Back in the Drops

Well, here we are, the SUB has her drop bars back on. Aesthetically, I like the look of the drop bars on the bike much better than the ftat bars.

What's different now than before? I did a little cable re-routing, plus replaced the generic cable housings with Jagwire cable housings. The cable pull feels a bit smoother (of course, that could be the pyschology of buying something new, so it must be better syndrome - haha).

You can see that I have rotated the thumb shifters quite a bit forward, so shifting is an up and down motion rather than the original fore and aft movement.

Rotating the shifters eliminated routing the brake cables along the front of the bars, so I routed them along the bottom of the bars. I used the shifter clamp area as a cable guide and to try and keep the cables as close to the bars as possible.

Once I had all the cables routed and back on, I took a quick spin up and down the street, just to make sure braking was good and I could shift through the gears.

I readjusted the brake arm angles and position of the center pull hangar. I did some internet research and found information on adjusting the right mechanical advantage. Braking feels much better than before. I guess I took the long way around, should have researched first, might have saved me the interim bar swap.<shrug, oh well>.

After all the major adjustments and cable routing testing, it was time to re-wrap the bars. Wrapping around the shifter clamps was a little tricky and while the bumps look a bit dorky, the cushioning is better than hanging on to bare metal.

I like the unobstructed top part of the bars, which is where most the pressure is anyway when my hands are there. I can comfortably reach and shift through the gears.

The cables routed nicely, and as if by design, wrap nicely around my headlight. I did another test spin up and down the street really pulling hard on the brakes from the tops, or at least attempting to stop quickly. Definitely feels like it has more stopping power now with less effort than before. Will know on Monday when I am back to commuting.

I hope the SUB does not feel too bad with all the tweaks, mods and adjustments. It just means I care.