Tinkering with Gear-shift & Brake Levers...

[Postapocalypsia]

Hi Folks,
Been out of the loop for a bit but have tweaked my S40 gear & brake setup...
I have the eagle 12sp single crank setup, and used a bar end microshifter to good effect but found the microshifter a bit of a misery if I wanted to change quickly in traffic or on a steep slope (I am a bit of a princess)
and I recalled how nice the gripshifter was on my Q559, so I bought an eagle 12sp gripshifter for the S40 and paired this with shimano BL-T4000 MTB levers. These fit nicely on some Soma Gator bars I bought with a good angle left to bring the cables back to hide under the bar tape.
I don't know if this is a common mod for S40's but it works a treat for me. I also went for some shimano RC PD-T8000 clip-in pedals and some shimano clip-in sneakers - very easy to clip in and out and walk in.
Now shifting gear is a doddle without having to take my hand off the bar in awkward situations.

I also made a mod to my touring rack to allow easy fitting of my Topeak MTX bag. Just a simple fix using marine ply and 2 strips of d-mold wood trim to fit the bag underside mount profile. By cutting some extra slots on the sides it will happily take regular clip-on panniers as well.
While I had the wood tools out I made a waterbottle cage extender to shift the bottle lower by around 100mm which makes it very easy to retrieve and replace.

 

[bladderhead]

Shifter looks cool. You could do that with a Rohloff. But I tried downward bar-ends and they poked me in the legs.

Bike looks clean. That will not last. No mudguards.

 

[Postapocalypsia]

Hi bladderhead, I don't know much about Rohloff, but the sram gripshift was made to suit my gear and works well.
The Soma bar angles out a little at the bottom and gives me no leg issues at all.
Mudguards might be a bit of a luxury here in Australia - I don't get enough rain (or snow) to warrant them. I doubt I could get them to fit anyway as I run 700x 38c tyres and there is no room.
I just accept there will be a bit of spray and try to avoid wearing my tux.

 

[McWheels]

Is that the equivalent of a hood ornament at the top of your boom? Sort of like a Rolls' flying lady?

 

[Postapocalypsia]

Is that the equivalent of a hood ornament at the top of your boom? Sort of like a Rolls' flying lady?

Actually it is an LED light holder - I wanted to mount a flashing bike light centrally at the top of the boom but couldn't find an off-the-shelf bracket to suit.
Luckily I have a small 3d printer so I created a slotted bracket on the computer and added a repurposed digital sculpt I did for a commission (with permission) so it looked a bit like a hood ornament.
I think it suits the bike's colours and angles pretty well.
One of the pics shows how the gargoyles were originally intentioned.

 

[super slim]

Actually it is an LED light holder - I wanted to mount a flashing bike light centrally at the top of the boom but couldn't find an off-the-shelf bracket to suit.
Luckily I have a small 3d printer so I created a slotted bracket on the computer and added a repurposed digital sculpt I did for a commission (with permission) so it looked a bit like a hood ornament.
I think it suits the bike's colours and angles pretty well.
One of the pics shows how the gargoyles were originally intentioned.
View attachment 11026 View attachment 11027

I would have expected flashing bright red leds in the Gargoyles' eyes, so visible day and night!!!!

 

[Postapocalypsia]

I would have expected flashing bright red leds in the Gargoyles' eyes, so visible day and night!!!!

That sounds like fun - when I get some spare time who knows!

 

[Beano]

Always good to read about the various mods that people come up.

 

[Frito Bandito]

Always good to read about the various mods that people come up.

Yeah it is. I am loving the gargoyle.
Here are my old school DA bar end shifters, old school brake levers, golf grips, mirror on the right side and bell on the left. Still not sure if I like the mirror there, but all of the other places are worse.

 

[Postapocalypsia]

Yeah it is. I am loving the gargoyle.
Here are my old school DA bar end shifters, old school brake levers, golf grips, mirror on the right side and bell on the left. Still not sure if I like the mirror there, but all of the other places are worse.

View attachment 11031

Well it certainly looks the business!
My next tinker is to sort the headrest out - I realised my head was nowhere near the stock headrest position and figured I might try moving the whole boom back to put my butt back in the seat more and bend my arms a bit. It seems to work better and I get less recumbutt over distance as well. It helps too that I moved my shoe clips back a little. I have improvised an adjustable headrest but it looks too homemade for my liking and was wondering which of the cruzbike adjustable headrests would work best...

 

[Frito Bandito]

Thanks Postapocalypsia. It works even if I have to move my hands a bit more to shift than I would with Brifters. A good thing about my setup though is that when I really need to increase power by pulling on the bars, wrapping my fingers around the shifters and the top of the brake levers works well without them coming loose.

I too might give the adjustable head rest a try tonight.

 

[Postapocalypsia]

Thanks Postapocalypsia. It works even if I have to move my hands a bit more to shift than I would with Brifters. A good thing about my setup though is that when I really need to increase power by pulling on the bars, wrapping my fingers around the shifters and the top of the brake levers works well without them coming loose.

I too might give the adjustable head rest a try tonight.

Yes, I can relate to using the top of the brake levers for extra pull, it just seems instinctive .