trace

I'm "planning" (more like, thinking about) some trips with my folding bike for the post-Covid era. I find flat bars sort of uncomfortable for any significant distance because of the wrist position. But flat bars allow the bike to fold small enough to fit in an airline-legal bag.
For anyone who uses something other than flat bars on your folding bike, how does this affect the fold?
I know some folding bikes come with drop bars, but I've never seen a picture of a one of these when folded, and I can't really picture it because drop bars are so bulky. I'm wondering if something like the Velo Orange Porteur bar would still permit just as compact a fold, since it doesn't really have much of a rise/drop and would still lay flush against the frame when folded.

grayrest

Most bicycles designed to fit in airline legal bags require some degree of disassembly to make it happen and removing the handlebars is almost always part of that process. If you're just looking for pictures of drop bar folding bikes, the Bike Friday Pocket Rocket and Airnimal Chameleon come with drops by default and I think people put them on changebikes. In general, the bars have a shallow reach/drop and sideways around the top tube and through the wheels underneath. I've also seen pictures of drop bar bikes with couplers. The Ritchey Breakaway is specifically designed for couplers but I've also seen them retrofitted on steel frame bikes.

If you're not especially concerned about folded size, I think the easiest way to get more hand positions is to put a loop handlebar or some other comfort mtb handlebar on the bike. There are lots of crazy shapes (butterflies, horns off the front, etc) but I use a shallow sweep loop on my Birdy. I matched the sweep with the flatbar sweep so the fold is unaffected but the front of the loop sticks out a bit on the side. The extra width is annoying when carrying it around but it doesn't impact my ability to take it on public transit. Relevant for your travel point, the bar is still a flat shape when off the stem. I find riding with my palms on the corners to be very comfortable, the front lets me get low, and I use the normal grip position for climbing and have no problem doing long rides on it.

I'd be a bit wary about putting moustache bars on a bike without a stem. Weight balance around the steering axis significantly impacts handling and in particular moving weight behind the steering axis tends to destabilize the bike. I don't know this would happen since bicycle steering dynamics are complicated but that'd be my guess as to what could go wrong and its' a bigger concern on folding bikes since they tend to have a lower trail.

Reddleman

I’ve fitted Soma Sparrow bars to a Tern Link D8 and it was fine to ride and to pack. The bars need to be rotated to flat pack it to fly etc but otherwise no dramas. The steering is unaffected as the bars go forward as much as they sweep back if you know what I mean.

linberl

I have the Sparrow on my BIke Friday pakiT. It comes i several widths, I went with the narrowest as I am a smaller person, and also wanted them to fit thru the turnstiles at Bart stations, lol. I really like the Sparrow.

trace

Great, good to know you guys can use the Sparrow bars with no folding (or handling) issues.
I guess there will always be some tradeoff with the folded size if uses anything other than a flat bar. The loop type bars are interesting but they do seem bulky.
I found this video of a Tern bike with bullhorn bars (which shows it folded, and it's not bad but the bullhorns do stick out significantly.) But maybe something like a very short bullhorn would work, with just enough curve for an additional hand position.

linberl

Check out bike friday's H bars. People swear by them.

biker101

I was able to put bar ends and drop ends on a Brompton without making the fold larger, see
https://mybikesite.org/#Handlebar
I like the different positions when I go for longer rides.






PS: I have used a similar folding stem on my Bike Friday Tikit. I have an H bar, and can fold it down --- so it doesn't stick out when the bike is folded.

Schwinnsta

Excellent work.

Tourist in MSN

Drop bars are not very convenient for most bikes in an airline acceptable 62 inch case unless you do significant disassembly. If you can find bars that work well for you that are more compact than drop bars, I suggest that.

My Airnimal Joey uses 24 inch wheels, so that already does not fit very well in a case of that size, and to get the frame in the case with my wheels I also have to remove the crank arms. With drop bars it fits in the S&S Backpack case, but it is a tight fit.



I also have drop bars on my S&S coupled touring bike, the bike has 26 inch wheels, I use 57mm tires on that bike. The same case is used in both photos.



I have a strong preference for drop bars in headwinds, so I put up with the hassle, but if that is not important to you, I suggest you consider other options.

trace

biker101, that is a cool setup you have on your Brompton. I like the mini aero bars you showed in one of your website pics too. I might try experimenting with bar ends placed closer to the middle of the bars. With my previous attempts at using bar ends (in the normal spot at the ends of the bars) I felt like my hand position was just too wide.

Tourist in MSN, that is some impressive packing to fit those bikes in there. I like drop bars and have them on my nonfolding touring bike, but the infrequent times I would use the drops is not worth the extra bulk on a folding bike. I'd be happy with anything that offers a position perpendicular to that of a flat bar.

Reddleman

Have you considered Ergon grips with the built in bar ends? My Dahon Speed TR came fitted with them and folds up fine while allowing for a bit more variation on a flat bar.

Schwinnsta

I use Velo Orange Porteur bars on my Swift. They work well. Note that there is a traditional stem on the stem riser, a 125mm I think. The straps on the top tube are for tying it all together when folded. The Porteurs tie on top of the top tube.

biker101

[QUOTE=trace;21885599]biker101, that is a cool setup you have on your Brompton. I like the mini aero bars you showed in one of your website pics too. I might try experimenting with bar ends placed closer to the middle of the bars. With my previous attempts at using bar ends (in the normal spot at the ends of the bars) I felt like my hand position was just too wide.

Thanks. Bar ends and mini aero bars are a good way to modify a handlebar. You can adjust their position to make them compatible with the fold. I also considered H bars, but then I realized that I can get a customizable H bar using a straight bar and two bar ends.