First we took the old bars off and -- this was a little scary for me -- cut the cables. No turning back.
Look how naked my bike looks! But also, look at all that potential!
This was cool, I learned a lot about how bikes work. Look just above the wheel, see how there's a little gap where the fork fell down when we took off the .. I don't know what the part is called. The little cap on top of the stem. That grey that you see is ridiculous thick grease.
Holy goodness, new handlebars! This is before putting the new cables or bar tape on.
Eventually the cables run through the brake hoods, get taped to the handlebars, and then come out in the center of the handlebars. The cables from the shifters also get taped to the bars, in the front where my palms aren't. So the bar tape goes on to cushion (and make the cables not uncomfortable), to give extra grip, and, obviously, for fashion purposes.
Cool things about my new setup: I got brake levers specifically made for people with small hands. Brakes that I can reach! So cool! Also cool are the bar-end shifters. Fancy bikes often have shifters and brakes integrated (brifters), but I don't like that. I had never used bar end shifters before putting them on my bike, but they're great. They're so conveniently placed and intuitive. Highly recommend. Also I think they kind of look cool.
We had a couple of hangups with the cable business. The cable for the rear derailer was too short! Which was pretty frustrating when we thought we would have the bike finished that evening. The bike store folks gave me a longer cable for half off the next day though, so it worked out.
Yeah, I know, I was going to do all white accents. They didn't have white bar tape without little holes in it (I like that tape on vintage bikes, but my bike is not vintage) and I was impatient. So, pink. I know, I know, it's so many colors on my bike right now. It's okay, I'm going to paint it! Right now it's kind of ugly -- but so much fun to ride!
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