@dasgeh 74061 wrote:
I generally ride on the hoods, mostly because I’m cautious and always want my hands on the brakes. … I definitely need to try bar ends as well, and funky touring bikes that put brake levers so they’re accessible in different hand positions.
Any drop-bar rig can use interrupter levers so you can ride on the bar tops and brake easily. I added those to my Cross Check and really like them for urban riding. It’s certainly nice having another brake-ready hand position besides the hoods (I very seldom commute in the drops).
My biggest beefs with the CC relate to foot clearance. When I use my Nashbar Townie baskets in the back for grocery runs, I often hit ’em with my heels, especially on winter runs when I’m wearing boots. And it took a bunch of effort to set up my toe clips to avoid overlap with the front wheel. For heel strikes, a longer chainstay would be good, though how important that is depends largely on your shoe size, since manufacturers generally use the same chainstay length on all frame sizes. Since you want a more relaxed geometry, I think you should be looking at touring rigs like the LHT & Disc Trucker, which still have plenty of room for 35c studded tires and fenders. For toe clip overlap, the easiest fix is avoid 700c wheels unless you’re tall (e.g., ride frames 60cm or taller). Somewhere I have a spreadsheet with formulas to calculate “toe room” based on the geometry specs most manufacturers provide. It shows slight improvements with bigger frames (longer front centers) and more relaxed designs, but it also makes it really clear that 26″ wheels are far better for avoiding overlap than 700c wheels. I hate toe clip overlap — over the years I’ve hit front fenders too many times in slow-speed urban maneuvers. I could live with some TCO on a road bike that’s used mainly on MUPs and country roads, but not on a commuting bike.
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