Clementine Boscos Bedecked and a Welcome Surprise

I decorated Miss Clementine's Bosco bars, covering her miles of chrome, which I must admit - the sight of all that metal bothered me more than anything else. I also found a cheap solution, unwilling to invest too much on handle bars that I wasn't sure I'd stick with in the long run. I think they turned out pretty well. I also raised the bars slightly, upon other folk's suggestions and tilted them downward a bit, as per Grant P. I'm beginning to see their functionality.

I used inexpensive "cork" bar tape and instead of the complexities of twine and shellac, I found waxed heavy duty thread. I used Rivendell's video for guidance, so I wound and finished off the ends fairly cleanly. I wouldn't recommend this type of thinner thread because it's difficult to align properly, however for my purpose, hopefully, the bar tape is secure and shouldn't unravel. In hindsight, I wished I had thought of using inch wide pieces of leopard print duct tape as a finishing touch (leftover from decorating my helmet), which would have been easier, more unique, and definitely my style - something to remember in the future!

I transferred the ergo grips from the neglected Peugeot UO 14; these are quite nice, feel wonderful in this new handle bar position and because they are extra long, work well for resting my palms on the wide end and perform two-finger braking or I can slide my hands forward to shift, ring the bell, or grab the brake levers for quicker, safer stopping power.

Previously, I'd moved the brakes and thumb shifters forward to extend my reach. I left the bars in this position when I decided to use the ergo grips. My 14-year-old son loves the retro black grips that Rivendell provided on the Clementine but I'm not ready to part with them quite yet.

I put the Bosco handle bars to the test on a ride with my husband. In general, they felt much better. I will tweak a few things, namely raising stem again, angle bars more, and lower the seat a bit. Interestingly, the maximum leg extension is canted forward slightly, something I hadn't realized until I'd ridden Miss Clementine for several miles, so I will make an adjustment.

An interesting concept: the cables are crisscrossed beneath the down tube.

The pièce de résistance, which I'd recently stumbled on, was the availability of a second set of water bottle bosses tucked beneath the down tube. You'd think I'd struck gold, as I exclaimed my delightful discovery within earshot of my husband, but as I duly noted out loud, ahem, the home mechanics put Miss Clementine together, otherwise I would've seen those two blessed screws long before.

In a couple days I will be off on another multi-day Canadian adventure, pedaling Miss Clementine on her maiden touring voyage. No better time than the present to immerse myself into the step-through bike touring world before autumn's chill arrives on our doorstep.