drops/brakes

[elk]

Did you get the brake lever shims installed?


Don't tape up your bars until you are happy with them and happy with the hood position, tilt, etc. If you hate your new bars you can probably exchange or return them if they are not scratched or gummed up from tape.

Didn't put the shims in yet...the reach from the drops is E-Z...but I do need them to get better reach on the hoods...I just have to zoom in on the PDF from Shimano....

and grrrrrrrr i already taped them up!!!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I still think all you really needed was the shims.

[elk]

i also put some foam forms on the bar...which make the bar all lumpy and fat in places...maybe that's taking up my room?

I don't get it..they look so similiar to my originals except for the shape of the drop...

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Elk, every little change is going to feel odd at first, maybe even make you feel sore for a few days too. You need to change only ONE small thing at a time to avoid total confusion.
Putting on new shaped bars, adding gel pads under them, then changing their tilt AND pushing your saddle forward all at once is not good- it will only confuse the situation and make it really hard for you to figure out why you are not comfortable now and how to fix it.
General biking rule is to make one tiny adjustment and then ride for a few days on it. Then maybe try another small adjustment and again ride for a few days.
When you make 3 or 4 changes at once all hell breaks loose and it's hard to find your way back.

My advice at this point: (putting aside the radical idea of putting your old bars back on and just installing the shims) would be to undo the last two changes...tilt the tops of the bars level again and put your saddle BACK where it was comfortable for you before, and ride a few days to give your body time to adjust to the new bars.
Leave your saddle alone, where it was comfortable before you changed the bars. By moving the saddle forward you throw your center of gravity forward more over the crank, and if anything this will put more weight on your hands.

Now that you have taped the bars you can't change the hood position unless you take the tape and gel padding off....(which actually might be a good idea anyway).
I put that gel on my Riv bars and truthfully I wouldn't do it again- they did nothing except make the bars FAT so that I had to buy extra tape. It looks kind of ugly to me now, like a big nightcrawler worm.

All the above is just my own opinion based on my having gone through all these very same issues myself and learning the hard way.

[VeloVT]

Hmmm... lots of stuff going on. I'm going to try to break my thoughts down into bites and number them so hopefully my response will seem somewhat coherent .

1. Depending on the kind of gel wrap you used, you may not have to totally unwrap your bars in order to move your hoods. I have partially unwrapped and rewrapped bars for adjustments before using the same tape with no problem. You have to be a little careful of course. The gel will make it more of a hassle, but even that is probably not insurmountable if you have patience.

2. Do you have a trainer? I know there's an inertia problem with putting your bike on a trainer when it's nice outside, knowing you will have to switch the skewer and everything the next time you want to ride outside ... But I think it would be helpful for you to set up your bike on a trainer so you can actually sit on it on focus on how each adjustment feels, without the distractions of an outside ride. Leave the bike on the trainer as you adjust it, and keep getting on it and trying it out until it feels right. Assuming you're not making HUGE changes (stem height, bar width, etc), 10 minutes on a trainer should give you a very good idea of whether or not it's going to work. By the way, changing handlebars should not make you sore, if they are the same size as you had before...

3. I agree with Lisa that you don't want to change everything at once. What was the rationale behind rolling the bars forward and moving the seat forward? Was that because you were feeling cramped? If so, I'm not sure that's a great solution, for two reasons -- first, you really don't want to get into using your saddle position to adjust your reach, because outside of a pretty small range that may be likely to cause knee issues. Second, while rolling the bar forward may give an illusion of more reach, it can also mess up your wrist angle which can cause pain or numbness over time. Do the new bars actually have shorter reach than the old bars? Or is it how you have set up the hoods? One thing you *could* try that would have a similar effect to rolling the bars forward would be to adjust the rise of your nice adjustable-rise stem so it puts you down a little lower. As Lisa says though, this will tend to put relatively more weight on your hands, and that may or may not be okay. A longer stem might help too, if your reach really feels cramped...

4. When you talk about gel "taking up room", where are you talking about? Are the drops feeling like the drop is too compact? Or something else? I will say that 38 cm bars in general do not have a lot of real estate on the tops. Some bars seem to have a little more than others for some reason, but all smaller bars have small tops. I never ride on the tops, and I think part if it is that there is so little usable space up there that I end up grasping with too narrow of a grip for comfort -- if I had 40 or 42 cm bars, I might ride on the tops sometimes...

Ok, enough for now... but I really do think you should consider throwing your bike up on a trainer (if you have one) and testing each adjustment as you make it.

good luck!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

1. Depending on the kind of gel wrap you used, you may not have to totally unwrap your bars in order to move your hoods. I have partially unwrapped and rewrapped bars for adjustments before using the same tape with no problem. You have to be a little careful of course. The gel will make it more of a hassle, but even that is probably not insurmountable if you have patience.....
4. When you talk about gel "taking up room", where are you talking about? Are the drops feeling like the drop is too compact? Or something else?

Liza, I 'think' Elk put some foam pads in various places on her bars UNDER her tape.....like these, maybe?:
http://www.wallbike.com/oddsnends/marsas.html
http://harriscyclery.net/itemdetails.cfm?ID=2364

Yes, one can sometimes re-wrap the bars using the same tape if you unwrap them very carefully.

[elk]

I re wrapped the first half of the bar about 4 times....I might have to use some new tape or glue...on my BROOKS LEATHER TAPE

My foam pads are worse than those...I wish I hadn't bought them...they just seem to make the bar fatter not softer!! Fatter and lumpy...that nad hte fact that I was wearing bigger gloves may have stolen some room from me on the tops...I also felt a bit like I had less control of the bike up there.
http://www.universalcycles.com/shopp...7&category=840


OK. Don't have a trainer. My hands were killing me on the first 5 miles of our trip and my friend actually made it more comfortable by moving things a tiny tiny bit.... maybe......

Part of it may be sore computer thumbs and also I'm madly working in the studio to get my show ready (I have to deliver the work THURSDAY!!) ...and that can strain my hands...

But I have to say that I'm kinda happy that's the only part that really hurts...although now that I think about it...after that adjustment, I rode another 20 miles and my back was a little sore....

I have no core strength, I admit it....I think I'll put the saddle back where it was and then see what happens. geez.

SOmetimes I ride up and down the street to test out adjustments...

oh...the Cinelli s are 140/75 and my old Ritcheys are 125/75.