before/after handlebar project

Inspired by the great Sheldon Brown (sheldonbrown.com) I decided to renovate the handlebars on the cannondale my brother gave me. Back in the day, William Francis Berkeley used to rock it old school. He'd put on his best cut off jeans, a pair of tube sox that went up to his knees, with red white and blue stripes, a pair of Nike Cortez sneakers, a COT-TON tee shirt and rip it up in Wompatuck State Park. This is the bike he rode. He rode it hard, and beat it to near death. That's when he gave it to me. In some families, the oldest hand down to the youngest. In ours, the youngest hands up. When he has something that is near dead, played, or ruined, that's when I get it. In this manner, I received the Dodge Dart, the Cannondale m300, and numerous articles of fine clothing. If the co-workers scoff at some Quicksilver tee shirt that went out of style ten years ago, I inform them my brother gave me the shirt and they know well enough to shut the hell up.

The new handlebars have been narrowed by 4 inches. They were so wide for city traffic, I thought I was going to clip a truck with one of the cow horns. Bars were removed, cut, sanded out, primed, and sprayed black. All supplies were laying around the house. Out of pocket expense: zero. Ugly hand grips were made from pipe insulation and duct tape. They may be replaced by something more impressive. Then again, maybe not.