Bicycle Stuff

Pictured below are some very wide drop handlebars that I have fabricated. They range from 61cm to 65cm between the vertical drop centers. Vertical, because I have tried canted drops and not liked them. I don't climb dirt hills with loose rocks; I roadtour and like to stretch out when I ride. If you are above average stature, theae will stretch out your latissimus dorsi and trapezius muscles. They take a bit of adjustment and your shoulders may be sore after the first couple of days. After that, you should find that they are rather relaxing. You gain a tremendous moment of inertia and have to learn how to use these. You may want to move your hands between the drops if you need to remove one hand from the bars. Controlling all that torque with one hand can be a real adventure. My next step was to build some 67.5cm bars, but I took a shortcut through a parking lot with some 65cm bars, and I found that that is the distance apart that vehicles typically park.

I start with aluminum track bars, because they have the most circular shape in the drops. I cut out the center mount point, where the horizontal section starts to flair. I press and epoxy pieces of 20mm carbon tube into the pieces that end in the drops, and pin each in three places with set screws before the epoxy can set. I center a section of 1-1/4" (~31.8mm) aluminum tubing on some 24mm carbon rod with 5mm set screws and epoxy. Once that sets, I take them out redrill and tap to 6mm through the aluminum, epoxy, and the carbon tube, and thread-lock some set screws. I slip the drops with their 20mm centers into the 24mm tube and make some measurements. I see how much needs to be removed from each end, separate everything and cut the appropriate amounts from each end of the 24mm tube. I then slide it all together with epoxy, straighten it out and insert more set screws through the still uncured epoxy. The next day they are cured and ready to mount onto a bicycle.

Yes they are all used, and thus available for less than the $200 I will ask for a new set. I have a 61cm, a 64cm, and a 65cm, all with a semicircular drop shape. The aluminum center varies fom 6" to 8", plenty of room to mount and to carry a few accessories. I use some stand-off clamps and run either a half meter 22mm carbon tube, or a 7/8x24" aluminum tube to mount lights and other accessories on. These use costly track bars, carbon fiber tubing, and long, exacting cutting and adjusting, I'm asking $125 for each.

This is a very poor picture. I took about eight from different angles and all but this one were washed out from too bright sunlight. The sharp-eyed among you will also detect that I am no master of Photoshop. More and better pictures will be posted as I have time. The bars are from the right: an unmodified 44cm that I decided against stretching - I didn't like the shape of the drops. Next there are a 61cm, a 64cm, and a 65cm. Note that not all of them have the drop shape that I purported to like best.

Some days later: I tried the 61mm bars on a 53cm bike, which is far too small for me. It has 21x700C tires. I am used to 35mm tires with plastic guards and a lot of flat preventer, and 62cm or larger diamond frames. Moving to the smaller bike, I gave up full leg extention, reach, a wider contact patch, and a fair bit of gyroscopic effect from the missing rotating mass. It was terrifying; the slightest twitch of the bars brought about sharp changes of direction. I spent most of my ride with my hands down on the bottom of the bars, as though I were hill climbing. So give these a pass if you are racing or just like skinny tires. Give them a look if you're into cyclo-cross or road touring; and you are at least six feet tall. I'll post a picture of them mounted.'

More to come. . . .