Customized handlebars

[rij73]

Hi ladies...

So after a couple of weeks of riding my flat-bar road bike, I was having certain discomfort issues with my hands -- particularly my thumbs. This is bad bad bad, because I'm a professional pianist. I tried different stem angles (thank god I got and adjustable stem) and different angles for the controls, but every ride was causing me pain.

So, what I wound up doing was playing around with the actual locations of my shifters, brakes, and bar ends, to try to figure out a position that would exactly fit the shape of my hand and eliminate the need to use my thumbs on the shifters. Pulling that chain up with my thumbs was killing me...

Behold my handlebars! I'm sure it looks totally bizarre. I can't tell you how amazingly comfy I am on the road though. I just rode 15 miles straight, and my hands feel like nothing happened. I push the lever with the side of my hand, hold on to the bar ends and keep 2 fingers on the brake at the same time. It feels secure and comfortable. I'm going to tape it up with handlebar tape for even more comfort.

What do you all think? These are clickable to bigger versions...