iRide

I was reading somewhere that 29ers do better with flat bars instead of risers. Something to do with the headtube being higher. This made sense to me, as the cockpit on my 29er has always felt a bit off. I thought flat bars may help.

So I was at work today seeing what we had in the way of flat bars when I ran across these:

I didn’t know Niner made bars. These things are also 710mm wide!! I was running 675mm bars previously. I didn’t notice too much of a difference in that regard. It did feel very stable though.

Anyway, I went for a pretty good ride at LPQ after work and the new bars were sweet. They definitely helped make my body position feel more natural.

Here’s a before and after:

Before–Mid-rise bars, 100mm, 5 degree rise stem:

After–Flat bars, 100mm, 0 degree rise stem:

As you can see in the first pic, the grips (where my hands are) are up by the very top of the stem/steerer tube top cap. They are also swept back a bit–which caused me to sit up even more.

In the second pic, you can see the grips are well below the top cap and out in front–due to no sweep. It may not look like a huge difference to some, but I can see a big difference.

Anyway, I’m slowly kicking this cold. I rode for the first time in almost a week at LPQ with J and Mark last night. I got up at the butt-crack of dawn this morning and rode with a couple guys at Hodges before I had to go to work at Beyond. Then after work, Mark and I hit up LPQ again and I tried out the new bars. 3 rides in 24 hours–always a good thing!!!

I’m hoping to sneak in a ride tomorrow afternoon (I have the day off work). Rides for Wednesday, Friday and next weekend are pretty much a sure thing. Until then, seek your bliss.

Ride lots…