When I was a child, I admired bicycles with semi-dropped handlebars.

Back then, people devoted to cycling competition commonly used bicycles with dropped handlebars. However, since they required hard-to-understand special know-hows, I couldn’t bring myself to have one for my personal use. Meanwhile, those with semi-dropped handlebars appeared attractive as they looked like popular bicycles yet came with dropped-style handlebars. After all, my parents bought me a bicycle of this type.

Recently, I felt the urge to make some alterations to my mountain bike. It was originally equipped with flat-bar handlebars and came in handy when I used it on a mountain slope to enjoy controlling its body jumping up and down. As I recently rode my bike only on rough roads in forests, my attention became focused on ergonomically unsound positions of my wrists twisted on the handlebars.

All these inconveniences combined to make me decide to change my bike’s handlebars to semi-dropped ones. This is the first time in decades I use this type of handlebars.

As I felt satisfied after making alterations, my son in college came to me and said, “With such strange handlebars, you wouldn’t be able to make it to the mountain.” Kid, you need to be more sophisticated to understand my romanticism.

Objectively speaking, it’s quite natural that people without shared experiences can’t relate to the same romanticism. People feel a strong sense of attachment when they have one-of-a-kind special experiences.

By the way, what happened after I changed both ends of the handlebars? I’ve become able to enjoy comfortable riding, but understandably, it’s not easy to find a right riding position.

Now I’m wondering if I will be able to enjoy the ride in the mountain.

Takane Mitomi

Product Design Dept.

Design Director