Its funny how you read things and sometimes they stick real well and sometimes not. A few months ago the always entertaining Competitive Cyclist “What’s New” blog posting dropped this gem:
Round, shallow-drop handlebars. The beauty of round is its infinite hand position possibilities, unlike the circumscribed limitations of ergonomic drops. And shallow? Who doesn’t want nearness to their levers and tops? For those who say “…but my wrists hit the bar when I sprint” I reply, “Move your wrists out of the way.” Show up to a ride with ergo bars and you’ll get a look here akin to wearing a Camelbak. Bars that flare out at the drops? You might as well arrive with clip-ons or try to take that phone call once we roll. When I’m king bars will be round, shallow, and never wider than 40cm and I think maybe we’ll start by refusing to sell anything else.
I love this type snottiness, elitism, or whatever you want to call it. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes ever attributed to Stephen Metcalfe – “Because let’s face it, only one thing is more incorrigible than my snobbery, people, and that’s your indefensibly crappy taste in music.” I use it all the time, it works for so many things – beer, coffee, music, and bikes of course.
Since I bought the CAAD9 back in November I always thought the bars felt wide. I attributed it to being used to the Bianchi which I knew had narrow bars. When you buy a 60cm bike off the rack its just not gonna come with narrow bars. One day after a ride I took the liberty to measure my reach and surprisingly it was about 40cm on the nose. I checked my Azuki and it was too. After confirmation at the LBS of my unconventional measuring methods I made the arrangements to get new bars and finally got the switch on Saturday night. Mr. Prestavalve did the mounting and the taping so I can take no credit for the fine taping job.
Narrow Width – 40cm
Shallow Drop
Not to mention the sweet fi’zi:k microtex Bar Tape that is feels just perfect to hands that prefer to ride sans gloves.
How’s the ride? Perfect…like being home after 800 miles of “this doesn’t feel just quite right…”. I took a 20 mile lunch ride today with some flats and some climbs and like the new setup a lot. Tomorrow I’ll be left to just think about it though as work will prevent me from riding. I hope this weather holds for Thurs/Fri.
