No, not the sort licenced to sell
intoxicating liquors. The quiet of Christmas is very welcome and without fail, results
in bike-related revisions- whether it's midwinter maintenance- wholesale cable
replacement, rings, chains etc, or more specific upgrades.
The festive season can also give
rise to expensive flights of fancy- framesets, fork(s), groupsets- unplanned
stuff that seems like a great idea in the moment but can contribute to the January
fiscal hangover.
I turned my attentions to bars. While
generally very attached to the WTB Dirt Drops, I find the drop and reach slightly
off- too long and deep. It’s worth noting that I am broad across the shoulders
but proportionally short in the torso, so getting the front end blissful can require
some trial and error. Bike fits are an excellent investment and certainly
reduce the guesswork.
Given both the Soma Condor TEST: SOMA CONDOR HANDLEBAR and
WTB “in stock” there wasn’t any outlay, just experimentation. I wanted to
continue this tradition, without being pointlessly tight. Genetic D-Riser 16 GENETIC D RISER 16
BARS | cycling-not-racing was the obvious contender with its 75mm reach and
offered an extra 20mm rise.
However, I fancied something with
a shallower drop. Some NOS Ridgeback Gravel Drops going for proverbial pennies
came under my radar. While the Ridgeback don’t feature any rise, they have an
8-degree flare, mm reach, drop. I’d also had half an eye on Genetic’s Digest,
which feature a very favourable 76mm reach and 110mm drop.
One thing led to another, and I
found myself acquiring a set of each. It didn’t take me long before I switched
Denise’s WTB Dirt drops for the Genetic Digest. Thankfully, though it took a
while to port everything over, prune a brake cable outer and similar quick
tweaks, no replacements required- this also applied to the Ergon Orthocell Bar
Tape Ergon
Orthocell Handlebar Tape | cycling-not-racing.
Out on the road, the Digest’s
flare is very discernible and gives tremendous leverage, which, aside from
trail duties is particularly helpful if you’re towing a trailer, or tagalong.
That said, coming from a traditional road bar, steering will feel barge-like to
begin with.
Another similarity with On-One’s
Midge, they open the chest cavity, which really helps when powering up the
climbs- great for cyclo cross, or indeed climbing on the fixed. The only other
significant consideration is that greater width can make navigating tight spaces
trickier- negotiating congested traffic, or indeed doorways.
I’ve decided I’ll keep the
Ridgeback as spares, should Muffins’ D-riser 4 show any signs of fatigue. As
with Ursula, I’ve reach and height absolutely bang on for my needs. Though I’m
a fettler, the old saying “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” resonates strongly.
Another thing to consider when choosing drops, at least for mixed terrain, or indeed, dedicated trail duties (as distinct from cyclo cross, where there’s a lot of dis and re-mounting when things get more technical) is the bar’s uniformity, meaning that lights and other accessories are easily mounted-at the desired angles.
I’d contemplated retiring the
Giant Continuum 9 function computer, but found replacing the batteries, giving the
contacts a quick squirt of maintenance spray restored the original performance
and appears to have addressed some connectivity issues, especially when riding through
areas of high electrical interference. A New Old Stock Blackburn Atom 4 (the
wireless version) may well be finding its way to Ursula, assuming I can successfully
troubleshoot some minor niggles.
New contact points and indeed, adjustments
always feel different to begin with, hence I leave things set that way for a couple
of hundred miles and tweak accordingly
Obviously, a longer threadless
steerer and spacer play will have the same effect and overcomes some of the limitations
of quill stems and in this instance, adaptors. However, I should also point out,
higher end models such as this Profile design are infinitely superior to the
generic types found on auction sites. Yes, I’ve used those and they’re adequate,
but that’s it.
Several months down the line. I’m
also very impressed by the Wolf Tooth Morse Bottle Cages Wolf
Tooth Morse Steel Bottle Cage | cycling-not-racing. Ours were the stainless
versions combining a timeless aesthetic with high degrees of adjustability and
bottle tenure is excellent.
