How are the ball ends, comfy? I hope so. Really dig this bike. You nailed it.
They are fairly comfortable for casual ‘cruising’ they will eventually find a final install on a future vintage ‘restoration’ project I’m sure.
But, I have made a couple of tweaks to the Humpster now that I’m riding it more regularly.
I riding position was literally a ‘pain in the neck’. Every time I would ride it, I would get the worst stiff neck during and after. So, I tried curing it by finding higher and higher handlebars. To no avail
.
So I had a chat with
@OddJob and
@kingfish254 about sitting position. They suggested a few measurements for me to take and turns out, even with the frame being a ‘smaller’ one, the distance from the center of the saddle to the center of the grips was over 4” longer than my strandie, which I can literally ride for hours without any issues. No wonder my neck hurt, I was reaching too far with my shoulders, which are connected to….yep.
I went to my stash and found a decent looking 13/16” straight seatpost and BOOM! The measurement went right in line, I just had to raise the seat to get the same leg extension.
It’s like riding a new bike!
So, Ian, while the ball ends are gone, they were replaced by my favorite (non-leather) grips, a set of coke bottles.
As a bonus, I now have a laidback post for my new Build Off bike!
Here’s how the Humpster sits now, still has a ‘sporty’ look to it, with a ‘sporty’ feel now. And I can ride hands free, which is how I determine if the bike is ‘balanced’ while in motion.
It’s serving the purpose I built it for, a lighter bike with gears to use for my ‘workout’ rides. For the same loop, while being a LOT lighter than my strandie, my average BPM goes from ~140 on the strandie to -153. So definitely more cardio.