Happy New Year all.
This is regarding a 1935 Raleigh Speed Sports as discussed in a previous post about brakes, which knowledgeable people kindly helped with. I did briefly mention handlebar replacement in one of those posts.
When riding, it feels like all my weight is taken on my hands at the moment as my preferred riding position is not on the drops. It is therefore not very comfortable and the opposite to relaxing - I feel a bit like I am too far forwards, and (if the brakes were any good) about to be launched over them!
I was thinking that if the bars were further forward it may assist, and if they could be higher it would maybe save me dropping the saddle. The current non-original bars feel too narrow, and although I like the lauterwasser style as a 'period' option these also look quite narrow unless using the dropped part - which I wouldn't be much. Maybe an inverted northern road style would be better for comfort/width and suit the period?
Levers would then depend on the type of bar I guess, I don't have the original Raleigh ones unfortunately.
It was my Grandfathers, then my Dads bike and I think at 6'1" I'm a bit too tall really for the 21 inch frame, but I'd like to keep using it and keep it as comfortable as possible. The other question would be what sort of spanner do I need for the weird looking notched nuts on the headset? Looks like I'd need two sizes, and that the upper, smaller one probably locks against the lower...would that be right?
This is regarding a 1935 Raleigh Speed Sports as discussed in a previous post about brakes, which knowledgeable people kindly helped with. I did briefly mention handlebar replacement in one of those posts.
When riding, it feels like all my weight is taken on my hands at the moment as my preferred riding position is not on the drops. It is therefore not very comfortable and the opposite to relaxing - I feel a bit like I am too far forwards, and (if the brakes were any good) about to be launched over them!
I was thinking that if the bars were further forward it may assist, and if they could be higher it would maybe save me dropping the saddle. The current non-original bars feel too narrow, and although I like the lauterwasser style as a 'period' option these also look quite narrow unless using the dropped part - which I wouldn't be much. Maybe an inverted northern road style would be better for comfort/width and suit the period?
Levers would then depend on the type of bar I guess, I don't have the original Raleigh ones unfortunately.
It was my Grandfathers, then my Dads bike and I think at 6'1" I'm a bit too tall really for the 21 inch frame, but I'd like to keep using it and keep it as comfortable as possible. The other question would be what sort of spanner do I need for the weird looking notched nuts on the headset? Looks like I'd need two sizes, and that the upper, smaller one probably locks against the lower...would that be right?