October 19, 2010

Give Drops a Chance.

This June while I was in Philly I happened to have the opportunity to pick up an 80's Schwinn Madison. This being a bike I've wanted for a while I jumped on the chance. After getting it back home, and needing to justify it's existence by differentiating it from my other bikes, I decided to leave the stock track bars on.
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It had been about 4 years since I had ridden a fixed gear with drop bars, because initally moving from drops to risers had been a revelation. In my opinion everything is easier with rise bars. The upright position is advantageous for seeing traffic, it's easier to stop/skid, you can go up and down curbs without worry, etc. etc.

After trying risers I figured I'd never go back to drops, whose only advantages I could fathom were style and being able to get out of a headwind. It's not like people actually use the drops very often, take a look at mine, still clean. In fact the only people in Minneapolis I ever see actually using their drops are West Bank women. Next time you're in the hood take a look, there they are, motoring down Franklin with black tights and boots in the drops like Merckx.

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What I'm getting at is that while in my opinion there aren't a ton of practical reasons to ride track bars on the streets, through doing so I have been reminded of some of the reasons why I was initially so stoked on learning how to ride fixed.

Namely, that it's hard.

And I don't mean it's hard in the exclusive not everyone can do it sense, but that it has brought me back to the notion that mastering this bike is a personal challenge that I want to step up my game to meet.

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I had ridden bikes my entire life, but after getting my first fixed gear (a Viner conversion) I had to look at the terrain entirely differently. Maneuvers that were an afterthought now became something that had to be planned ahead for. Every curb, every pothole had to be accounted for and dealt with. You couldn't ride sloppy, you had to pay attention and be dialed in to the traffic, to the streets, to your bike. I had to learn new skills and it totally changed the way I read and anticipated traffic.

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The first step in "dumbing down" (I don't mean that as a diss, but it gets the idea across. I'll continue to ride the shit out of all of my track bikes with rise bars and my FGFS bike) the machine was the addition of riser bars. It was a night and day difference. As I said, they make everything easier. Were my rides more comfortable and safer? Yes. Were they easier? Yes.

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For me the return to a classic track bike with drops has been a breath of fresh air and it has returned some of the challenge that initially made me so interested in learning to ride fixed. There are still things I'm trying to learn (like sitting down skids, how the fuck do they work?), and the drop bar setup forces me to focus more on what I'm doing. Of course it has it's tradeoffs in that riding drop bars without hoods is not a super comfortable position for long rides, and you do actually have to pay attention to what's going on. But it has also been a ton of fun and presents the last frontier for me in terms of mastering bikes I am interested in riding.
(I have not yet mastered the recumbent, but then again I have no interest in doing so)

I'm guessing that as a direct response to fixed freestyle and people wishing to distance themselves from it, we'll soon start seeing the return of drop bars and the classic track bike aesthetic and I'm stoked for it. While I hope no one gives up their risers as a nod to fashion or trend, I do hope that I'm not alone in finding a new excitement by equipping them.

13 comments:

Tracko said...

I would have killed you!

Raphael said...

Ive found a good way to sit down skid is to stand up, skid, and then hold the skid and sit back down.

btw i love that bike

Anonymous said...

Here's to west bank girls in the drops! So true.

Paul said...

splendid machine !

Anonymous said...

I can't see myself ever riding anything but road drops with hoods on my fixed gear. It simply makes sense. I don't care about looking cool or anything.

-Kevin

fuzzy said...

I have been saying all summer that this was the year that drop bars on track bikes was making a return. I built 2 new track bikes this summer for myself with drops. I try to keep a well balanced stable...

Crafty said...

Very sweet ride. After getting used to drops on my big block I have a hard time going back to flat bars, actually. Flats are nice for around town, stop and go stuff. But for anything of distance, I find that the different positions offered by drops definitely make riding more comfortable. Although, yeah, the lack of hoods makes riding on the shoulder for extended periods a bit uncomfortable. I, too, rarely use the actual drop portion, but have been trying it more recently.

Honestly, I'm waiting for someone to design a fixed specific brakeless oriented drop bar with some sort of stopper or spur on the shoulder to facilitate comfortable climbing with the option of the drops. sort of a hybrid bullhorn/drop bar.

Anyways, keep up the good work. Your blog is definitely one of the best bike blogs out there. Interesting stuff without always seeming like you're trying to sell someone something. Sending good thoughts your pops' direction.

Tgnar612 said...

You are soooo cutting edge. The last frontier in cycling. I love you.

Jeff said...

I'm on no man's schedule but my own.

Yetiman said...

I want to race my 80s Madison vs. your 80s Madison for pink slips !

Cort said...

To Crafty: a set of stoker levers (hoods sans actual levers found on the rear drops of tandems (another bike that requires a bit of mastering)) might be useful for you. see photo: http://www.treefortbikes.com/product/333222342973/209/Cane-Creek-Ergo-Stoker-Levers.html

Anonymous said...

i've had an identical madison for about 4 years, i've tried several different types of bars on it and nothing seems to look or feel as good as my drop bars. it's true that it does take some practice to get comfortable but after a few months everything becomes instinctive.

i hope that this idea catches on. there are so many beautiful classic bikes out there that have been chopped up and "modernized" into some fixie-frankenstien fuck up. it hurts my soul. forget about colour-ways, aerospokes, and oury grips. keep it classic.

BTW: rad bike, rad blog. keep it up.
jonny

Crafty said...

Thanks Cort!