Fit some butterfly bars. They give you many more hand positions than anything else especially when tilted. If you want discs just buy a steel frame with disc mounts. eg Salsa and strip your current bike to provide bits. I went for a Pedelec which can of course be pedalled without assistance. Downside is its very heavy but deals easily with the 1 in 5s.
Al
Which next bike for old git in hilly area?
Re: Which next bike for old git in hilly area?
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
Re: Which next bike for old git in hilly area?
Bars like the Jones Loop bars, the copies to which reohn2 has provided a link, and other bars without the loop but with similar amounts of backsweep, e.g. Humpert Aerowing, will bring the grips closer to you than conventional flat bars (for the same stem length) and so will give you a more upright position.
Because just the bars can make so much difference on their own, I would echo the comments of reohn2 and suggest getting a pair and trying them on your existing bike. Note that it can take a bit of tweaking to get the best from that type of bar, e.g. tilt the bars back at a 15 degree angle rather than having them horizontal, and you might well need a short stem as well.
Incidentally, with regard to my comment above about controlling a heavy bike with loaded rear panniers when mounting and dismounting, I remember now that when I used an old 26" MTB for shopping, the flat (riser) bars were awful because they provided so little leverage against the weight of the back end of the bike (with panniers loaded with shopping), i.e. this was an even more important factor than the standover height. When dismounting to pass through a gate, I would often struggle to stop the weight of the back end of the bike causing the bike to tip over. In that respect bars with a lot of sweep provide more leverage and are better.
Because just the bars can make so much difference on their own, I would echo the comments of reohn2 and suggest getting a pair and trying them on your existing bike. Note that it can take a bit of tweaking to get the best from that type of bar, e.g. tilt the bars back at a 15 degree angle rather than having them horizontal, and you might well need a short stem as well.
Incidentally, with regard to my comment above about controlling a heavy bike with loaded rear panniers when mounting and dismounting, I remember now that when I used an old 26" MTB for shopping, the flat (riser) bars were awful because they provided so little leverage against the weight of the back end of the bike (with panniers loaded with shopping), i.e. this was an even more important factor than the standover height. When dismounting to pass through a gate, I would often struggle to stop the weight of the back end of the bike causing the bike to tip over. In that respect bars with a lot of sweep provide more leverage and are better.
Re: Which next bike for old git in hilly area?
can you supply a picture of your current setup so we can really see what we/you are up against?
Re: Which next bike for old git in hilly area?
al_yrpal wrote:Fit some butterfly bars. They give you many more hand positions than anything else especially when tilted. .....
Al
The problem Butterflies is the narrow hand position when manoeuvring when you need to be covering the brakes,especially when loaded.
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
Re: Which next bike for old git in hilly area?
With regard to the photograph below of reohn2's Vagabond with loop bars, I think the low camera angle makes it a bit difficult to get a complete sense of the relative saddle/bar positions. The photograph below that of a custom built Salsa Fargo with loop bars is a very similar frame and set up, but taken from a higher angle, and may give a better sense of the position and allow the OP to imagine how that type of bike might be with the bars even higher.
NB The Fargo itself is very similar to the Vagabond, but I would not suggest the Fargo for the OP because at 6 foot I think he might well not be able to get the bars as high as he might want given that it has a full carbon fork. Even if the Fargo's carbon steerer were uncut and the stem fitted to the top of the steerer, I strongly suspect the bars would still be too low - it's not a problem I would expect with the Vagabond, because steel steerers are usually much longer than those on full carbon forks.
NB The Fargo itself is very similar to the Vagabond, but I would not suggest the Fargo for the OP because at 6 foot I think he might well not be able to get the bars as high as he might want given that it has a full carbon fork. Even if the Fargo's carbon steerer were uncut and the stem fitted to the top of the steerer, I strongly suspect the bars would still be too low - it's not a problem I would expect with the Vagabond, because steel steerers are usually much longer than those on full carbon forks.
Re: Which next bike for old git in hilly area?
Thanks once again, gentlemen.
I now have enough information to go on, but first I must to the physiotherapist!
I now have enough information to go on, but first I must to the physiotherapist!
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Re: Which next bike for old git in hilly area?
Slowster
Since that photo of my Vag was taken I've put a shorter stem on it which has allowed me to lower the 'bars a little,I think they're now about 30 to 35mm higher than the saddle but with 40 to 50mm of(uncut)steerer above the stem.If I get chance tomorrow morning I'll take another couple of photos and post them for Danfoto's reference/information.
Since that photo of my Vag was taken I've put a shorter stem on it which has allowed me to lower the 'bars a little,I think they're now about 30 to 35mm higher than the saddle but with 40 to 50mm of(uncut)steerer above the stem.If I get chance tomorrow morning I'll take another couple of photos and post them for Danfoto's reference/information.
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
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The utility cyclist
- Posts: 3607
- Joined: 22 Aug 2016, 12:28pm
- Location: The first garden city
Re: Which next bike for old git in hilly area?
dim wrote:it fits mudguards, carbon and fast, not sure if you can also fit a normal rack though and it's not cheap:
Trek FX Sport 6
if you cannot fit a rack you could use bike packing bags to transport you groceries and iyou could use bikepacking bags
The Specialized Sirrus Ltd carbon from 2010 has rack/guard fittings and you can fit 42mm tyres to them as well, I built mine up as a lightweight (7.3kg) 2x11 gravel/road flat bar but it will likely get used for touring in the future.
The lighter and more efficient the better as far as I'm concerned, especially as we get older and the hills get a bit more difficult, even with rack and full length guards it'll come in at around 8.5kg, as a full carbon rig it does feel easier compared to my drop bar half carbon/alu which was itself a flat bar.
The market is all but bare for flat bar carbon bikes/frames that have standard mudguard mounts never mind pannier rack mounts, 'bikepacking' seems to be the default and for me it's inferior, why would I want to mount a load on my carbon seatpost to go touring, I've added up the weight of the bags from bikepacking and it's more than that for even a set of bog standard 50L pannier bags such as the bike hut ones I use.
What to buy really depends on your budget, you could get a titanium or decent spec steel frame built so that it enables you to get the position you want without having to mess about with upangled stems and such.
Re: Which next bike for old git in hilly area?
OP, I appreciate that you've said that you've enough information to go on, but you might also want to consider an alternative approach to how you pick up shopping given that it involves what sounds like a physically demanding ride if it includes 20% hills.
I find riding a bike with heavily laden panniers to be quite draining. I don't have the problem of 20% hills, but I am riding on off-road tracks which are more tiring than flat tarmac. Sometimes instead for a change I just ride a very light touring type bike instead to the supermarket, and buy no more than will fit in my saddlebag (I use a Longflap Carradice bag to provide a bit of flexibility). That approach makes a pleasant change from lugging a lot of shopping on a correspondingly necessarily heavier bike, and I find I recover much more quickly after such a trip, with the result that it's practical and pleasurable to do it more frequently, i.e. little and often.
Obviously you could do something similar by just buying a lot less at the shop to put in the panniers of your Sherpa, but the Sherpa is still a relatively heavy bike and my experience is that a light bike makes a big difference if you are not carrying a heavy load.
I'm not suggesting you adopt the above approach instead of what you do at present, but rather in additon. A change is as good as a rest, and it's nice to have the option of a light bike and a much easier ride if you don't fancy or feel up to riding your usual heavy bike and lugging a lot of shopping home.
I find riding a bike with heavily laden panniers to be quite draining. I don't have the problem of 20% hills, but I am riding on off-road tracks which are more tiring than flat tarmac. Sometimes instead for a change I just ride a very light touring type bike instead to the supermarket, and buy no more than will fit in my saddlebag (I use a Longflap Carradice bag to provide a bit of flexibility). That approach makes a pleasant change from lugging a lot of shopping on a correspondingly necessarily heavier bike, and I find I recover much more quickly after such a trip, with the result that it's practical and pleasurable to do it more frequently, i.e. little and often.
Obviously you could do something similar by just buying a lot less at the shop to put in the panniers of your Sherpa, but the Sherpa is still a relatively heavy bike and my experience is that a light bike makes a big difference if you are not carrying a heavy load.
I'm not suggesting you adopt the above approach instead of what you do at present, but rather in additon. A change is as good as a rest, and it's nice to have the option of a light bike and a much easier ride if you don't fancy or feel up to riding your usual heavy bike and lugging a lot of shopping home.