I needed some “dad alone time” tonight, so I did a little work on the Miyata RidgeRunner Team.  I like the Rivendell Bosco bars, and have used them for over a year, but it was time for a change.  They are huge, and allow an amazing amount of variety, but they started to feel a bit clownish – perhaps it’s the tape job…

I put a VO Porteur setup back on this bike.  This was a cockpit I had originally on the Hunqapillar, and liked it quite a bit.  I also started out with porteurs on my Hilsen after a bad experience with some of the larger (46cm) Noodles.  I rode that configuration for quite a while until I got a bit of hand numbness on a 100k in 2012.

The porteurs are narrow, and have enough reach back towards me that they offer a bit more upright position than drops.  They also look cool 🙂

In doing this, I had to replace all the cables due to the length differences.  I also went to bar end shifters (indexed Shimano 8-speed).  They work fine on the 7-speed cassette, BTW.  The bike feels smaller and narrower now.  I don’t have the bolt upright feel that I had with the Boscos, but I’m saving them for someday when I need to relax a bit.  With more randonneuring coming this year, I need to get used to the more aero position of the drops, and the porteurs aren’t too off.

I’ve thought about selling the Miyata with the forthcoming Soma GR I am planning to build up, but I’m not sure I can do it.  I like the bike a lot, and have put a lot of time and effort into reviving it from the ’80’s MTB form I found it in.  I will post some pics of the new config in the next week, but for now, here’s the old version.