Bar Question.

Onan

Finally got the road bike up and running after almost an entire YEAR sitting in my bedroom unbuilt (don't ask), and went out for a 5 minute ride to check my setup, and see if anything fell off.

Good news: nothing fell off, and I loved the feel of the position.

One small problem though: I didn't feel at ll able to get good braking contact on the hoods. Fine on the drops, but wouldn't feel safe in traffic with the stopping power from the hoods.

Thing is, I feel like if I raise my bar position, I won't have a decent position on the drops.

Does this look like a low position to you? Should my hoods be pointing more upwards:

skyd0g

The position looks fine to me. You are never going to have the same amount of braking available from the hoods that you will have on the drops, as you have less leverage on the brake lever.

The brakes may improve further as the pads bed-in?

Are you comfy with the set-up overall (forgetting about the brakes, for now) or do you have furthher adjustments you want to do?

Onan

skyd0g wrote:

The position looks fine to me. You are never going to have the same amount of braking available from the hoods that you will have on the drops, as you have less leverage on the brake lever.

The brakes may improve further as the pads bed-in?

Are you comfy with the set-up overall (forgetting about the brakes, for now) or do you have furthher adjustments you want to do?

I may think about bringing the saddle forward slightly, for comfort reasons, but it's hard to say, since I'm riding sans padded shorts at the moment. Everything else feels right, as far as I can tell. Don't feel much more stretched out than I do on the commuter.

I'll probably take it down to the LBS as soon as I can afford it, for a check over. Concerned about spoke tension and the like, since the wheels have been sitting around for months.

frenchfighter

1. You could get a shorter stem which will give you better reach.

2. You could move the brakes further up the bar (no need to move the actual bar). Too much though and you will not be able to reach them when on the drops.

Flasheart

As soon as I saw the piccie my immediate thought was "wow that's a long stem"

Anonymous

As soon as I saw the piccie my immediate thought was 'that looks very well set up'...

Stem looks fine. 120?

Onan

I ordered 120, if I remember rightly. Assuming you measure from the centre of the preload bolt to the beginning of the cup that the bars sit in, it's 120mm bang on.

Having been out for a couple of rides since posting, and having raised the bars slightly, I do feel a little stretched out, and I find it easier to ride a little back of the hoods, so I'm thinking I may want a shorter stem (don't think the hoods can come much further back on the bars).

Hard to say though, having never ridden a road bike before.

huuregeil

Two thoughts:

1. The bars look too angled up too me. If you're thinking that the stem is too long (e.g. find hanging onto the back of the hoods better) *and* you're trying to angle the bars/hoods further up (and thus closer to you) to get comfortable, then chances are the stem is too long. Plus you might want to do with flipping the stem to get the bars higher. How high are the bars in relation to your saddle (e.g. what's the "drop" to the bars)? Sorting this might help braking power, because your finger position will be more on top of the levers, rather than pointing out in front of you. Might not, though. On all my bikes the flat section of the hoods have been more or less horizontal, and the flat section at the end of the bars is horizontal or a couple of degrees up, no more. In your picture, your hoods are definitely off-horizontal and the bars are angled up some degrees.

2. The two rules of thumb of bar positioning are as follows. Can you see the front axles from your position on the hoods, or is it obscured by the bars? Obscured is good, this is what you want. Then, can you ride on the drops and then release your grip on the bars and maintain your body position hands free? If so, good. If not, then you're too far forward or low down and/or your saddle is not back enough.