A couple years ago I was riding through the “Ghetto” of Milwaukee when I caught up to a fella riding a bright yellow 70’s Schwinn sprint. I could hear his chain squeaking 3 blocks away as he pedaled at an amazing cadence! His drop bars were flipped up as the cans of Steel Reserve swung from his hand. All I could think was….”that guy has style!” Yes, he indeed did have style; he also had a brilliant way of converting a 70’s racer to a modern ghetto blaster. This gave me an idea…
I’ve been riding bullhorn pursuit bars (see Figure A) on my track bike for a little over 5 years.
As A messenger they were easier to carry archive boxes on my bars and still have both hands on the bars. That day, when I saw how upright and comfortable the man on the schwinn was riding I decided to give it a try. I simply flipped my pursuit bars up (see Figure B).
I discovered the amazingly comfortable new world appropriately named the DUI (like the traffic citation) Style! It was like having 2 bikes in one! Flipped down I was in race mode. I could skid much further and I would gain WAY more street cred. Flipped up I feel like a 1920 western union messenger. Not to mention i am upright and my back feels great with out getting off a track bike! The best part about pursuit bars is that you can switch between the two different styles with a twist of an allen. So, after a hard day of time trialing through the city looking like a bad ass, I can cruise home in comfort DUI style.