Ken Brown

I am a diehard fan of drop handlebars and consider anything else "uncool". I ride most of the time with my hands on the upper part of the bars, but the drops are invaluable when there is a headwind or I want to go fast. I must admit that I suffer neck and shoulder stiffness and should probably have a bar that would allow me to be more upright.

While touring in Europe last year I saw some bikes with handlebars that I have never seen in North America. They seem to offer the best of both worlds, with a top section that is quite high and drops that are much lower. I don't think I like the location of the brakes (are the shifters in the brake lever?).

Are these available in North America? Anyone have any experience with them?

Ken

GeorgeBaby

Those look to be what are commonly called "trekking" handlebars.

Nashbar has a set (https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?sku=9756), and ITM makes a fancy set (https://www.wallbike.com/oddsnends/synergic.html?id=4420).

I haven't tried them myself, and they don't seem to come in the multiple widths drops do; they're typically quite wide -- the ITMs are 575mm.

AJRoberts

I've been looking at these type of bars to put on my flat bar commuter. Most references I have seen suggest grip shifters. Is anyone using these trekking bars with with 'rapid fire' type shifter pods?

visionrider

My wife and I have trekking bars. She uses grip shift and I use Rapid-Fire. The bars work well with either configuration.

Jeff

AJRoberts

Thanks for that. I have the rapid fire type and would hate to have to change shifters if I wanted to try out the bars.

It looks like from the photo above that the bars are mounted at quite an angle. Is this to keep the distance from controls to rider approximately the same distance? It looks like the design of the bar if mounted flat would move things a little closer to the rider.

The ITM 'Synergic' bar seems to eliminate this. I would guess that the bar would provide a little more stretched out 'aero' ride when gripping the forward loops.

Ken Brown

AJ, I think the bars on that bike were mounted vertically (with the bottom grips directly below the top grips). I guess there is no reason why you couldn't rotate the bars.

AJRoberts

Thanks, Ken. They look pretty versatile to me.

Andrew

bsyptak

The REI Safari bike uses these bars as standard equipment.

debudebu

I have a pair of the adjustable butterfly bars https://www.wallbike.com/oddsnends/synergic.html?id=4420
and i love them. i'm using them with a cheap set of friction thumbshifters that i also love.
https://www.biketoolsetc.com/index.cg...item_id=SU-105
i feel like i'm riding a different bike.
i haven't wrapped any grip tape on the bars yet because i can't make up my mind. should i use foam grips? grip tape? any suggestions?

rmwun54

I use them with rapid fire shifters and I think they fit better than grip shift. If I can get a hold of my sister digital camera I will post a pic of how I have set up my bike with the Nashbar bar.

James H Haury

How about both.

Kodama

I have butterfly bars on my Novara Safari and it came with grip shifters and foam grips. I hate grip shifters but I made do with it so far. I was happy with the foam until I happened to ride in the rain all day on a tour. The foam expanded and would slide up the bar - it drove me crazy. The grip shifters also would slip under my soaked gloves. When I got back I wrapped tape over the foam and now they are ideal. I also want to replace the grip shifters with thumb shifters - can those you link above shift 9spd?

khuon

I know of no modern high-quality thumbshifters that will index 9-speed. You can do 9-speed in friction mode however with older 7 and 8 speed thumbshifters. If you want 9-speed indexed shifting then consider the Paul Components thumbshifter conversion for Bar-Con shifters which allow you to mount Bar-Cons as thumbshifters onto MTB sized bars (25.4mm).



They're not cheap however. Forge-MTB used to make similar mounts but they folded.

Paul Components also makes these mounts available for dropbars (26.0mm).

Kodama

Thanks for the info. I'm all about friction shifting, I bought a cheap pair of 8 speed thumbies from Recycled Cycles and one of these days I'm going to try them out.

Those Paul Components are great, I may consider going for those when I swap out my current bar end shifters on my Atlantis to the Rivendell Silver Shifters.

Miles2go

I didn't read through all the replies but you can buy these from Nashbar for the wonderful price of about $15. Otherwise they are fairly hard to find in the US.

I set up my wife's bike with these, the Paul Thumbie adapters and 8 spd bar end shifters a couple of years ago.

You can see photos of that bike in use by going to our touring journals. My wife loves this setup.

Cheers,

Ron
Wasatch Mountain Range
Our Touring Journals

Kodama

You can also get them from REI for US$20 also a reasonable price. My local REI usually has a few on the shelf every time I go. I think being available from Nashbar and REI disqualifies them as hard to find.

Miles2go

Hmmm. Last time I was in my local REI (SLC Utah) they had none. I figured they would have a couple that were taken off of their Safari bikes for people that didn't want them but not so.

A quick check of the REI website shows that they are now selling them online as "a replacement for the Novara Safari" bar, for $20. So that makes two online sources in North America. If anyone has another dependable source let's here about it.

My statement was that *aside* from Nashbar, they are hard to find in the US. Even adding REI online...
This is true seeing how not everyone has an REI near them and not everyone wants to buy something new to them, online. Since I can go to my 15 or 20 local shops and come up empty handed I still say they are hard to find in the US.

The good thing is for those interested is that you can order from REI online and if you don't like the bars, they can be returned to a brick and mortar store. No refund on the shipping charge though. Best thing would be to have a local REI get one in the store for you and then there's no cost and no obligation to buy. Just gas money.

Now for nice selection check this awesome source out... SJS Cycles
Look down the left side of the page and find "Handlebars" then select "Anatomic".

Too bad about the exchange rate. SJS is a wonderful shop to deal with.


Cheers.

Ron
Wasatch Mountain Range
Our Touring Journals

aroundoz

Has anyone tried bar end shifters on these touring bars?

Lolly Pop

Yes, I tried mine today. They are attached near the brake levers using a special thumb shifter adapter to position the bar-end shifter horizontally on the bar.

If you do a search for "butterfly bar", you will see lots of information about the conversion on another thread.

rmwun54

Here's my set-up. The way the bar is positioned allows for three different posturing. One for comfort, another for a wider grip and the third for a more stretched aero position.

tkiisel

I've recently put the butterfly bars on my bike and really like them. I commute to work and feel like I have a new bike. They are very comfortable. I ordered mine from wallbike.com and they shipped them to me within a day or two of receiving my order.