RBR customer Jim T. sent us an image a while back of his Optima Baron sporting Bacchetta tweener bars.  You might have seen that pic in our Customer Photos gallery.

Jim recently wrote RBR to divulge a bit of what went into his custom modification.  I have to admit that I am still in the infancy stage when it comes to my technical knowledge of recumbents and cycling, so I'm going to just spit this out and leave it to your interpretation:

• Replacement handle bars – bacchetta 22” (I like the wider bars for my wider rear end!)
• Riser 10.5” – cut down 4.5” (this gives me a ½ inch knee clearance on my upstroke)
• B-Pivot
• Spacer for fork stem – 29 mm ID x 40 mm OD x 41.5 mm L – In a perfect world I would have cut down the stem on the front fork that 41.5 mm – making the spacer was easier – If I ever change out the front fork to a carbon one – then I’ll make that change and eliminate the spacer.

So there you have it, the ingredients of a successful conversion. And what does Jim think of his Baron? "This bike is FAST!!!!"