Tourist in MSN

I take it that this is for a flat bar bike? I think you would want a set of in-line adjusters too for a bit more adjustment. Cables stretch over time.

gauvins

Good idea.

fietsbob

Flat bar brake & shift levers have adjusters..


So, if you wish, maybe fit them on the cable housing on the far side of the splitters...

road levers may not .. But those covers over downtube shift lever bosses , have adjusters..

V noodles with adjusters are made .. for long pull drop bar brake levers ....






....

chrisx

My slow motion brain took a few days to think of 2 problems.

1. Mt bar brake levers most likely pull a different amount of cable than drop bar levers.
2. Butterfly bars are meant to be switched with flat bars, its a geometry thing.

Make that 3, later model mt and road shift levers pull a different amount of cable, An xt derailleur don't work with a ultegra shift lever.

gauvins

yeah... My first intent is/was to be able to completely remove handlebars for transport, and that was it. Swapping handlebars was some kind of half-baked (actually, not baked at all) idea.

What you write about geometry is interesting, and probably above my pay grade. I've built my bike on an LHT frame. Fitted it with butterfly bars for no good reason other than the fact that they seemed to offer better alternative hand positions. Now, the LHT comes stock with drop-downs. I assume that the geometry is "optimized" for them. I've installed the longest stem I could find on the LHT (135 mm vs 95 nominal if I am not mistaken) and feel OK with the setup.

I've read here and there about bars. Have no strong opinion. And frankly no idea on how to select a "better" layout. Looks fairly obvious why road racers use drop downs whereas mountain bikers use flat bars, and bike shares (or Dutch commuters) sport raised bars. But not clear to me what a tourer/randonneur might be looking for. Not sure at all that the "many positions" is a good argument, compared to "one really comfy position that you can stick to all day".

My experience with drops is that I was riding them on the top or hoods 90% of the time (maybe 30-60, and 10% on the drops). My experience with butterfly is that I ride them 90% of the time at the inner-end (if this makes sense) which are fitted with Ergon grips (10% equally on the sides or front). I am tempted by Velo Orange crazy bars. But to honest, the amount of time and effort (and money) involved in trying out a new handlebar seems quite large given the fact that I can't anticipate the benefit. Maybe something to do when I retire

fietsbob

The Controls slip off the open end of the Trekking bars so easily ,
an open face stem is all you need to make that part simple..

One of my 2 butterfly bar equipped bikes:

djb

well gauvins, if you ever come to Mtl, get in touch so you can try my drop bar troll.
I wouldnt fuss too much about geometry, folks have ridden LHT's with drops, straight and trekking, and all can work fine. I was and still am pleasantly surprised by how well my troll rides with drops--but one important factor, because of the long steerer (uncut), my flared out slightly, shallow drop, dropbars are in a conservative position, AND the shallow drop and flared out aspect of the salsa cowbell bars mean the drops are in a much more accessible and useable position compared to any other drop bar bike Ive owned.

This is crucial to it being comfortable using the drops, super useful in really bad head or side winds. The times I have ridden that bike in really bad wind conditions--south Mexico and Nicaragua, and mid Mexico , all where windmill farms are abundant for just this reason---I was suuuuuuuper happy I set the troll up this way, and super happy that I could ride in the drops comfortably and take advantage of that position for the strong winds.

its interesting to compare what you say about your default position--for me its the outer corner position of trekking bars I tend to use most (rode on them today in fact), which puts my hands in a similar position to the hoods of dropbars, and which my wrists prefer.....BUT I do use the grip position of the trekking for going over bumpy stuff (of which here in Montreal there is a lot of en tabernouche), so I find I switch often between the two.

anyway, just to say that there is no clear answer here.
Even with drops and a very short stem (50 or 60mm) my troll steers nicely, not overly quick, but nice and quick, and when front panniers and barbag are on , it still steers nicely, not too slowly, which I personally hate.

and remember, a troll will generally steer quicker than a lht , the mtb genome shows up.

again, this internet blah blah is just that, blah blah, so actual riding is what is needed to really see how it feels and to compare.
feel free to let me know if you are in town
salut

Tourist in MSN

Oops, I thought that your priority for the splitters was to switch bars, not to enable transporting the bike easier. My mistake. But I think I did not say anything inappropriate.

Geometry for bar type, I think that it really boils down to a longer top tube for flat bars, shorter for drop bars. My two Thorns, one is a size 610S, the S is for short top tube, thus that is sized for drop bars where the L sizes were more for flat bars. My other Thorn is 590M size, the M puts it in between, but I am running a smaller size (shorter seat tube) on that bike than I would normally would have bought so that makes that particular bike closer to the S sizing.

In USA, most bike tourists use drop bars, but in continental Europe you see a lot of flat bar touring bikes. Thus, I think there is some personal preference combined with cultural differences. I use the drops a lot when I encounter headwinds and I prefer a drop bar bike. But a friend of mine that I have done several tours with used the drops so little that he switched to bullhorn bars, as those bars were very similar to riding on the hoods of a drop bar bike.

gauvins

Thanks for the invite. I'm usually in a rush going thru Mtl. But one day, with luck...

gauvins

not at all.

chrisx

Above my pay grade as well.
I learned by making expensive to correct mistakes.
Now I let the lads at the bike factory design the bikes, while I just try to navigate the puzzle pieces, and find a way to keep going.
My 135 titanium stem is collecting dust for a few years now, 90mm stem and drop bars are back on the bike, as designed.

Balance, by switching bar types, do we also throw off the balance of the bike?

Little things go unnoticed, until we go out on tour and try to ride 10 or 15 hours a day. At which point, proper fit and good balance effect or knees and neck and comfort and safety.

I noticed that with bar ends and the sides of butterfly bars, I use them more if the tape is wrapped considerably thicker.

Mrizo

I was planning on using jtek cable doubles to make handle bar swaps easy. Easy, and durable. Instead of running two brakes as designed just run one brake lever.

feed a road brake cable so that the stop is flush on top of the piston on the jtek doubler. Then you have the other side of the double to insert any brake actuating device.

make sense. I will post pics when done