Hi there! I’m Anne, new to the forum! A heartfelt thanks to anyone who will bother to read and answer. I’m not bikeknowledgeable (obviously) so I’m not sure that I will be of great use to this forum, but it’s so cool to have people over the internet that are willing to share their knowledge and give advice, it takes time and I really appreciate that so thanks!
I want your opinion on altering the height (and reach) of handlebars on my bike. I had a look at past threads, and while the info I need might be in it, I might be too bike uneducated to find it, so I am asking a few specifics here... I did my best to be fairly succinct and not ramble much (hopefully not failing too badly)
My current bike was given by a friend who moved to the land of kangaroos. It’s a sonder bike (a UK brand linked to alpkit), and model is camino. Apparently not allowed to post link or images before I reach 10 posts here, so type in "sonder Camino Al apex hydraulic" for the specs of my bike.
I have been complimented a lot on the handlebars that came with it, mainly on how ridiculously daft and uncomfortable/unpractical they looked haha, but truthfully it never bothered me, maybe because I never toured long distance I guess (although I cycled two weeks in France with it but it felt fine) and it’s better than the previous bikes I had (whatever was free, never bought a bike in my life)....
Anyway enough background info, back to raising the handlebars, 10 months ago I fell 25m to the ground while rockclimbing (bad belayer) and among other things I broke my back. Additionally to a renewed appreciation for life, I gained a rad physiotherapist for the few years to come who has a some proper opinion on how I’m allowed to be on my bike. I trust her very much. She told me to get a new bike with a large backsweep (hopefully I’m not messing up my words) or butterfly bars…. Something to pedal like the Dutch, upright... The thing is I don’t really want to spend too much, and there are some luxuries to my current bike that I got used to and I’m not sure if I can “downgrade” now. Mainly the fact it’s relatively lightweight (since I handcarry it on stairs all the time, which is even more important now my back’s been broken) and the easy low gears (since I live in a seriously steep town). Of course I checked some of the 2nd hands alike the Dutch-style ones my physio recommended, they were heavy and had no low gears. Keep in mind I am very greedy with the little money I have (haha) and also very limited in my knowledge (but hopefully not in my abilities to follow a youtube tutorial).
And I don’t want to be totally absolutely upright. I trust my physiotherapist but I also trust the feedback my body gives me. I need something slightly more upright than my current position, but I don’t want to be sitting like a perfect Dutchess (ha ha) either.
So…. I thought about altering mine instead! And this is where you lovely people let me know whether I’m stupid or whether I’m stupid but maybe it can still be done.
a) Handlebars: For sure I will get new bars, but
don’t want to change my brake shifters so I was thinking about moustache or drops with high hoods (is it even a thing?). The cables have quite some slack, I’m not too worried about them being too short. Any bars recommandation that would help with the upright stance (and be compatible with my hood brakes and shifters). Also I really appreciate pedalling out of the saddle with a lot of support on the bars, so a bar shape that have both close reach for the upright stance and far reach for support when pedalling out of the saddle would be the best of both things! (Not sure it’s possible though).
b) Stem riser for threadless headset like something called "delta threadless stem riser" (again, not allowed to post links).
Anyone tried this? Is it a really bad idea? It says
it’s not recommended on a carbon fork, which is what I have. Why is it so? Is it wise to follow this bit of advice or could I ignore it?
I’m thinking of getting it just to try it out mostly…
c)
New fork, with uncut stem. I’m seriously considering this. Is it better than rising the stem in terms of stability (I load my bike with at least 20kg every week). Is it worth it or should I just buy another bike?? I know the brand of my bike (sonder) makes an alloy fork to remote travel (the idea being it’s “safer” than a carbon fork if you abuse it, but they don’t do steel)…
If I get another fork, what is there to consider? I understand diameter of stem, tyre clearance and crown-axle measurements, anything else? I feel like I must be missing something, it sounds like a too easy (although costly) fix…
What are you thoughts? Would you consider something entirely different?
I feel like getting something equally good would cost me more than altering it. Am I wrong?
Additionally, my back might not be forever ruined, and I could potentially eventually heal and get better (=getting back to a standard drop bar position), so I’m not throwing my bike away (yet).
THANK YOU FOR READING. Even if my post is too confused for you to offer any advice, thanks for attempting
PS: Any hardened cyclist who's been through the same sort of injuries? please reach out I could use the support.
PPS: I know I used italics instead of bold, I hate bold