I know I’ve posted about this before, but I both had crappy photos then, and I kind of wanted to re-visit the subject, as it’s been of particular importance to me lately.
As you can see from the photo, the fork crown on one side has a lock in it, the bolt extends upwards, and slips into one of three holes in a small plate above it (to lock the bars in one of three positions – left, center or right).
I’m not entirely sure if Raleigh intended this to be a safety feature (I do sometimes lock the bars crooked, so it would be awfully hard to ride or even carry away), but it has been extremely handy since adding the front rack, for the simple reason that you can lock the bars in place, so they don’t swing when you put weight on the rack. Add the center-balancing parking stand (so the bike is standing up straight and not leaning to the side) and it makes loading the front rack incredibly easy.
Sometimes it’s the little things that make a huge difference in how we use the things we have.
What little features of your bikes make them particularly useful to you?
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