In my tour prep, I decided to try out a different set of handlebars on
my bike. The verdict has not come in yet on whether or not I like them
(so far 50 km of riding on them, compared to more than 3000 km logged
on drop bars). Biggest advantage so far seems to be that, if I wanted
to, I could fit a basket on my bike (though, right now, it has a
handlebar bag with clear plastic map window).
I figure, if they work out for me, I'll have until the middle of
February (if I survive this solo tour, I will almost immediately have a
weeklong big group ride, and then another solo tour), to decide whether
or not to permanently keep them on this bike and do something about the
old bars and brakes/shifters (within an hour of having my conversion
finished I'd already had someone ask me if I was selling the old ones).
If they don't work for me, I'll get my drop bars put back on when I get
back to Haikou and find myself figuring out what to do with them
On Sheldon Brown's webpage
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/deakins/handlebars.html the brakes and
shifters are in a different place than on my bike's new handlebars.
I've yet to have anything other than perfect faith in the meme that
when it comes to bikes 'Sheldon Knows All', but, I've also yet to have
anything other than perfect faith in the meme that my local shop's
mechanic is a genius. And he's the one who put the newly bought
brakes/shifters where they are right now.
Is one of the two wrong? Are both right?
Is it also acceptable to have the brakes and shifters mounted on the
closer-in flat spots? Cause that's where they are right now.
Or, before I leave for my tour, should I come into the shop with a
printout of the picture on Sheldon's and have him move the brakes
(which could potentially be a bit of a pain since they've already put
the foam tape on).
The other thing is that Sheldon says you would typically replace the
stem with a slightly _shorter_ one when changing from drop bars to
these, and, after a very short bit of riding we replaced it with a
significantly _longer_ one (that I previously owned, thus proving
packrat-ism to be a useful skill) to counter extreme wrist pain..
-M