Greetings all, I just joined the group, and I'd like to ask the collective about their experiences converting a a drop bar road bike for use with a Riv Albatross bar, and specifically the size of stem to use. Its not easy to do a search on this without weeding through many FS or WTB posts for Albatross bars.
First, the bike that is being retrofitted: it is a 1977 Trek TX500, size 49 and 53 c-to-c seat and top tubes respectively. I believe that it was the smallest size Trek available in their first(?) year of operation, and It's a MUSA frame. Second, the person that I'm building it for and its intended use: my partner who already has a road bike with drop bars and a mountain bike with mountain bike style bars. My thought was to build her something different and more like the ride of my classic 3-spd Raleigh that I like riding about town on. I have the handlebars and they're currently set-up with a 1970s TTT road stem, size 65 mm by my measurement. This seems too short and I was thinking that a 90 mm maybe a better choice with how far back the handlebars will be for a comfortable ride. As to shifters, I'm now settled on Shimano bar end shifters. First, I tried Paul Thumbies, but I know that she'll complain as even I think that it's somewhat awkward shifting barcons retrofitted as thumb shifters. I know some swear by their use but, I also know what she'll come to like in the end, no muss, no fuss. Hell, I may end up putting shifters on the stem for her, which will not be a bad thing. As Crumpie says, Just Ride the Bloody Bike. So, suggestions please, and feel free to contact me directly. Russell Duncan Leverett, MA and Saratoga, WY -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/c08c1678-74e7-4778-9a40-18543ea665e5n%40googlegroups.com.
