Mark said:I recently got a Schwinn Rocket mountain bike. I am having more fun
riding than I have had for a long time, reminding me of the days when
I rode all over town for transportation.
The Rocket is a full suspension bike, which means leaning forward.
For many rides that would be just the thing in the back woods and
trails. Yet a more upright position would be much more comfortable
for just putzing around the neighborhood.
It looks like different handlebars would do just that and moving the
shift and brake levers shouldn't be that hard. I am wondering if
anyone knows anywhere that sells handle bars that would turn a
mountain bike effectively into a full suspension hybrid. If not
anyone ever make their own handlebars for that purpose?? Ideally it
would be a system where if I was really heading into tough terrain,
switching back to the straight bars wouldn't be a big deal but still
have more comfort on the streets.
Switching handlebars is kind of a hassle. It's much easier to switch
stems. Try to find a stem with much more "rise".
Another alternative would be to get an extender for the fork's steer
tube. This would allow several inches of additional height and could be
easily removed. Setting this up is a little complicated by the fact that
modern stems are used to set the preload on the headset bearings. You'd
need a large number of spacers or some sort of lockring to be able to
add & remove the extension and your cables would have to be long enough.
Another trick is to insert an older type stem into the steer tube to
give 2 stems. If both stems are open faceplate types (most are these
days) you can quickly switch back and forth, removing the upper stem
when the bars are in the lower stem. See
http://sheldonbrown.org/thorn/index.html for a picture of this approach.
I've used all 3 techniques to adjust bar height, all are easier than
swapping bars.
