View Full Version : *****
14max
08-10-2007, 02:30 PM
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fiamme red
08-10-2007, 02:41 PM
What qualifies a bike as a "club racer"?
14max
08-10-2007, 03:14 PM
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Peter P.
08-10-2007, 06:12 PM
I suppose the only important choice you've made is to run bar-ends. They are simpler mechanically and have a friction option for those times it's needed. I own a similar bike (it's my touring/commuter).
I do run an SPD road pedal/cleat combination for walkability. I have the old version; the one Lance won the World Championships on. Shimano does make a current iteration that's one-sided yet uses a cleat compatible with their off-road pedals. I run the older "road-only" cleat and there is a noticeable mismatch in rotational position versus my SPD mountain bike pedals. I'm tolerating it. When the pedals crap out I'll update to the newer style so I can use a cleat compatible with both my road and off-road pedals with one pair of shoes.
Something you should consider is cutting off the excess handlebar end. After you plug in the bar ends, the drops look too long and they are; if you ride on the bottom flats of your bars then part of your hand will rest on the very end of the bar close to the shifters, if not on the shifter pod itself, or you'll find yourself reaching a longer distance than necessary to grasp the shifter. I wound up cutting of a length equal to the length of the shifter body. My handlebar tape overlaps the junction of the bars/bar end pods. It was almost too much as the expander plug bottomed out against the anatomic curve of the bars. Measure twice, cut once. The end result is more aesthetically pleasing and the bike handles better when I'm riding on the drops, hands near the shifters. I don't find my hands gripping the bars near their ends on bikes not equipped with bar ends and when I do, the steering is funky.
I love this build and the choices I might make are more a matter of taste and preference 'cause I think this is really a swell spec.
Here are a few "changes" I might make:
handlebar tape - Fujitoshi leather wrap
crank - Sugino 48/34, or if you can find one, a TA Zephyr and you'll need to match the bb.
cassette -IRD is making cassettes with fantastically useful gear ranges, have a look interlocracing.com
tires - Rivendell RolyPoly 27c or GranBois Cref 28c
saddle - Selle San Marco Rolls...nice but Brooks is the last word in saddles.
Nice job. best, Douglas
14max
08-10-2007, 06:38 PM
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Fixed
08-10-2007, 06:44 PM
nice bro i would use d.t.shifter though
i am putting a bike somewhat like that now ...
cheers
dauwhe
08-10-2007, 07:39 PM
Thanks all. I am definitely considering cutting the bars to accomodate the ends. Does anyone know if Rivendell does this? I purchased a Romulus from them and I can't remember if they cut the ends of the bars to accomodate the shifters or not.
They didn't on my Romulus... I think this is a matter of personal preference. Many people use bar-ends without cutting the bars...
Dave, coincidentally a big fan of downtube shifters...
I'd never heard of cutting bars for barcons before this thread, although I have a set of used bars that this was evidently done to. The distance to the bar end shifter is just a non-issue to me. If I'm on the tops or hoods or up in the hooks I have to move my hand anyway and if I'm on the flat part of the drops, its just another half inch to an inch of hand movement to get back there. But, whatever floats your boat I guess.
DT shifters are great for some uses, but I greatly prefer barcons on a bike that gonna get a lot of commuting use, racing, and/or rough-stuff riding. In all of those types of riding, situations arise where I really don't want to have to take my hands off the bars, even long enough to shift. Now for long mellow rides on country roads, DT levers can add to the whole feel of the ride. But, again, to each their own.
-Ray
I'd never heard of cutting bars for barcons before this thread, although I have a set of used bars that this was evidently done to. The distance to the bar end shifter is just a non-issue to me. If I'm on the tops or hoods or up in the hooks I have to move my hand anyway and if I'm on the flat part of the drops, its just another half inch to an inch of hand movement to get back there. snip....
-Ray
Ray knows from bar ends. And I know that his generous view of others' preferences goes back years and years (as do we...).
I know some folks who cut their bars to add the bar end shifters but I have the opposite issue: I'm always, always looking for _more_ on the end of the bars. To wit, I can't find a handlebar where the ends come back far enough for my tastes. Modern handlebars are especially cut short so that there is barely any level, flat bottom of the ends. Not Ritchey WCS Classics, nuthin' comes back far enough. I was complaining about this in a separate thread awhile ago and noted that Mike Barry has said that he's contemplated welding more on the ends of a pair of otherwise perfect bars because he's got the same complaint/observation. (I always feel better when something I don't like is shared by someone who's opinion I regard like Mike's: experienced, informed, and, in this case, downright heroic.)
When I'm riding on a genuinely rough road I wouldn't dream of shifting and, of course, it's half true that the faster you go the more likely you are not going to crash (think pave). I like the old Simplex and Suntour bar ends because they never slip on me---those being the only ones I still use--- but when I index I go to down tubers: the latest indexed down tube shifters are where I think I will ride 90% of the time until I am 100% dead. Again, YMMV, and for commuters and tourers I am still realllly glad that Shimpagnano makes bar ends.
dbrk
officially stash/marketproof for his favorite shifters now
michael white
08-11-2007, 06:43 AM
I used barends for years, and have migrated back to dt friction shifters on everything except for my two sti bikes. why? it's mostly because I really like having a clean bar without so many cables coming out here or there. . . that seems to matter to me about as much as anything else. I did cut the bars once or twice, but stopped doing that; it just wasn't helping much.
btw this bike looks terrific. I love the choices. The Dream bar, the Rolls, all that stuff--I use it and it still feels great to me.
Pete Serotta
08-12-2007, 09:53 AM
I am going to get DBRK to spec my next bike...... :D
Will offer him a bottle or two of red (that I will share with him) for the design and implementation process. Yes it will be STEEL
PETE
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