Tag Archives: populaire

Drop Some Wisdom

17 Sunday Mar 2013

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When I started riding road bikes again around 2009, I read a lot of opinion on the “internets”, and a few things were spoken of as gospel.  One of these was:

I’m a dedicated experimenter/tweaker when it comes to building and riding bikes.  I had been on road bikes with drop bars for a short period of my life from about 1983-1991, but mainly as a part-time commuter.  I never raced, and only did one 2-day 150 mile ride in high school.

My old road bike – Raleigh Reliant

When I moved to Seattle in 1991, I rode a friend’s mountain bike down some fire  trails in Whistler, BC, and was totally smitten.  From then until 2009, I had various mountain bikes with flat bars.  When I bought my first Rivendell, I tried 46cm Noodles, but found them uncomfortable.  Specifically, when I was in the drops, they felt really deep/extreme, and my forearms hit the tops disconcertingly.  There was something off.

Cupcake and Homer with 46cm Noodles

I found VO Porteur bars to be a better fit for me initially, as they had a nice stretched-out thin position on the flat fronts, and I could also get very upright on the swept back part of the bars.  I went through a few iterations with these bars until I started riding in longer Randonneur events.  On one Populaire, I developed a bit of numbness in one hand at the 50-mile mark, even with soft cork tape.  I was definitely the only rider using upright bars of any kind, and most of  the folks were using drop bars of some sort.

Porteur with Cork and Cotton

I decided that I would have to try some drops for the longer 200k ride I had planned.  I had an older pair of Nitto B-115 Olympiade bars from the 80s, and the width was a tiny 39cm (compared to the 46cm).  I set these guys up, and found them comfortable on my commute (7-12 miles each way). I also found that my forearms didn’t hit the tops of the bars when I was in the drops.  The next test was the Bellingham 200k.

Olympiades

At the end of the event, I had no hand discomfort, and felt that the bars were close to ideal.  They just needed more width, and a bit of curve back like the old noodles had on the tops.  This led me back to the beginning (almost) and the Noodle style I started out with.  I went with the next bigger size of Noodles and have not gone back to uprights.

Sometimes it is best to listen to the wisdom/opinion of experienced riders in the first place.  At least cheaper…

Faves! Nitto Noodle 42cm with SRAM S500 Levers

Dad – you bike too much!

30 Monday Jan 2012

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January Populaire, a set on Flickr.

This was my first “bonk” ride. I was out of gas at about the 58 mile mark. Nearly had it finished, and just bonked hard.  That night, my daughter told me “Dad – you bike too much!”.  I had to agree (regrettably).  I resolved to commute a bit less, and bus more.  I want to get more miles on the longer rides, and need to save my energy.

In hindsight, I took a month off cycling, and then the week before, had done 4 solid days of commuting. I was tired.

I then met up with a rider from Bremerton with a beautiful Mitch Pryor (MAP) Rando project bike.  We ended up talking through most of the ride, and I was forgetting to eat much or drink water until over halfway through.  I started to suffer at 30 miles, and had a granola bar and a handful of trail mix. I’m pretty certain I became dehydrated by the end of the ride.  I was a bit dizzy, and had no energy left. I had to stop to eat on the 45 minute drive back to keep from dozing off.

Live and learn.

Otherwise, it was a beautiful ride around Camano Island. There were 80 folks that pre-registered, and it looked like we had at least 50 show up. Lots of variations of machines. Everything from custom MAP randos, to titanium Davidsons. Tandems, carbo/alums, and everything in between. I did the ride in a bit over 5 hrs. My AHH rode flawlessly. I had no discomfort, and the drivetrain was nice and quiet. I had put new cranks on with a lower 32t small ring, and was glad I did based on the hills we went up.

I’m looking forward to a real 200k. Now I know that I need constant food/water to make this work…

Nitto PlatRack Attack

01 Thursday Dec 2011

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Having convinced myself that low trail is not the holy grail of front loading bicycles (i.e. I don’t have a problem with my higher trail bike), I added a Nitto Platrack (Rivbike.com) to my Hilsen.  I’ve used it now for a few weeks of bike commuting, as well as a 100k Populaire ride with the local randonneur club.

Rivendell Front Loader

Observations so far:

  1. It has the same ride feel as just having the smaller Mark’s Rack on the bike.
  2. The long stays that support near the hub don’t make a noticeable difference in the handling.
  3. There is no additional noise.
  4. I don’t have a problem with the looks – I thought the long stays would bother me, but they are very insignificant.
  5. I like having a wider base of support.
  6. I’ve found the basket to be mostly unnecessary.  Using the Acorn Boxy Rando bag worked great on the Populaire.
  7. The elastic net holds my ShopSack and other additions just great.

With Wald Basket and Cargo Net

The advantages are mainly around having a larger platform.  This makes it a lot easier to transport bulky items without needing a basket, but if you like the built in container a basket provides, it will give it that much more support when loaded.  I.E. no wobble.  It just feels solid.

Other Side

From the Cockpit

Verdict:  Solid! Recommended!  I will be running this combo for the foreseeable future.  I don’t feel it gets in the way, and adds enough versatility to make it worth keeping for commute duty, without being “in the way” for a longer distance ride.  I’m not racing, so I’m not counting grams.  That said, I don’t feel this makes me any slower on a rando.  Tires are something I feel much more when I change things out.