AlphaDogg

Me too?

Dodgensince74

you got it all wrong, "you" need to adopt his son and granddaughter, not the other way around

havagr8da

Yeah you got it right. They are great kids!

appifanie

Hi everyone (and hi xoxo - I live in Fayetteville so we're practically neighbors!

Until recently I hadn't ridden a bike in 20+ years but my husband told me he'd get me a bike as an early Christmas present. We didn't really know what we were doing but I got a Raleigh Detour 2.5. I like it a lot but I think it's a bit too big for me - I'm 5' and I rest on the bar when I straddle it. But I like it and it's fun to ride!

nrowensby

Crappy cell phone shot from today's ride... Proceeded to strip down the handlebars when I got home to start the drop conversion... then I snapped the stem bolt.

AlphaDogg

Time for a stem upgrade? What are you doing for the drop conversion? Barend shifters+road brake levers? New drivetrain with brifters?

nrowensby

This being a trial of drops... I'm going with a low-cost route -- using Shimano A050 thumb shifters and Shimano RX100 aero brake levers. We'll see how I like that and go from there.

AlphaDogg

I forgot about those..

nrowensby

...how bad are they? LOL

AlphaDogg

I have no idea. I've never owned a drop bar bike.

omari149

I love drop bars on anything that doesn't have suspension, this reminds me of my Giant Escape 2 since I'm planning on getting grey 700c tires for it to match the grey drop bar tape.

omari149

Well I can't wait for the progression pictures leading up to the final stage of your project.

giantcfr1

yeah yeah me too.

nrowensby

Another quick, crappy cell-phone shot... but something looks a little different...? Haha





BTW: I can't believe how much difference new shifter cables made, shifts sooo smoothly now!

AdelaaR

Cool bike

Shifter cables are one of the most overlooked problems on bikes indeed.

AlphaDogg

New white Vittoria Zaffiro tires to go with my white theme. I decided to go presta because schrader 700x25 tubes are hard to find. I got a couple grommets to fill the space between the (larger) schrader hole and the (smaller) presta valve.



New white seatpost on monday. I'm going a little crazy with this!

omari149

nice pedals j/k Wow that was a quick conversion to drop bars, I love the tape job. Im glad to see everything is compatible.

nrowensby

Thanks... It was my first time wrapping bar tape... watched a few youtube videos and went to town. We went to dinner last night and planned on painting the new baby's (OTW) bedroom this morning, so I ended up staying up most the night to get all the cables cut/routed/adjusted, then ran to the store to pick up a new bar-clamp bolt (that I broke last night) and tightened everything down. I think it was time well spent... here are a couple pics from my ride today.

LarDasse74

Very cool!

FYI, the standard way to set drop bars and brake levers is so the tips of the brake levers are even with the bottom of the flats. And the bar is usually set so the flats are level or slightly above (like 10 degrees or so). This allows comfortable use of the flats and drops, and the bar top and brake hoods remain at approximately the same place. See the pic to better understand what I am talking about. Of course these are just guidelines and you can vary your setup however you like, but your setup is so far from the typical I can't help but think you might find a slightly better setup if you fiddle with it a bit. Also you get to wrap and unwrap your bar for practice!!!!11

LarDasse74

Oops - forgot the picture... here it is.

LesterOfPuppets

Not my hybrid, rather one I saw at the library. And it's not a hybrid, it's a Hybrid! GT Hybrid that is. It's a BMX/MTB hybrid instead of road/MTB hybrid (which were often called cross bikes back in the day when this was made.)


GT Hybrid by Lester Of Puppets, on Flickr


GT Hybrid by Lester Of Puppets, on Flickr

xoxoxoxoLive

Nice to see someone close by, (LOL) Fayetteville is a great place for commuting around in also. Just have to brave the traffic, even the buses are designed to handle bikes on the front. Your probably having the stand over issue, because that is the Men's version. But I have known women who prefer that style anyway. Just wondering, did you get it at Hawley's Bicycle World ?

skycomag

pic taken on the Washington Secondary bike path in rhode island.
this path goes fromm cranston to coventry r.i. 14.2 miles (one way)

xoxoxoxoLive

WOW ! That was a quick change, I do not know much about drop bars. But it does look nice, and those Youtube videos must have been pretty good ! : )

Sixty Fiver

Nice job.

Levers look like they could be moved up a little... ends should typically be in a line with the bottom of the hooks but if you are comfy and they are not bottoming out, no worries.

If you find that you are getting sore or fatigued wrists it may be an issue with how your brake levers are set up... the flat part of the lever hood should line up pretty closely with the flat on the top of the bar and will keep your hands from sliding... different bars have different bends and depths so it can be a matter of getting the optimal positioning.

Drop bar mountain bikes are awesome... I can dress mine with slicks and ride centuries or throw on the 2 inch knobbies and hit the trails.