The drop bars were not the setup of choice for my wife. I figured that was going to be the case and had a set of Nitto Albatross bars and NOS Specialized dirt drop stem on hand and ready to go. The grips and levers took a bit of time to get together, but the finished product looks pretty darn good in my opinion.
The only other thing swapped out so far was the pedals, as with the drops, clips and straps are not here thing at the moment. The luggage is in the design phases and fenders may show up before the next winter rains. I entertained the idea of a 650b conversion, not much to gain for her so we are going to hold off.
This is a fantastic bike, I wish you could still walk into a shop and buy something like this off of the rack for a reasonable price.
Looks amazing!
Thanks, She was a bit skeptical at first with my spontaneous push to get the bike, but after the first, I mean second ride she was sold. The look I got when she came back from riding with the drops was not good, but built up this way the bike was transformed for her. It is an amazing little bike, I even enjoy taking it for short rides as my feet can bet la ton the ground while sitting on the saddle.
This bike looks GREAT. So clean, and I love the black Acorn bag on the front.
It is one of the nicest bike that has found its way into our garage, I really wish you could still get bikes made with this level of detail for an afordable price.
Great looking bike. I’m trying to do a similar thing for my daughter with my wife’s 1985 Terry Precision road bike. I swapped out the drop bars for a set of Arc handlebars (see Bridgestone XO-5) to shorten the reach. The steering seemed quite twitchy, if that’s the correct word. But it’s very sensitive, and I’m worried that if she makes a sudden turn of the bars, she may lose control.
Does your wife’s bike have any issues after swapping the drops for the Albatross. Thanks