Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > Fifty Plus (50+)
Reload this Page >

This might look stupid but I love the ergonomics.

Notices
Fifty Plus (50+) Share the victories, challenges, successes and special concerns of bicyclists 50 and older. Especially useful for those entering or reentering bicycling.

This might look stupid but I love the ergonomics.

Old 05-25-21, 05:14 PM
  #1  
Raleigh71
Full Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 349
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 45 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 12 Times in 10 Posts
This might look stupid but I love the ergonomics.

As an old fart, I wanted to ride more upright, so I replaced the stem on my hybrid bike with a longer stem that had a shorter anterior extension and I love it! You could say I'm sitting pretty.



Modified Miyata hybrid with a longer stem and shorter anterior extension.
Raleigh71 is offline  
Likes For Raleigh71:
Old 05-25-21, 05:20 PM
  #2  
DiabloScott
It's MY mountain
 
DiabloScott's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Mt.Diablo
Posts: 9,991

Bikes: Klein, Merckx, Trek

Mentioned: 70 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4311 Post(s)
Liked 2,954 Times in 1,601 Posts
Can you get out of the saddle and honk up the hills?
DiabloScott is offline  
Likes For DiabloScott:
Old 05-25-21, 05:29 PM
  #3  
Raleigh71
Full Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 349
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 45 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 12 Times in 10 Posts
Originally Posted by DiabloScott
Can you get out of the saddle and honk up the hills?
I don't think I actually ever 'got out of the saddle' on this bike. The geometry just isn't favorable. I'm OK with plodding uphill in the lowest gear.
Raleigh71 is offline  
Old 05-25-21, 05:43 PM
  #4  
terrymorse 
climber has-been
 
terrymorse's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Posts: 7,006

Bikes: Scott Addict R1, Felt Z1

Mentioned: 10 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3337 Post(s)
Liked 3,436 Times in 1,737 Posts
Originally Posted by Raleigh71



Modified Miyata hybrid with a longer stem and shorter anterior extension.
Did you consider riser bars, instead of such a very tall and thin stem? They’re sturdier.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00168M1UC...ing=UTF8&psc=1
__________________
Ride, Rest, Repeat. ROUVY: terrymorse


terrymorse is online now  
Old 05-25-21, 06:03 PM
  #5  
alo
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2020
Posts: 1,060
Mentioned: 3 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 529 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 255 Times in 185 Posts
Originally Posted by Raleigh71
As an old fart, I wanted to ride more upright, so I replaced the stem on my hybrid bike with a longer stem that had a shorter anterior extension and I love it! You could say I'm sitting pretty.



Modified Miyata hybrid with a longer stem and shorter anterior extension.
I like the same type of setup. I have a fat bike with raised handlebars. I like to make the bike comfortable.
alo is offline  
Old 05-25-21, 06:09 PM
  #6  
stevel610 
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Valley Forge: Birthplace of Freedom
Posts: 1,298

Bikes: Novara Safari, CAAD9, WABI Classic, WABI Thunder

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 364 Post(s)
Liked 456 Times in 239 Posts
Looks fast to those in the know 😉. Graeme Obree's 1993/94 hour record bike. Outlawed soon after....

stevel610 is offline  
Likes For stevel610:
Old 05-25-21, 06:19 PM
  #7  
Raleigh71
Full Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 349
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 45 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 12 Times in 10 Posts
Originally Posted by terrymorse
Did you consider riser bars, instead of such a very tall and thin stem? They’re sturdier.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00168M1UC...ing=UTF8&psc=1

I did consider riser bars but the original quill had a fairly long anterior reach I wanted shorter. See photo of the original quill (below). The new quill is only ~2.5 cm offset.



Original bike quill.

This is the stock photo of what I replaced the original quill with. 280 mm. total length. It gave me about another 3.5" higher and less anterior reach.
Raleigh71 is offline  
Old 05-25-21, 06:21 PM
  #8  
alo
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2020
Posts: 1,060
Mentioned: 3 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 529 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 255 Times in 185 Posts
Originally Posted by terrymorse
Did you consider riser bars, instead of such a very tall and thin stem? They’re sturdier.
If they are quite high, like the stem, they are likely to twist forward when you apply the brakes or hit a bump. They need to be clamped very hard to stop this twisting.

You may notice bmx bikes with raised handlebars, use a strong clamp to prevent them twisting forward.

You can buy aluminum raiser stems from China. An ideal height for me would be two of the long ones, one on top of the other. I have not used them, over concerns of what might happen if they fail at high speed.

I think it is ideal to make your own stem using strong steel.

I am using motorbike after market handlebars at present. They would be more comfortable if they were even higher. But to raise them, I need to replace the brake and gear cables with longer ones. So I live with handlebars that are raised, but not as high as ideal for now. In the future, I may make a long strong steel stem.

I am tall. Shorter people can be comfortable with lower handlebars.
alo is offline  
Old 05-25-21, 06:33 PM
  #9  
alo
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2020
Posts: 1,060
Mentioned: 3 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 529 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 255 Times in 185 Posts
Here is one bike where I have raised the handlebars, and left allowance to raise them even further if I replace the cables.



Here is more information.

https://www.bikeforums.net/clydesdal...andlebars.html

Last edited by alo; 05-25-21 at 06:37 PM.
alo is offline  
Likes For alo:
Old 05-25-21, 06:49 PM
  #10  
Speedway2
Senior Member
 
Speedway2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: Thornhill, Canada
Posts: 747

Bikes: United Motocross BMX, Specialized Langster, Giant OCR, Marin Muirwoods, Globe Roll2, VROD:)

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 236 Post(s)
Liked 400 Times in 242 Posts
^^^^^that looks like an impalement waiting to happen.....
Speedway2 is offline  
Old 05-25-21, 07:07 PM
  #11  
alo
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2020
Posts: 1,060
Mentioned: 3 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 529 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 255 Times in 185 Posts
Originally Posted by Speedway2
^^^^^that looks like an impalement waiting to happen.....
When I ride, I put a drink bottle over it to give it a large surface area. If I had photographed it with the drink bottle covering it, you would not see it properly.

In the future, I may replace the cables with longer ones, and raise the handlebars to the top.
alo is offline  
Old 05-25-21, 08:43 PM
  #12  
big john
Senior Member
 
big john's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: In the foothills of Los Angeles County
Posts: 25,101
Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 8189 Post(s)
Liked 8,844 Times in 4,392 Posts
Originally Posted by alo

In the future, I may replace the cables with longer ones, and raise the handlebars to the top.
Like this?
big john is online now  
Old 05-25-21, 11:37 PM
  #13  
rsbob 
Grupetto Bob
 
rsbob's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: Seattle-ish
Posts: 6,066

Bikes: Bikey McBike Face

Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2512 Post(s)
Liked 5,426 Times in 2,826 Posts
My wife has bad R.A. Which would not allow her to use her drops and shifters on her Cannondale so I converted it to upright bars like yours. It worked for a while until her RA got worse and moved her to an upright Specialized E bike. We won’t even talk about what it cost.
__________________
Road 🚴🏾‍♂️ & Mountain 🚵🏾‍♂️







rsbob is offline  
Likes For rsbob:
Old 05-26-21, 03:18 AM
  #14  
Lazyass
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Minas Ithil
Posts: 9,337
Mentioned: 66 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2432 Post(s)
Liked 638 Times in 395 Posts
Sitting upright like that actually hurts me more, it puts more weight on your lower back and sitbones.
Lazyass is offline  
Likes For Lazyass:
Old 05-26-21, 05:49 AM
  #15  
shelbyfv
Expired Member
 
shelbyfv's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: TN
Posts: 11,457
Mentioned: 37 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3637 Post(s)
Liked 5,314 Times in 2,700 Posts
Fun to see these bizarre creations. Keep 'em coming.
shelbyfv is offline  
Old 05-26-21, 10:23 AM
  #16  
Iride01 
I'm good to go!
 
Iride01's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 14,810

Bikes: Tarmac Disc Comp Di2 - 2020

Mentioned: 50 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6100 Post(s)
Liked 4,732 Times in 3,262 Posts
Sitting Pretty? No, not pretty to me. But what ever works for you is okay. But if you come to talk about saddle pains later on long rides......
Iride01 is offline  
Likes For Iride01:
Old 05-26-21, 06:14 PM
  #17  
BobbyG
Senior Member
 
BobbyG's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Posts: 5,960

Bikes: 2015 Charge Plug, 2007 Dahon Boardwalk, 1997 Nishiki Blazer, 1984 Nishiki International, 2006 Felt F65, 1989 Dahon Getaway V

Mentioned: 54 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1359 Post(s)
Liked 1,658 Times in 822 Posts
If it works for you...it works for you! If it keeps "an old fart" riding, then it's a good thing.
BobbyG is offline  
Likes For BobbyG:
Old 05-26-21, 06:27 PM
  #18  
Wileyone 
Senior Member
 
Wileyone's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: GWN
Posts: 2,541
Mentioned: 27 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1858 Post(s)
Liked 605 Times in 402 Posts
Originally Posted by Raleigh71
As an old fart, I wanted to ride more upright, so I replaced the stem on my hybrid bike with a longer stem that had a shorter anterior extension and I love it! You could say I'm sitting pretty.



Modified Miyata hybrid with a longer stem and shorter anterior extension.
Sorry Man... But to be honest that looks like the bike that the Moscow circus bears used to ride.
Wileyone is offline  
Likes For Wileyone:
Old 05-27-21, 09:24 AM
  #19  
Raleigh71
Full Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 349
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 45 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 12 Times in 10 Posts
I appreciate all the feedback!

1. I don't have to lean forward and then hyperextend my neck, pinching off my cervical cord, and I get to see what's in front of me rather then getting up-front-and-personal with my front tire. I don't know why I didn't do this years ago.

2. No reason the stresses on the handlebar clamp are any different from a shorter quill. In fact, maybe even less since Im not leaning on it. It's firmly clamped and isn't going to rotate. That's a solid alloy stem and isn't going to break off.

3. Yes, some of the cables were too short doing this and I had to replace them. Those were 6 mm OD cable housings with 2 mm inner cables. No longer off-the-shelf items, but for a few bucks I found NOS OEM replacements on ebay, so everything matches

4. Great observation about the similarity with a Russian bear riding a bike! There's a Great Pyrenees in the neighborhood that's about a big as a bear....we'll see if she can ride this.
Raleigh71 is offline  
Likes For Raleigh71:
Old 05-27-21, 10:43 AM
  #20  
Raleigh71
Full Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 349
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 45 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 12 Times in 10 Posts
And one more point:

I couldn't see how this would lead to getting 'impaled' on anything. And if it did happen, at least they'd say, "He died doing what he loved to do"
Raleigh71 is offline  
Likes For Raleigh71:
Old 05-27-21, 02:17 PM
  #21  
Raleigh71
Full Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 349
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 45 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 12 Times in 10 Posts
Originally Posted by big john
Like this?

The cigarette really completes the picture.
Raleigh71 is offline  
Likes For Raleigh71:
Old 05-27-21, 03:51 PM
  #22  
Wileyone 
Senior Member
 
Wileyone's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: GWN
Posts: 2,541
Mentioned: 27 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1858 Post(s)
Liked 605 Times in 402 Posts
Originally Posted by Raleigh71
The cigarette really completes the picture.
Not to mention the sideview mirror.
Wileyone is offline  
Old 05-27-21, 04:04 PM
  #23  
zandoval 
Senior Member
 
zandoval's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Bastrop Texas
Posts: 4,416

Bikes: Univega, Peu P6, Peu PR-10, Ted Williams, Peu UO-8, Peu UO-18 Mixte, Peu Dolomites

Mentioned: 13 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 928 Post(s)
Liked 1,595 Times in 1,021 Posts

This might look stupid but I love the ergonomics... Hey Stud... What Ever You Have To Do To Ride... BRAVO...

Originally Posted by Raleigh71
As an old fart...
__________________
No matter where you're at... There you are... Δf:=f(1/2)-f(-1/2)
zandoval is offline  
Old 05-27-21, 04:26 PM
  #24  
Raleigh71
Full Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 349
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 45 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 12 Times in 10 Posts
Originally Posted by Iride01
Sitting Pretty? No, not pretty to me. But what ever works for you is okay. But if you come to talk about saddle pains later on long rides......

I can say I've never found a bike seat I really loved, and I'm convinced there's scant science behind choosing one but I hit on the one on the bike by accident with no 'saddle pains' a.k.a. pudendal neuropathy, or ischiopubic issues of any sort after long rides. I don't think you'll see me posting for remedies.

And BTW, since I'm not leaning on my wrists as much, I'd expect less chance I'd get 'handlebar palsy' a.k.a ulnar neuropathy or compressive median nerve symptoms either like carpal tunnel.
Raleigh71 is offline  
Old 05-27-21, 05:40 PM
  #25  
fooferdoggie 
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 2,343
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 679 Post(s)
Liked 945 Times in 552 Posts
Originally Posted by Raleigh71
The cigarette really completes the picture.
at least is armpits will always be dry.
fooferdoggie is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.