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2nd on the fork

This came out so well! All the proportions feel on point.

Looks rad! Good proportions. I love the bars.

Okay let me know. I send them out a week ago.

The shifters should have arrived by now?

That a really list of parts. Looks very similar a list of parts somebody sold a few weeks back ;)

I had the same problem with the Pacenti rims. I went the other way and got 28h rims instead of 32h because the were available. Had to get a new rear hub though. I still have the 32h silver hope rs4 hub in case that’s of any interest.

Cheers for the kind words everyone.

I am not a fan at all of these moustache bars (sorry @bright). The idea of non-drop bars was to get more control and confidence in handling and benefit from the better brake modulation. The current setup is definitely too short and upright. It makes handling worse and less confident.

My view is the upright shorter posture is the intended characteristic of swept bars like this and attempting to bring the reach back out to what you were used to with drops/hoods is seriously uncomfortable because of the moderate amount of sweep.

I believe there is a sweet spot to be found. After all, I am riding swept-back bars on my MTB and I love it. So much control and so comfortable. The bars on the MTB are much wider though.

So I did some googling, math and photoshopping.
On my MTB the distance from the saddle tip to the centre of the handlebars is approx 57cm.
With 80cm wide bars that makes for a distance of 65.5cm from saddle tip to handlebar end.

With the current setup on the Raleigh, I only have 52.5cm from the saddle tip to the centre of the handlebars and due to the generous back sweep of these bars, it's only 50cm from saddle tip to handlebar end.

I have some older Trekking bars lying around. Ergotec Moonbars. They are a few cm wider and have a little bit less back sweep. These bars are easily available in silver 25.4mm for about £13. They would already increase the reach by a few cm. Paired with a longer stem they might do the trick. I would need a 120 or 130mm stem though and visually I think 100mm looks just right.

Looking for alternatives I found the SimWorks get around bars. They are definitely more expensive but doing the math it seems like combined with my current 100mm stem would give me a very similar reach to the MTB. Saddle tip to centre approx 55.5cm and saddle tip to bar end 65.6cm.

I did a quick mockup and that seems alright with me!

Love to watch some steel glueing. Subbed!

To be prepared for the next time you don’t ride it?

Damn I never knew I wanted a 26 x 2.3 fixed gear until now…

#SSMTB

It is done.

Today I switched the drops for some swept-back bars. It was reasonably easy and quick since I only had to disconnect the brake cables at the brake and then take the handlebars with cable and housing off the bike.
The new setup is a bit of a budget mix but to be fair doesn't look that much like it. I polished up an old and dirty SR quill stem from the parts bin, got some bars for £9 of eBay, some Dia Compe SS6 levers (£9 from eBay too) and some new Oury grips in a colour that was available.

I have to say visually I am quite pleased. It is kind of how I imagined it to turn out. The cables are a bit weird but it was the best way to make them work with the bar bag.

Here is the big BUT though. The reach was reduced by a lot. And this makes the bike very short and upright. It feels very unusual and inefficient to me. I am not quite sure whether I like it. Only rode it around the block for some shopping and accelerating feels slower.
I already moved the saddle back but I think to enjoy this I need a longer stem and or wider handlebars. These are "only" 57cm. The drops on there were 52cm so not much of a gain here.

The leverage on the brakes has improved though. I feel like it is less effort to brake which is something I can still feel in my left hand. What also helped massively here are some new Kool Stop Thinline Salmon brake pads which were already an improvement on the drops.

While I was fiddling with the front end I also wanted to finally install the BLB mini rack that has been sitting in a box since forever. I had to realise though that the strouts are too short...
So I ordered some longer ones...

Sounds like the perfect day off.
So nice to have such a good group of people to cycle with.

Yes it is. Bought it for a project but then I couldn’t source the rims I wanted and went with 28h.

I have a Hope RS4 Road hub Silver 32h 130mm - New in Box
Can be yours for £110.

I still think this is pretty rad. What about a gear hub?

Just looking at your brakes… you would still need new ones to fit these pads I guess. I run tektro cr720 which are slotted like most v brakes.

I just remembered I have “offset brake pad holders” on a fixed gear with very tight clearances. They allowed me to push the pads up that small notch needed more than my brake would do. Maybe they will do?

16” sounds small. How tall are you if I may ask?

True dat. This is getting more complicated than the Rick and Morty heist episode.

I have just ordered “slim” brake pads. I hope they will help me get my baloony tyres out without deflating. Not sure if that would help you but they might be cheaper than new cantis?

Regarding the uneven space between the chain stays I can say that mine are slightly uneven too. Winston was very hesitant and didn’t want to do more crimping then necessary. It’s not as extreme for me though. More like 2mm.

I’ve met @Maj but not @amey 🤷‍♂️
Anybody ever saw them in the same room?

They do feel flimsy though.

@Tom13 thanks then that's a no go.

@Josh that sounds like a reasonable idea. I've actually looked for the all silver ones but can't find any in the UK. I'll pm you.

Oh, and they are less than 20 quid.

These popped up on eBay for a reasonable price so I couldn't resist. Seems like the bearings will need some love.

I'll most probably put them on in the winter when my spd shoes are too cold.

I am currently following a lead from a german MTB forum on the Tektro 372s. We'll see how that goes down.

Unfortunately, that lead was a dead end.

Now I am getting impatient and thinking whether I should just buy the VO levers. They match the budget to "how much-I-like-them-visually" + availability the best.

Another new candidate to throw in the race are these Dia Compe MX122 levers. I always thought I don't like them and I had similar looking ones on a very old bike and they were just cheap and wobbly.
They look very sturdy in this video
though. Not loose at all.
They also look great on this stunner of a retro mtb: