had numerous bike fits - I have a Roadini, Salsa Fargo and a road bike (25mm tires, but custom made and really does fit like a glove, for road) - I don't care about performance at all, I just love riding bikes, in particular when roads are not busy, or on trails, gravel roads, etc. On a good day (75% of the time), I can ride any of these bikes and during the ride I feel pretty good (little to no pain), maybe a bit of pain after (could be neck/shoulders, but anywhere else really), and after stretching I feel great in a 1/2 to full day. I ride 4-5x a week, workout 1-2 times spring-fall and more in the winter. But at least once a week, and maybe twice, I'll be riding, sometimes tired as it's after work, and within an hour I'm running low on energy and probably start to develop a bad posture on the bike, over-using my arms which causes problems in my neck and shoulders, leading to upper body aches/pains (while riding, and after). Takes a lot of stretching and awareness to reset. *This is what I'm trying to resolve (move from 75% to 99%)* My guess is that even with a bike like the Roadini or Salsa, with bars about level with the saddle, and even with a professional fitting on each, when I want to ride but I'm lacking energy, it goes poorly. But is that because these bikes are "kind of" aggressive (when compared to say a spine angle closer to 70% and swept back bars)? Or is it simply a combination of age, history of some 'issues', low on energy and thus bad posture kicks in, and would any bike be a joy to ride, or should I just go for a walk on those days!? I would love to hear from those who ride both drop bars and also swept back (or similar) in a way more relaxed geometry, or those who transitioned to mainly this style, because it almost fully resolved your issues, if they're anyway similar to mine. *On a day when you're not feeling it, but you have to commute or just love to ride, do you leave the drop bar bike in the garage and hop on your more relaxed bike, and thus avoid most of the issues you would have had on the other (slightly more aggressive) bike?* -- 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 [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/b412b340-e5c9-4cb2-9273-457994fa168cn%40googlegroups.com <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/b412b340-e5c9-4cb2-9273-457994fa168cn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> . <IMG_2689.jpg> -- 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 [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/764d474a-bb95-4488-a879-47777f0fa0ecn%40googlegroups.com.
