Albastache Conversion--first ride review
Bill Lindsay
Executive summary: the Albastache bars are terrific. They are neither 'better' nor 'worse' than drop bars for me. They are different and good different. I'm happy to have an Albastache road bike in my stable and have no qualms whatsoever about trying a 200k brevet on this bike in this configuration.
Like drop bars, Albastache bars give me several good places to put my hands. I'm a cockpit fidgeter, and I move around quite a bit, particularly when solo and particularly in the hills. The selection of choices took a couple of minutes to figure out, but they are all familiar and normal feeling to me. I did not use any of the super narrow real estate this morning because my Ruthworks rackless Brevet Bag took up that space. If we think of Albastache bars as splayed out drop bars, then with my hands in the 'drops' is a very upright comfortable cruising position. I noticed that the combination of my weight reasonably far back due to Leo's slack seat tube angle, and my upper body up and back with the Albastache cockpit, the steering felt VERY light, reminding me of the low trail bikes I've ridden. That light touch steerability Is not something I normally associate with Rivendells. When I plant myself into the beginning of the hooks or all the way into the hooks, then I got more of the standard Riv steering feel where I think where I want to go and my hips take care of it.
The only awkwardness was deciding which position to use from a stop. That full forward position which puts my hands in a shape like they would be on a straight bar, was the most awkward. The best places were in the drops or the beginning of the hook curve. That's the closest thing to the on-the-hoods hand shape. The cool thing is that I noticed when standing, as I was rocking the bike, each time I slightly unloaded one hand, it was easy to wander position like 1cm at a time. Normally with drop bars I pick my hand-spot, stand, do what I need to do, sit, and reposition my hands. With Albastache I was able to wander around incrementally while standing, which was kind of cool.
My full-tuck full-power positions sometimes had my elbows down below the level of the drops. On descents I found a position where my hands were in the hooks near the brakelevers and my forearms were resting on the drops, which was also kind of cool, like an aerobars position. I did not attack the ride itself, because the air quality is lousy from the wildfires. Even though the fire area is over 100 miles away, the smoke is everywhere, so I took it comparatively easy. For a speedcheck I went for a PR on the descent down Redwood Road from the Chabot Park entrance to the Golf Course. This descent doesn't let me pedal much because I'm rolling too fast. My time mainly comes down to handling and aerodynamics. I went for a Strava PR and I got it. Out of 16 total efforts on this segment, I was 15 seconds faster than I had ever done it before (3:53 vs my previous best of 4:08). That's in the top 20% all-time on Strava, out of ~7000 riders. Does that mean that Albastache bars are objectively faster than drop bars? No. But that result does support my opinion that I was not objectively slower using Albastache bars on this bike.
So, I'm pleased with my initial experience on Albastache bars. I'm not going to go replace all the drop bars on all my bikes, but I'm glad to have an Albastache road bike on-hand. It is a distinct possibility that I'll freak out my SFR comrades by running this bike at the December 200k
Bill Lindsay
El Cerrito, CA
Adam in Indiana
On Friday, November 9, 2018 at 2:50:25 PM UTC-5, Bill Lindsay wrote:
> As you know I did a 200k brevet on my Leo Roadini last weekend. I decided a little while back to experiment with Albastache bars on the Roadini to tweak it's spot in the stable a little bit. I'm looking for the athletic yet civilized vibe of a 1980s sport-touring machine, and I also wanted to project kind of the 2019-version of a 1992 XO-1. That XO-1 angle was influenced in part that I was already running a Nitto/Ritchey stem that originally came stock on a Bridgestone XO-1.
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> Last night I did the conversion. I pulled the 46cm Soba Noodle bars only. Same stem, same shifters. The only associated work was I took a couple inches off the brake cable housing. The bar swap, tape job and first coat of shellac took about an hour. I left it to dry and this morning installed the barcon shifters and took it for my 40-mile 3000ft commute to my office. Here's the look:
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Bill Lindsay
My mind wandered as I thought about fire policy, climate change and various veins of scientific thought as well as some technical topics I would need to discuss with my coworkers once I got to the office. It’s one of the many reasons I enjoy cycling, particularly uphill and solo. It’s an all too rare opportunity to daydream and meditate. As I crested the climb and reached to shift to the big ring I realized that I had completely stopped thinking about the bike or the new cockpit. It had ‘disappeared’. That’s about as much as I can ask for from equipment.
Bill Lindsay
El Cerrito, Ca
Deacon Patrick
With abandon,
Patrick
RichS
Deacon Patrick
With abandon,
Patrick
Bill Lindsay
WETH
Good luck to your son with the college applications. Both schools should be honored to admit him!
Justin, Oakland
I married into a UC family and hope my 1 year old (!!!) will go to Cal some day.
-J
MCT
Matt in OKC
Madam Xylene
Michael Cinibulk
Mike Cinibulk
Old Blue ‘84, ‘89, ‘91.
Cal Band Trombone, ‘80-‘84.
