I cut the boom

ReklinedRider

Zen MBB Master
Bladderhead's bars are similar to this (although this is a Sofrider I will use virtually identical bar/brake levers/ shifters setup on Vendetta) Weird, but ergonomic. image.jpgimage.jpg
 

bladderhead

Zen MBB Master
I like Kline-type bars, but I want the bar-ends further back, so the clamp can go further forward.

Snilard I do not understand. What clamp protrudes where?
 

ReklinedRider

Zen MBB Master
Hmm not following. Which clamp further forward? Boom clamp? Would that move the bars further forward, thus closer to your legs, and thus requiring the bar ends further back so you can reach them? This is fascinating to me and coukd become a great CB fitting lesson.
Trying to imagine a handlebar that would get you what you want. Still think trplay's shorter cranks idea might help.

Just so you can see the same bars and similar brifter set-up on a Silvio, here is my old 1.5 (now owned by castlerobber and still sporting those bars and brifters without change) (on this bike would you still want to move the clamp? And which one?):
image.jpg image.jpg
 

bladderhead

Zen MBB Master
I want to shorten the distance between the handlebar clamp and the B bracket. Thus, I can make more space in front of my chest without having to stretch my legs too much. The problem is, then I am stretching my arms too much. This is because the curved part of the bars is forward of the straight part. So I have reversed the bars and rotated them. This brings my hands closer to me, and has the added benefit of lowering the hand position.

I might try shorter cranks. I have 165 on both Silvio and Grasshopper.
 

ReklinedRider

Zen MBB Master
I want to shorten the distance between the handlebar clamp and the B bracket. Thus, I can make more space in front of my chest without having to stretch my legs too much. The problem is, then I am stretching my arms too much. This is because the curved part of the bars is forward of the straight part. So I have reversed the bars and rotated them. This brings my hands closer to me, and has the added benefit of lowering the hand position.

I might try shorter cranks. I have 165 on both Silvio and Grasshopper.

Yes I see what you mean. The greater recline of the Silvio 2.0 and the Vendetta make it more difficult to do what you're needing to do compared to Sofrider or Silvio 1 or 1.5. Wonder if you could use a flat bar (probably need to shim a 25.4 to the 31.8 clamp)? Or would that put your hands too high? Then you might need MTB brake lrvers too. Quite a dilemma.
Or a bar like is used on stock Sofriders, or Quests??
 

bladderhead

Zen MBB Master
The Hylex brakes kept leaking. Front and back. New o-rings, more fluid, more fluid. Fluid everywhere, can't stop. I gave up and got TRP Hy-rd. These are hydraulic, with the reservoirs built into the callipers, and actuated with Bowden cables. I got TRP levers, the same shape as the Hylex ones. I got Nokon cables. I can now stop the bike.

Cables were hard to fit. The inners are only just long enough, and the front one is all frayed already. Ten years and 30000 miles on the Grasshopper, and never any trouble with the hydraulic disk brakes. I thought I was permanently free from those awful Bowden cables. Now I am ensnared again.

The good news is that I can now continue to experiment with handlebar design.
 

bladderhead

Zen MBB Master
No terrifying brake failures so far. Someone somewhere on the net said that with Nokon the inners stretch really badly. Not in my case so far.
 

bladderhead

Zen MBB Master
My cranks have shrunk. Used to have 165, now 145, and I like it. More comfortable, and it seems more stable and steers better. Now I will resume my handlebar experiments.

Brakes still work, btw
 

bladderhead

Zen MBB Master
They are Redline. They were the only short cranks I could find, and they were from American eBay. The left crank keeps coming loose. I carry an Allen key and keep stopping to screw it on again.
 

super slim

Zen MBB Master
The crank could be coming loose due to poor machining of the Aluminium crank tapered interface connection to the steel axle.
Remove the crank, apply a THIN layer of bluing paste on the axle, install the crank and tighten it, remove the crank and check to see where the blue paste has transferred to the crank.
The whole crank interface area should be blued. If not gently file the high spots, reblue the axle , repeat these steps until at least 80% of the interface area of the crank is blue.
The crank should then stay in place!
 

bladderhead

Zen MBB Master
The cranks kept coming loose, then they didn't. Then I noticed that the cranks were stiff, and not going round easily. I had to bash the tool with a mallet to loosen I them. I tightened them up to what felt right. Next time I rode it they made horrible noises. When I tightened them a bit they went stiff. When I loosened them a bit they got more loose. Then they almost completely seized. I managed to loosen them with the tool. Lucky, because I do not carry the mallet. When I got home I took them off. I could see the ball-bearings in the BB cups. Bits fell out. It looked as though some ball-bearings had fallen out. These BB cups came with the cranks, so I put the old BB cups back in. The new cranks do not fit in the old BB cups, so I had to put the old cranks on.

There are so many BB designs these days. The one in there now is Oct. The new crank axle has 16 splines. It is thicker than the oct one. This is so frustrating. I remember when everybody just had square taper.
 

Apollo

Well-Known Member
There are so many BB designs these days. The one in there now is Oct. The new crank axle has 16 splines. It is thicker than the oct one. This is so frustrating. I remember when everybody just had square taper.
The plethora of BB standards inundating the market these days is one of the biggest problems affecting the cycling industry, IMO. I wish they'd all settle down on one or two designs like in decades past and be done with it. It's making it harder and harder to decide which crank to get when the one you want doesn't fit the frame you ride. I'm getting sick of it to be honest, and I thought the computer industry was bad enough. /rant mode off

What BB do you have on your bike, what is oct?
 

bladderhead

Zen MBB Master
The BB in there now is GXP. The axle of the Redline cranks goes into the drive side, but the non drive side hole is too small to admit it.

At least they haven't changed the way the pedals fit the cranks.

Yet.
 

bladderhead

Zen MBB Master
Latest handlebar version



This is the best yet. The handlebar clamp is really far forward, so the bars are nearly touching my legs. This makes it a lot easier to lean forward. I wanted my hands to be low, so I inverted the bars, so the bar-ends pointed downwards. Then the bar ends trapped my thighs, which made tight turns impossible, so I put the bars right-way-up again and found the high arm position really comfortable. Tight turns are easier than ever. The bike seems more stable, for some reason.

Crononero with Hy-rd levers.
 

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