In the last post, I gave an overview of my new bike “Gnome Home”, the Trek FX+ 7S. There were a couple of things that we had changed out rather quickly right after I picked it up because it was instantly apparent that adjustments were needed. The main change was in the handlebar configuration.

The handle bars that came on the bike stock were fine for someone younger who does not have arthritic hand issues. I found that on the first few rides my hands were going completely numb because I was putting so much weight on them when leaning forward.

The remedy for this issue was to raise the bars using an extension and then change the bars from straight to ones with a sweep. The extension we used is one that is not only tall, but also adjustable. This gave me the ability to raise and lower the bars until I got them just right for my preferred riding position.

Since we decided to use this extension, we had to take Gnome Home back to the Trek dealer to have the cables extended. We are not comfortable with doing that particular modification, so we just let them do it.

We also added new bars to the bike called Jones Bars or H Bars. These bars are made in two sizes and have loads of bar real estate for attaching things. I like to attach things to my bikes, Scott does not. The Jones Bars are swept back 45 degrees and the ones I have on Gnome Home are the 710 mm width option.

We went with these bars mainly because we already had them. Scott had ordered them for his Alant and then went back to the original bars he had. In theory, we were going to try these on my bike and if I liked them, I would then order the smaller width. However, when I started riding with these, I found that I loved the wider space. The one thing I do have to watch is when cycling in tight spaces. These handlebars are quite wide and can get caught on things easily, if you are not paying attention.