I really liked the feel of the 17° sweep bars that came with the bike. But all of my friends have gotten fat bikes and as tough as it is to admit they are faster than me. I wanted a bar that was a bit more aggressive and one that felt great. So I went with my tried and true Ritchey WCS 10D Bar.
I needed a shorter 31.8 stem for the change in bars. So I went with an American made Thomson Elite stem.
While I put a new stem on, I also put on a new Thomson Elite seat post.
But back to the cockpit of the bike. It came with Microshift thumb shifters. I love me some thumb shifters. They work great with gloves on, totally reliable and they harken back to my XC Pro thumb shifters from back in the day. But they have worn out. Too much slop in them lead to crappy shifting. I replaced the Deore rear with a XT Shadow derailleur and Microshift thumbies with Dura Ace bar end shifters paired with Paul Components Thumbies. I also used Jagwire Mountain Pro cables and housing.
Oh those, yes I replaced the Avid FR levers with Paul Components Love Lever 2.5’s. With Jagwire Mountain Pro compression less housing these levers are amazing.
So far this has been an amazing set of upgrades that makes shifting and braking flawless. Then the fit with the new bar, stem and post is perfect.
Full review of the Love Levers coming up soon.
Keep riding! – Joe