Everything north of the headset
So lately my left wrist started hurting, between the wrist and the heel of the palm. I traced it to my bike geometry, a high saddle with a forward pitch combined with low handlebars with no sweep. This led to leaning too far forward and hooking my thumb around the bar end, which put pressure in the wrong place (follow a line from your middle finger down and stop just short of your wrist - that un-padded bit full of bones and tendons and nerves), or gripping a nearly straight bar (hold your fists straight out and note that they’re more comfortable at around 10 degrees from horizontal). I knew I needed a new handlebar, but the stem is a somewhat unusual 1 1/8″, and since I had to take the levers and shifters and stuff off to replace the bar, I might as well replace them &c, and now it’s starting to get spendy…
Then I realized that holding off on this was false economy. I used to spend almost $300/month for a car I never used, plus insurance, and here I am quibbling about investing quality parts into a 1984 Mongoose Hilltopper - which is my only transportation? So, I just ordered the stuff:
Holy crap, lookit that thing. It’s got like six hand positions. I could spend days on that without getting fatigued. And I’ll be able to adjust the height and pitch with the…
Zoom Quick Comfort adjustible 1-1/8″ Quill Stem
Height and pitch adjusts over a 70 degree arc. Of course, I’m taking all of the hardware off the old bar, so I might as well get…
Tektro 857 AL Linear Pull Brakes (with Tektro MT2.1 Eclipse Linear Pull levers)
And new shifters and cables. Grand total of $162.09, still half a car payment. When all of the kit comes in I’ll post some pics of the assembly AND YOU WILL LOOK AT THEM.
I wonder what the over/under on months is on you purchasing a higher quality frame …
It’s actually a very good frame. It’s from 1984, before the company that makes Huffy bought the Mongoose and Schwinn names and turned them into unmitigated crap. It’s a sturdy cromoly frame; it’s not going anywhere.
That said, I do plan on picking up a similar-vintage Schwinn or Bianchi touring bike as well.