Monday, September 5, 2011

The Ride of FrankenBike

We have several sets of aerobars lying around the garage, mostly from Donna trying to get the right set on her bike... that got me to thinking. I have already converted my road bike pretty close to tri geometry with Profile Design Carbon Stryke bars and a new seatpost to move the seat forward... why not try to install a set of real aerobars? So I gave it a shot. First I tried her original base bar with my Carbon Stryke bars... that seemed ok so I switched it all to this set of Vision bars. I even got to run the brake cables internally, even though there is a pretty tight bend coming out of the shifter.
From Darren's Fitness Quest
From Darren's Fitness Quest

No, road shifters were not intended to mount that way... but hey, I tried it out today and it DID work!

It was VERY windy here today. We have a 'Red Flag' warning even: * WIND...NORTH 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 30 MPH. I rode my usual 'one hour' loop, and averaged just a little less than my 'normal' time, even with the wind. It seemed easier to reach higher speeds, and my lower speeds into full headwind were not as low as usual. I am calling this a success!

The shifter mounting was temporary to try it out, I will be ordering regular bar end shifters and brakes now, to clean up FrankenBike a little! :)

Darren
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2 comments:

  1. HowardMay 10, 2012 at 8:09 AM

    I have been thinking about doing the same thing to my road bike. Did you have to change your stem out? I have heard that some people turn their seat post around to get the seat far enough forward. I may have to try it this winter.

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  2. DarrenMay 10, 2012 at 9:35 PM

    Yep, I went shorter and higher. I had to swap my seat post to an FSA zero offset one. You can turn it around sometimes or get the Fast Forward. But if you have one with only one bolt, think about replacing it anyway... eventually the bolt fatigues and breaks! Yep, that happened to mine... I have since put real bar end shifters and brakes on as well. Converted from 9 to 10 speed.

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