My wonderful Atlantis has seen some major transformations as I've evolved and so have my tastes and preferences. https://flic.kr/p/Ju54wa - scroll for a couple more photos...
I thought it was pretty much finalized when I took the last set of photos on March 1 and reported on it, but it turns out it wasn't, or perhaps more accurately, I wasn't. My experiences riding the Homer and doing the 72 mile ride around Lake Tahoe, plus my now regular 15.5 mile morning commutes to work influenced some of the changes; the others were all about esthetics and personal desires. The first change was to put a Compass Randonneur handlebar on the Atlantis. I really liked it on the Homer, although my setup there was still sub-optimal with the brake lever placement. I'm using the Shimano Ultegra R600 and on the Homer, set them up with the tip of the lever in line with the horizontal end of the drop, but this resulted in the lever being a bit high and reducing the area of the bar distal to the hood, the ramp. It wasn't BAD, it's just that during the Lake Tahoe long ride, I kept looking for a better and more comfortable position that just wasn't there. During my shorter commutes from work to the train station (5.5 miles), the Champ Elysées handlebars with the reverse levers had been fine, and I really liked their esthetics. However, the longer 15.5 mile rides followed sometimes by another 15.5 - 18 evening ride home highlighted the fact that my hands were hurting and couldn't really find a comfortable position on those bars. That's what drove me to try the Compass Randonneurs on the Atlantis as well. On the Homer, I discovered I could use them when I found the Nitto 5 cm Technomix stem on Ben's Cycles, but they are for 26mm diameter handlebars and I had to use the Nitto shims to install the Randonneur bars. Things got messy. It was quite hard (for me) to install the shims without scratching the bars, even with the Nitto tool to expand the stem. I also discovered that perhaps as I was getting fitter, I was "evolving" into a more extended position with the stem level with the saddle, which set the top of the handlebars a bit higher due to their curvature, and that the long Technomix stems were being pushed all the way down into the steerer tube with no chance to go lower if desired. There's no point in having such a long necked stem if you're going to push it all the way in, so for the Atlantis, I decided to try the 6cm (shortest available) Nitto Pearl stem which comes in 25.4mm to avoid the mess with the shims. I was concerned that the extra centimeter might prove uncomfortable, but I had just read one of Jan's articles on bike fit and reducing hand pressure, so it seemed to make sense to try. So I did two things: set the handlebar on the 6cm stem and set the brake levers on the handlebar a bit forward on the drops, leaving a larger area behind them for the hands, and setting the levers more vertical as the bars should be rotated upwards (per Jan's recommendations) so the ramps are horizontal. I discovered that indeed, I now had a larger more comfortable position for my hands on the ramps, clearly different from the position of the hand on the hoods, and that the extension the 6cm stem provided was just perfect for how my riding is evolving. A little trick with bar tape to be able to add the Nitto handlebar lamp holder (made for 26mm diameter bars) allowed me to fit it on the Randonneur bar so I could place my Garmin computer in front of the bars and not on the stem. Now I get to enjoy the beautiful Pearl stem as well. I installed a Berthoud decaleur on the stem where it fit better than my experiment on the front brake cable holder due to the distance to the bag, and proceeded to tape the handlebar with the Brooks Cambium tape, which is a bit hard to do since it's less flexible. I still like how it looks and feels, although the right side ended up with a few creases I might fix later. It matches the C-17 saddle very well, which continues to be super comfortable and has not developed any issues. Based on the group's feedback, I'm going to try a B-17 Select on my custom, but if that doesn't work I'll swap it for another C-17. Unrelated to these fit adjustments, and knowing I'm keeping the Atlantis forever, I also decided to upgrade its drivetrain to 10 speeds and install the René Herse crankset. I upgraded my Bike Friday to 10 speeds as I was having issues with its 9 speed drivetrain and found I really liked it, especially the more even spacing of the 11/36 cassette (vs. the 9 speed 12/36 I've been using), and after much debate and analysis of gear ratios and different combos, using my new learnings on drivetrain and chainline configurations, I decided to keep the Atlantis with a triple crankset since the smallest ring I can put on a double RH is a 26, and I'm not yet light enough to trust I will be able to climb with the bike loaded on a 26/36 granny gear (I know there isn't that big of a difference with a 24/36, but when you need it, it definitely helps to have it, especially on long climbs). The beauty of the René Herse crankset, aside from its design and esthetics, is that when I'm ready, I can easily turn it into a 26/42 double. To better set the chainline on my "regular" gear combo, I configured the triple as a 24/38/46 and installed it yesterday morning with the rest of the 10 speed drivetrain. A 10 mile test ride yesterday afternoon and a 39 mile ride today confirmed that the new drivetrain works flawlessly and I love the 10 speed 11/36 configuration and gear spacing. Shifting is super crisp and smooth, and so is shifting on the front. Last, but not least, a few weeks ago I had a creaking sound when riding the Atlantis and a trip to my LBS discovered that my rear 36 hole Dyad rim had cracked. It was built with an XT hub, and rather than just rebuilding another one like it, I ordered a White Industries MI-5 rear hub polished, with a polished 36 hole Atlas rim (I'm using those for my custom as well, and have to say the polished version is really a looker). I have the regular version on my Betty and they've worked very well. Of course, having the polished Atlas wheelset in the rear meant I had to upgrade the front one, so I had another one built with my SON Widebody hub for the front. This has completed the (hopefully) final dressing up and fine tuning of the fit of my Atlantis. What a wonderful bike! Hope you enjoy the photos above and don't mind my detailed reporting. No one in my household cares to listen to all those details... :-) If all goes well, I'll be picking up my custom 650b frame next weekend, and slowly putting it together to really enjoy the process. I'm also doing the 100K Marin Metric Century on August 6, so hopefully there will be some local members of this list riding it as well. I'll be riding it on the Atlantis, I think. Or perhaps the Homer, although I now like the fit of the Atlantis better. Best to all, René -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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