I crashed on the second day of the MS150 (which I haven’t blogged about yet, but I will) this year and bent my handlebars a bit and torqued my left shifter around the bar. The mechanic who put the shifter back in place suggested I get a new set of bars since once they’re bent they might fail if the get stressed. I probably apply a good bit of stress on the handlebars in the normal course of riding so I wanted to get new bars on before I rode again.

I bought some new bars and a proper mechanic’s stand at Rowlett’s and got it done this weekend before an early Sunday morning ride.

The bar removal/replacement was as easy as peeling the old tape and not losing the bolts. I can do that. I had been warned that tricky part was going to be the re-taping of the bars, and that proved to be the case.

This big gap between the cable and the bar:

Was resolved with some pre taping:

And this is the finished new set:

I watched this helpful Bicycle Tutor video a couple of times before I started to get an idea of what to expect. I did a decent job when you look at it from above. There are a couple of gaps on the drops but I don’t think they will be a problem because I never go down there. I had to roll and re-roll the left bar a couple of times to get the gaps out (and I still missed one!).

All in all, it was a good lesson to learn. I will be ready when it comes time to change them again.