Equipment - Steelman Stem, Part Deux

So I have a custom stem from Steelman Bikes. I put up a shot of it on the bike but nothing really detailed. I didn't have time to work on posts and such but now I do so you get to see the stem and all that I've done with it so far.

First the stem arrival and stuff is detailed in this post. Other than the one distorted picture of the stem on the bike you really can't tell much about the stem so now I'll try and explain how the thing looks and how it positions the bar relative to the previous set up.

Distorted picture of the bike.

I went through a thinking/exploration process in the fall after deciding to commit to a custom stem. I could either limit my bar selection to "deep drop" bars (I couldn't find one I liked) or I could use a compact type bar (which I like) and get a stem that would allow me to choose virtually any compact type bar for my bike. The custom stem made more sense so I thought it through and ordered it.

I have to admit the numbers would make even my back ache - a 14.5 cm stem with a negative 32 degree rise. However, once you see where the drops are before and after, you'll see that there is virtually no change in the drop position.

The FSA Energy bars, 15 cm drop, with a Deda Pista stem (-20 degrees, 14 cm).

These bars felt high and the drop shape made them effectively higher than the 15 cm "drop". I grasp the bars where they're a bit curved so I don't use the flatter part, which is where they measure the drop. Therefore the drop to where I hold the bars ends up in the 13 or 14 cm range, not 15 cm.

The FSA Wing bars, 12 cm drop, with the Steelman Bikes stem (-32 degrees, 14.5 cm)

This was during my first trial ride so I hadn't moved the levers/cables over yet.

Note the cut down bars - I cut them down when I first got them an eon ago.

The drops angle isn't quite right but the bars are next to my tire, which is approximately where I need them based on my BB height. Remember, the whole point of the exercise was to promote stability and power in the sprint, which for me is out of the saddle. In such a sprint I only have two main contact points - the bars and the pedals. The pedal position is determined by the bottom bracket location and the crank length - those are not very negotiable. Therefore I need to bring the drops to the right place relative to the bottom bracket.

A slightly zoomed out view of the stem. The bar is next to the tire, give or take.

I took this picture after moving the levers over. By now I'd committed to the stem.

As some sprint experiments showed me the stem works great. However, in its raw steel state even a long week in Florida led to some noticeable surface rust. I decided that before I got back on the bike at home I'd need to paint the stem. I had some zinc-permeated primer (zinc is what they dip car bodies in so they don't rust like they used to in, say, the 70s) and some chassis paint (specifically designed to be chip resistant; I got it for the Expedition) so that's what I used.

In the "paint booth".

The front cap was already black so I left it alone.

Blue tape to protect clamping surfaces and threads.

I will not criticize a paint job again.

The front cap came that color, a matte black.

The next stem, for the black bike, I'll have Steelman powder coat it or whatever for me.

I remember when I had the Z that some people commented on the poor paint. Okay, I had perfectionist body shop guys who work on exotic cars all day criticize the paint, one even doing so unknowingly in front of me. That led to a whispered, "Dude, the guy over there owns this car," and a muttered, "Oh."

I never really noticed whatever was wrong with the Z's paint so it didn't bother me. However even I can tell that I did a crappy job on my stem, just like I did a crappy job on a black BMX bike when I was in high school.

(The BMX bike started out as a 20" wheels TT bike project and I bought the bike because it had tear drop shaped tubes but that's a whole different story.)

I will never criticize a paint job again, at least not until I know how to do it right.

I ended up with what I'll call a "20/20" paint job. It looks fine from 20 feet away or at 20 mph, at least to my uneducated eyes. Maybe those exotic car guys would rate it a 50/50 job. Still, for me, I wanted to keep the rust away from the stem and so far it hasn't rusted so it's good enough for me.

On the bike, with the safety spacers on top.

Note the not-so-shiny part in the middle - that's the 20/20 bit.

Now the bike sits on the trainer, destined to be there for the next couple months. I need to adjust some cable lengths - I already shortened the rear brake cable but I need to shorten it more. The front brake is a bit of a puzzle since the cable ends up snaking up to get to the barrel adjuster on the brake. In Florida I tried to run the cable over the top of the bar but it looked horrible and it didn't reach and I didn't have any extra cables or Nokon housings and liners. Here at home I have both so I might spend some time fiddling with it.

All in all though the position in the drops feels great. I feel hunkered down and stable and that's all that I wanted from the stem.

I don't know if I'll get it ride it outside. Taking pictures of my bike right now is a bit tough so I'm afraid that's what you get for now. All willing it'll be out racing and sprinting in March and I'll be able to get some better shots then.

Equipment - Bar Drop Delta

Yesterday I alluded to this idea I wanted to explore further, related to the two different levels of drop on two handlebars on my red bike.

As a reminder I'll show the two bars. First is the Wing bar, the shallow drop one:

FSA Wing bar, shallow drop.

Note the drops are above the tire.

FSA Energy bar, deeper drop.

Note that the drops are about even with the tire.

For the longest time, after seeing pictures of Michele Bartoli at his peak, I wanted to have a shallow drop bar that allowed me to have a very low position even when on the hoods or tops. My rationale went as follows - since glute recruitment correlated directly with how far over I was leaned over, I wanted to lean over more all the time. This way I'd be using my glutes more - I'd be more powerful.

Plus it's more aero so if I was alternating standing and sitting on a fast uphill I could go faster if I was lower.

Bartoli in action with his super low bars. I understand this was "that era" but the position is what's important here.
I know that I can simply lean over more while using a shallow drop bar, but that stresses my back. It's already messed up so I want to try and keep pressure off of it, and that means having a certain amount of extension with my arms, allowing me to support my upper body without much effort.

When the compact bars first came out I didn't really think of them as a solution to any problem I might have because, frankly, I like more reach and more drop, stuff the compact bars reduce. Then I realized that, hey, this might be the way to get the drops and hoods closer in height, allowing me to realize that Bartoli type hood/top position.

If I used a longer, lower stem I'd be able to put my hand positions in a tighter cluster, less delta in drop from the tops to the drops. This meant I would be closer to my "drops" position the whole time I was on the bike. This in turn would mean I'd have more power due to the fact that my body could recruit those powerful glutes and other muscles all the time, not just when I was in the drops

So I went out and bought an FSA Wing bar, a compact bar with a flattened top bit. More aero, right? I couldn't go wrong.

I also had to buy a longer, lower stem, I returned to shorter 170mm cranks to push my saddle up 5 mm, and I even contemplated changing pedals which had more "stack height". I needed to get higher on the saddle so that my bars would be the appropriate drop down.

The problem was that even with all that the bars were simply too high. The tops were fine but the drops were 2 cm higher up. I felt better on the tops, the hoods were basically the same, but the drops weren't great. They felt worst when I was sprinting out of the saddle. Unfortunately that's the most important thing for me.

The drops had to drop.

This led me to buying some FSA Energy bars. They have the same reach as the Wings but they have more drop, 2 cm worth. This would put me right back where I wanted to be, back to the amount of drop my crit bars had (which, in the old days, wasn't considered much). The only thing was that I had gotten to like the bend of the FSA Wing drops and the Energy drops looked different.

Therefore I avoided making the change, trying to make the Wing bars work.

Finally, last week, I gave up. I tried the Energy bars with their deeper drop. I immediately felt the difference. Although the Wing bars had about the right reach the Energy bars felt just right, like slipping on a pair of well fit jeans.

After two rides on the trainer I decided that the levers were positioned okay on the Energy bars. This meant wrapping the bars and heading out on the road.

To my amazement I trucked along on the deeper drop bars. They felt good, much better than the shallow drop Wing bars. I wasn't sure exactly what it was but obviously it had to do with the extra drop.

When I got back home the Missus asked me what route I rode because I got back too early for my regular loop. I told her I'd done just that, the regular loop. After checking Strava I saw that I set a PR for one section and top three times (for myself) in every other public segment. I'd done my loop faster than I'd ridden it since early 2012 when I started using Strava religiously to track my rides.

The next day I felt unfamiliarly sore, aches in my shoulders, arms, even the backs of my legs. The lower drop position had me recruiting neglected muscles.

I realized that the deeper drops allowed me to recruit more muscles. That implied that I'd be using my "regular" hoods/tops muscles a little less. Spreading the power stresses across more of my body would allow me to use more muscles, allowing me to use different muscle groups as I fatigue.

I have yet to race with the Energy bars but with four races coming up in the next month or so I'll have plenty of chances to test them out. It'll be interesting to see how it goes.

Equipment - FSA Energy Handlebars

Over the last month or two I've been thinking about trying to fix my bar position. I mean, okay, I've been thinking about it since the winter, but I finally got another bar that might work - the FSA Energy handlebar. I was running an FSA Wing, a "compact" bar. It has 12 cm drop and 8 cm reach, instead of the 15 cm drop and 11 cm reach of the crit bend bars.

To try and make up for part of this I got a 2 cm longer stem (14 cm long) which moved the drops out 2 cm and therefore reclaimed 2 of the 3 cm lost. I'd be running 1 cm shorter reach.

I got the stem in a Deda Pista (track). Unfortunately instead of the normal 65 degree angle the Deda came with just a 70 degree angle, a whopping 3 degrees downward angle from horizontal, not the 8 degrees I wanted.

Ultimately the stem got me another half centimeter of drop, netting me a 1.5 cm raise, versus the 2 cm raise before. I knew it affected my sprint negatively but I decided that it would be acceptable. After all, 2013 was the year of no goals, just to ride and race as possible. Sprinting on the drops felt awkward, kind of like doing curls but just the top 25% of the motion. I want to get into the meaty part of the curl, the middle 90 degrees, not the top 45 degrees. The shallow drop bars kept me from really being able to push/pull the bars.

The big benefit to me was that the tops of the bars were 2 cm further out. I really liked that for the JRA type training I do out on the road - tops or drops for me.

Since the higher drops grated on my nerves every time I rode I decided to look for a deeper drop 8 cm reach bar, so a deep drop compact if you will. I saw the FSA Energy fit the bill, so when I could I bought one.

Then I let it sit around for a month or two. Or three even.

The other day, reluctantly getting on the bike for a hot trainer session, I decided that, okay, I'll try the doggone bars. I'd gotten a 73 degree 14 cm 3T stem as well so I bolted the two together, making it a Road/Energy combo, and stuck it in place of the Pista/Compact bar set up. I didn't bother transferring anything over to the new bars - if it didn't seem right I'd just put the complete Pista/Compact cockpit back on the bike.

Road/Energy stem/bar combo, bare.

Note the regular Pista/Compact assembly dangling below it.

Another view which clearly shows how I simply put a different bar/stem on the bike.

I rode the trainer like this. Shifting was awkward at best. Trying to check ride time on the SRM involved moving the dangling bar a bit so I could see the SRM.

A sideways view (left is down), showing the Pista label on the original stem.

I did the trainer ride with the Road/Energy set up, no cables, no tape, and even though the skinny unwrapped bar felt incomplete the overall setup felt better. Shifting the other sets of bars inconvenienced me, of course, but, more significantly, I noticed the 2 cm drop immediately. It felt better, it let me drop down lower while on the drops, and it felt like it ought to work. I even rode with gloves because the bar bars slipped too much. The drops themselves felt weird so after a not-too-intense ride, tired in a sleepy way, I decided to deal with it later.

The next day, when I looked at the bike with a clear mind, I realized that I never properly tightened the handlebar clamp bolts so the bars tilted up when I pedaled while holding the drops. The ends of the bars were pointing comically at the rear hub.

I had ridden a clown bike.

This is why the bars felt so weird on the drops, and in the dimly lit room (it was late at night), a hazy brain, I just didn't see it. I tilted the bars to a more reasonable angle, pointing to just above the rear brake, and sat on the bike. It felt okay so I spent some time moving the cable housing and levers over. I even moved the SRM mount over.

With no tape I did another trainer ride, again with gloves. Unfortunately I bonked on this one so I ended it quickly. Even in the short 35 minutes I realized that the right lever sat just a bit higher than the left and that otherwise the bars were great.

The next day, with the Missus's encouragement, I adjusted that lever just a touch lower in preparation for wrapping the bars. The cable housing seemed just a touch too short, just enough to make me feel slightly uncomfortable. I thought about lengthening the housing, something that you can do with the Nokons, but then I realized that maybe the Pista stem, with its 3 degree downward slope, would help. I quickly switched out the 73 degree 3T road stem for the 70 degree Deda Pista and lo and behold the housing looked okay. Amazing what a few millimeters of drop can do.

A final check of the lever level and the bar angle and I wrapped the bars. I bought some Fizik tape for its grip in the wet, to replace the set on the Compact bars. I'm not keen on how it doesn't really stretch but that's okay. I think I need to get cheaper tape in quantity so I can keep fresh tape on the bars.

I headed out for a proper road ride, complete with out of saddle efforts and such. The deeper drops felt great, familiar, like getting back into the groove again. I tried to remember the different positions, the different efforts, spinning, sliding a bit forward on the saddle, sliding a bit back.

The forward position worked well, tilting the pelvis forward, flattening my back, allowing me to spin. I could hold the bars with little effort, no stress on my arms, no stress on my back, unlike trying to hold a low position with the shallower Compact bars.

Although I focused on the position, on making sure the bars were straight, the angle was good, and the levers were level, I got back home a bit quicker than normal. The Missus queried me on the loop since I was back a bit quicker than expected - I did the loop in a bit under 50 minutes (about 18 mph). That's better than an hour or so, not as good as the 43 or 44 minute lap I did one time (over 20 mph).

The drops felt better, the tops felt the same, and the hoods, for some reason, felt better when I was standing. With a slew of races coming up I'll have some time to see how the bars work for me. I have races scheduled for Tuesday Aug 6, Saturday Aug 10, Sunday Aug 18, Friday Aug 23, and then finally Sunday Sept 22.

I have more thoughts about the deep drop bar (or, really, the "normal drop" bar) but I'll post on that later. For now some pictures on the bike with the Energy handlebars and the Pista stem.

The bike pretty much as I rode it for the first time with the new bars.

Notice there's no bottle? No frame pump? Yeah, I forgot that stuff. Oops. I got on the bike after the first attempt at pulling Junior along in a trailer. That wasn't a great success. It took a while to figure things out though plus we waited through two short rain showers. When we finally got back from our 1 mile outing it was getting late. I basically jumped on the bike and left, sans bottle and pump. I did have my pockets full with my tools and stuff but yeah, brain scattered results there.

Slightly better view of angle of bars.

You can see the the drops are about level with the tire. This is where I'm used to having my drops, there or slightly below.

For comparison here's the Wing bar from an earlier post.

Note how the drops are above the tire? Not good for me.

Normally I cut the last couple inches of the bar off but I didn't have the wherewithall to do that so I just left it as it. Seems awfully long - on a normal top tube length bike I'd worry about hitting it with my knee. I'll cut it down the next time I wrap the bars, with the end of the bar a vertical line down from the back of the tops of the bars.

Slightly different angle of the Energy-based cockpit.

You can see the slight downward angle based on the garage door lines. It's a very slight angle. I'd prefer to have a 3 cm shorter head tube and an 80 degree stem but that's not possible. A downward angle stem is the only real option.

From above. The SRM is missing - I had that on when I rode.

Now to see how the bike works at the next race, either tomorrow at the Rent or Saturday at Rocky Hill.