The Evolution of Mrs. Batty Cee ( What is it?)

Because of the drop bar and rigid fork, lots of people think she is a cyclocross or a gravel bike.  

It's true that I thought about getting some gravel tires for her, but I still prefer mountain bike tires.  That's because Mrs. Batty Cee is a mountain  bike with drop bar.   She will always be a mountain bike. She is a homage to the golden days of mountain bike of the 90's.  She is an All Terrain Bicycle.  All Terrain Bicycle is a throw back and that's what these bikes were called in the late 80's..  since I will be riding this bike on road and dirt, I am going to call her ATB

It's true that she isn't going to handle the gnarly trails but she handles old school mountain bike trails very well.  I have fun riding it and I love the position.  I can go for a 3+ hours ride and not have any comfort concerns. 

The gearing is 1x9 and is geared for the lower end.  It doesn't have a high gear but riding on dirt never demands high gearing like my road bike.  A fast enough gear is good enough for me.  She may be slow but I will be doing  Ride for Water with her.  It's because my single speed cross bike isn't the best bike for riding that.  However, I may attempt it with a single speed in the future.  

She is also longer than my cross bike and I think that smooth out a lot of bump for me.

Many people will think the lack of a suspension fork, the bike will not preform as well.  It's true, but I am not a good descender. .Suspended or not, I am still slow.

 

Evolution of Mrs Batty Cee (On One Midge)

I always knew that the Jones Bar was only going to be a temporary set up. Although I love it but it still was a drop bar.

As  I mentioned on a previous post, the Kona P2 fork changed the bike's geometry.  Not only the head angle is steeper, but the effective top tube is about 2 cm shorter.  The changes made the bike perfect for the drop bar conversion.

OnOne Midge is my top choice for off road drop bar.  I tried a few, but none feels as good as this one.  The reach is 65mm and the drop is shallow and short.  The 560mm  width is perfect for this application.  Also with the short and high rise stem, this bar offers 3 different positions and they all help during the ride. 

Because of the drop section is short, it also the perfect bar to run barcon shifters.  I have fast access to them as I spend lots of time in the drops and I can shift through the cassette in one action.  It is also not a complicated like the STI shifters.  

For a while, I took Shiggy's advice on drop bar set up, but I realised that his advice didn't suit my need. I want my drop bar to offers me multiple positions and I want to ride on the hood.  He didn't think mountain bikers should ride in the hood and he thinks people should just ride in the drop exclusively.  It makes sense but I feels like it is a waste of the bar if I am not going to use other positions.  Also, this bike won't be riding lots of technical trails, as Mrs. Batty Cee will be the All Terrain Bike.

During a ride, I would spending my time on the 3 different positions.  It depends if I am going up, going down or cruising on the flats. I am comfortable on the drop and it is my go to position