If the effort put into this post doesn’t earn me an extra sale of my book, I don’t know what will! I have received an email from John. His words in blue, my replies in red;

Hi Andrew, Hi
Just been reading your website. Thank you for all the information on there. Don’t thank me; buy the book! 🙂 I’ve had my Ridgeback Panorama now for around 3 months and covered 1000 miles.  That’s some going, well done. I only did just over 2,000 miles from Reading to Brindisi. Although I haven’t had back ache, my neck can feel slightly sore sometimes after a really long ride because of the drop handlebars. I can sympathise…
Just wondered what setup you went for in the end for your butterfly bars, like all the parts you needed and what gears you went for. Also if you don’t mind me asking what you paid for the conversion and did you manage to recoup the cost selling the STIs? OK. This is where I have put in the effort and…. (drum roll)… made you a short video of the set-up! You can watch it below. The brakes are Shimano Deore and the gear shifters are Shimano Deore XT. I spoke to a guy at Evans Cycles in Reading and he explained exactly what I would need and they did all the work for me. From memory, the new equipment cost about £100 plus the labour of course and the handlebars themselves were quite cheap – just £20 or so. And yes, I was able to recoup most of the cost by selling the Tiagra set-up that had been installed as standard on the Panorama. I put them on eBay and was lucky to find, very quickly, someone who needed a replacement part. He paid about £100. I remember feeling at the end of the whole process that I had come away quite well financially and that it hadn’t cost me a great deal to get the new handlebars and set up. And the handlebars are brilliant! Don’t even think twice about not changing them.
Interested in the Eurovelo tour, sounds great. So far I’ve just coast to coasted a couple of times and some long day trips. I love my Panorama although I’m not yet at the stage to give it a name 🙂 I have copyright on Reggie 🙂 Go for it with the Eurovelo routes. Pick one (other than numbers 5 or 8 – they are mine!), set up a website, cycle the route, become the expert, write a book and retire on the proceeds. Simples! Although I haven’t yet done the last one in the list 🙂
John

And here’s what you’ve been waiting for: Reggie’s Handlebars, The Film;