First Ride (Sort Of) And Some Pics

<===Drop Bar Specific: Whilst it may look "feckin' 'orrible", as one transplanted Briton has called it, it is eminently functional.

Here is the Badger on its first outing. Stopped short of doing the full on gravel grinder since I still have not gotten the tubeless set up on the rear tire to seal up yet. Therefore the "hot laps" around the neighborhood which allowed "pit stops" back at the house for air refills.






<===A good look at the Gary Bar/Tektro lever set up from the front.

I haven't really gotten any off road on it yet with the exception of some dirt road/grassy field traverse. Everything is frozen up or glazed in ice, so really- it's all like riding on a solid rock. That said, the Badger rides very smoothly. I have a feeling it will really shine off road. The seated posistion is nailed. I may make some small adjustments to the tilt of the bars, but that is all I can tell for right now.




<===Those Tektro levers are linear pull specific.

I really like the bar end shifting. Friction shifting comes pretty natural to me on road, but off road may be a bit different. (Finding the gear, that is) As things stand now, I have gotten consistent shifting with almost no noise. Very stealth like! I do have to adjust the front derailluer slightly to aid in the upshift from the inner ring. One side benefit to running the friction shifters on the Gary Bar is that it extends the drop sections ends about a half an inch. Perfect! I always wanted just a bit more room on the ends of the Midge/Gary designs. The Tektro levers are really working a trick. Off road dirt drop riders using disc brakes need to check these out!






<===The hand posistion is actually just below the nose of the saddle on a horizontal plane.

I did manage to go down.....heavily I might add...on the first outing. A slightly down hill bit of track in the local cemetary was glazed over with ice and both wheels went at once landing me on my lefty side. My hip took quite a blow right at the socket. Smacked my noggin too. Good thing I was wearing the helmet. The bike? Clattered away down the icy slope, but no damage. Too slick and smooth to even cause a scratch! Reminded me of a roadie crash in a strange sort of way. I don't normally fall like that. I am going to be just fine, but that little wreck and the tire problem put me off and I didn't stay out very long. I got home and took a nap. Felt better afterwards for it and I will ride again next weekend. In between I should be commuting, but we are supposed to be getting freezing rain today, (Blecch!) so I may be car bound if my wife doesn't want to drive.

At any rate, there she is! I'll be getting that tire problem sorted soon and will be putting in more miles as time goes on. Reports to follow.