Who is the manufacturer of the yellow stem? Your ride looks good.

i keep seeing all this riser hate, i ride them too i live in the city i like to be more upright so i can see who’s trying to kill me.

Also, Chris Lee, if you’re going to buy a track frame and then put spds on it, its my opinion that you should def put drop bars or at least pursuit bars on the bike. It’s a decent bike, you should allow yourself to use it to its full potential.

I can see your point as far as the view of traffic with the risers. I’m not really into pursuit bars either, but aesthetically I like them more than just flat or riser bars. I wouldn’t ride track bars in traffic either and really I don’t think anyone should. I think that road bars are the best on commuter bikes, fixed, single or multi-geared personally. That way you have all available hand positions, including the ones you’d have on riser bars.
I don’t look at it as rules of cycling as much as doing what makes sense. When you look at the invention of mountain bikes it was a cruiser built for off road. As people started to do it more the frame was changed and components were modified to create a more practical bike. The same goes for cyclocross bikes, bmx, ect. The difference with the more recent fixed gear trend that I see is that changes are being made that aren’t for practical reasons as much as fashion reasons. Putting on handlebars that do the same thing as what the previous did but eliminates some of the functionality doesn’t make sense to me. Going by your description of viewing traffic would fit them into practical, but when I’ve ridden fixed in heavy traffic on riser bars I didn’t not notice a difference. I’ve only done it 2 or 3 times on other peoples bikes so it isn’t a complete long term experience, but from what I know from years of riding it doesn’t seem to make any real difference and is limiting. The trend of riding in traffic without brakes is another example of fashion vs practicality. There is absolutely no advantage of riding without brakes and skidding to a stop.
I’m all for real advances in the cycling world, but the recent fashion trends are not advances, they’re goofy replications and mutations of actual functional ideas and designs.

That does make a bit more sense. The traffic is way more spread out and fast moving here so the weaving doesn’t happen as much as pacing with traffic. I do a fair amount of weaving though and I’ve never had a problem with road drop bars. Really the handlebars are about the same width as my shoulders and hip so if they can’t fit through it normally means that the rest of me can’t either. If you have good valid practical reasons for riding risers on your fixed, which it sounds like you do, I can see it being functional. I do believe in having flash, but just not when its at the expense of functionality. If riser bars are functional for what you do then cool, but if someone is doing it just because everyone else is it’s stupid. When kids on this site encourage other people to take the brakes off of their bikes it’s stupid. When people put top tube protectors onto their commuter bikes and then say ‘its so that my lock doesn’t scratch the paint’ its stupid because if you’re worried enough about your bike to protect the paint then why are you only locking it through the top tube? When people ride on polished steel and aluminum bars without grips on them and without gloves its stupid. It may look good or make you seem cool, but in each case its at the cost of functionality. There just seems to be an over abundance of almost intentional seeming lack of thought in the trendy areas of cycling currently.

sry for the bad english…i`m from germany
i also think that skidding to a stop is stupid….but its just to much fun. and it feels great to not having to ever use your break (i still have a front brake installed)

No.1 Cal you are obviously a narrow minded cornball. Okay fixed gear bikes have become popular culture people who have no intrest in riding them on a track spend THIER money buying them outfitting them to fit their lifestyle. People like you who can’t accept the beauty in things that don’t fit with in your set of rules are just wack. I’ve been riding for 20+ yrs, BMX, MTB, Cross, Road and I see you type over and over again pull your 35cm bars out off your @$$ and get over hipsters riding track bikes.

WBS you’re strange as hell yet insightful & cs is a bike nazi but @ least he knows his stuff and can spell which is more than i can say for half these dudes.

WSB, pursuit bars are another name for bullhorns except pursuits have a drop to them instead of going straight ahead.
i think track drops have a more intense drop and don’t have that much space to hold on top, which makes you go down on them. Road drops form a nice U-shaped drops while track drops form a loose V almost

Track drops start to curve as soon as they leave the stem. http://www.businesscycles.com/graphics/tbar-tange_carbon3.jpg. The reason they drop is because when racing on a velodrome, you want to have more of your body over the bike so you get the most power when you’re pedaling as well as making yourself more aerodynamic by cutting down wind resistance by tucking your body more. You loose some of the control that you would normally have on top of the drops, but you’re in a controlled environment so its not as crucial. Pursuit bars get your arms closer to the body to reduce drag in pursuit and triathlon races. I think pursuits would be more practical on the street than track drops, but really neither are great for commuting. If you’re wanting the most amount of hand positions, the best handling for riding on the road, and the most leverage to gain and keep speed while commuting, you’re not going to be able to beat regular road drops.

“Very fun bike!
I love it when bikes look ugly and beat up…
It just means that the owner put that much more love into it!!!”

That’s so wrong.

What’s with the asswipe on the rear wheel?

The bar argument is arduous. While I have a personal preference, I don’t push it as a rule on everyone else. I like risers. They’re comfy. They look good. I don’t care how narrow they are but I like chopping mine. And they work for my one hand position. @CS: are you riding a bike or giving a handjob?