drops to flat bars
 

This month I am going to remove my drop bars from my Fuji Absolute and go to flat bars.

I am pretty sure I am going to have to get rid of my bar end shifters, too bad, I love them.

Any thoughts or suggestions welcomed.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=236736


Mike

You can keep the shifters. Paul Thumbies. Or, go with cowhorns, *gasp, choke,* and put them in the tips. I did and it worked great.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=236745

You could mount your bar end shifters to flat bars with Paul's Thumbies:

http://paulcomp.com/thumbies.html

I've used them, it's a nice bombproof system.

I just went the opposite direction: Flat to drops.
On my flat bar, I used mountain bike style brake levers with trigger shifters (Shimano).
You can still utilize your existing shifters with Paul's Thumbies. You'll have to take the shift lever off of the bar end "pod". I think someone else makes something like Paul's also... maybe from VO or Rivendell... can't remember.

Bene Sugg:
Trekking Bars, it's like 2 handlebars , near and far with a bar-end connecting them
in 1 figure 8 bend tube..

Ergon GC3 is close, I put those on my Brompton ,
1 5mm wrench loosens them to fold as before.

But, re taping those drop bars and moving the brake levers up, on the curve
and leveling the ramps on the top would go a long way
to making the drop-bar comfort , better. imho

Bruce Gordon offered a set of QR cable-split disconnectors to switch back and forth.

and now threadless stems make that pretty easy to just pull stem and all
off the fork.

You could also try moustache bars. That would let you reuse your existing brake levers and shifters. Some people really like them (not me, though)

bikemyke, For grins try leveling the drops and then moving the brake levers upwards. Ride around some for assesment.

Brad

Actually Brad, that is not a bad idea..I need to re wrap anyway. Sure would save some bucks and this Fuji shifts perfect and I hate to disturb it.
I do like the look of trekking bars...oh well, what are bikes for unless you are working on them as much as riding them

Mike

Two words: RapidFire.

I guess that's one word. OK, RapidFire shifters. That's two words.

Mike

Trying to figure out what it is you don’t like about the drops or what you will want in the straight bars? I have a friend that puts straight bars on every bike he rides and in his case its mostly cosmetic he always tells me they just don’t look right without straight bars. Every bike I have that had straight bars I took them off and gave them to him so the trading bars is working out for me. I just was wondering for touring what was the reason you had?

I have a Cannondale road bike with Sora that I did what Brad suggested and actually moved the bars past level and the Brakes up quite a bit and loved the feel and chopped the drops right off making bull horns. So a higher hood position might give you something good if you hardly ever ride in the drops as I suspect.

"if you hardly ever ride in the drops as I suspect"

That is the issue..seems like I could get more hand positions and mounting space on flat or trekking bars.

I have problems with both drops and flat bars, both put your hands in un-natural positions, each 90 degrees to the other. Stand with your arms at your side, then reach them out in front of you. What is the angle are your hands? Well mine are about 45 degrees, not even with the horizontal (flat bars) or 90 degrees to (drops) the horizontal.

So I suggest trying a swept back design with mountain bike hardware. It has worked very well for me and I added a pair of bar ends, one on each side of my handlebar bag so I can stretch out when needed or in a bad headwind.

Just rotating the bars up until the tops are level might be enough.

Just one opinion, but properly set up I find drops to be a great setup, trekking bars to be a mediocre answer, and flat bars to be a pretty poor option.

Something like this.

Here is how I look at it. Hold your hands straight out palms up and you are at about the max rotation the arm will allow in the one direction. Then rotate your palms the other direction and you are getting close to max rotation in that direction. The usable range that is best is in the middle someplace so straight or angled in at 45 are both in my comfort range. The key to riding pain free is the pressure points in the hand and actually one of the best is the pad of the palm opposite the thumb or like where you would karate chop something for me anyway. There are lots of ways to favor that spot but straight bars are not one of them.

When I went to drop bars I hated them and never rode down there always on the hoods. Didn’t like the hoods because shifting and stopping didn’t feel good (short reach hands) same in the drops plus too low. What I figured out worked for me was placing my drops much higher than road bike height where I would actually use them then lower my STI’s down to where I could reach them. I then added in dummy hoods and a top brake lever for riding more upright. Right now I say I ride in the drops at least half the time maybe more.

http://inlinethumb06.webshots.com/17...425x425Q85.jpg

Here are probably my two extreme bike fittings to me in the same photo and the Windsor falls a little closer to what a proper sized frame should be for me slightly on the taller side. The KHS in front is a perfect fit for me and I rode it thousands of miles before I got the Windsor. You can picture how low you could be if you put a short stem and drop bars on a frame like this. I used a tall stem and a long stem and swept back bars similar to what gregw likes. And bar ends for another hand position. I used the paddle grips on the bar end in this photo but as he has his is a much better idea. I normally have them (bar ends) laid over more than shown. In contrast the bike behind it has no bar clearance when standing flatfooted. I love those bars on that huge frame as they came out right at saddle height. Both bikes ended up fitting me and are great to ride. I ride them for much different reasons but both feel right when I’m on them.

http://inlinethumb48.webshots.com/49...425x425Q85.jpg

I got a second stem stacked under the primary one. ,
like a spacer, for the room to put my HB bag, QR, KF/ortlieb mount
on a section of 1" tube
[ made longer and it's a dashboard overflow for the excess access] ..

My bicycles have drop handlebars plus Campagnolo Ergo brake hoods and Cane Creek brake hoods. Before I taped the handlebars, I tilted the brake hoods in about 10 degrees. Now my wrists are in a more natural position. I ride on the drops "all the time" now.

While this is good to determine the best position for the hoods, it moves the drops further away from the rider, making them nearly useless for some. I moved my levers up 1 cm from their position in this photo and it was a change. Small changes can yield big improvements, as well as disappointments.

Brad