eeeskwa

has anyone tried drilling holes in their handlebars and then run the cables through the holes for a cleaner look rather than wrapping the cables directly under the bar tape? I was thinking of doing this...

bikeman715

if you do this you can seriously jeopardy the handbar and yourself. SO PLEASE DO NOT DO IT !!!!!!!!!

eeeskwa

really? 2 small holes in the handelbars? I mean they will only be slightly bigger than the diameter of the cable housing... im going to try it...may work may not... I just dont like the idea of having the that big lump all the way under the bar tape when wrapping the cables directly to the bars...

HillRider

It's your choice but, if the bars break at the holes, don't say you weren't warned. Bars are light, thin-walled Al tubes and under quite a bit of stress. They need all the help they can get.

If the concept were safe, handlebar manufacturer's would do it and none do. I take that as a real negative endorsement.

kamalster

Also, the hole to get the cable into the handlebar may be small, but you'll need to drill a bigger hole to fish the cable out near the stem without bending it too sharply. The small hole going in may not weaken it too much, but I bet the bigger hole will.

eeeskwa

nah i was able to fish it out with a paper clip....workws fine so far... i will post some pics when done...

HillRider

It sounds like your are way past the "thinking of doing this" stage and have already drilled the holes. Good luck.

eeeskwa

here are some photos of my successful first try at the front brake.... still have to do the rear....there were definitely some issues with the correct length of the cable housing so i had to make some cuts and additions, but now it works like a charm....and the whole process definitely took longer than i thought...it was kind of a big pain in the a%%....

norwood

If your handlebars are made of steel then it's probably not a huge issue but since most all drop bars are aluminum (or CF) it may become a huge issue. You may think you're getting away with it now but at some point your bars are likely to fail. The holes near the levers probably won't cause much problems but the holes near the stem... well that's where the stress is the greatest. That's where even bars that haven't been compromised by drilled holes usually fail. Motorcycles route their cables this way alot but they get away with it because the clamps that secure the bars straddle the cable exit hole plus they're typically steel bars also.
You know you can get bars that have grooves to help route the cables and lessen the bulge, right?

norwood

Honestly, it appears that you've managed to f*-up the most common hand position for drop bars. On the hoods.

norwood

Oh, and BTW. If you were talking about non-aero brake levers. You don't wrap them under the bar tape anyway. So.. no bulge.

eeeskwa

yep i do know that...just thought this would be a cool idea/look. Also, the hole near the stem is drilled through the thicker part of the bar. there is a thin sleeve that goes over the handelbars where it meets the stem that extends out from the middle for a couple inches, so it is definitely thicker/stronger where i drilled...id be very surprised if the bars "failed" at some point...

eeeskwa

i didnt f%$^ up the brake position either, that's exactly where the shop put them when i first had them installed and have been riding for months... i think its just a bad angle from the picture....

norwood

The reference wasn't about where the brake levers are located, it was about being able to ride with ones hands comfortably atop the brake hoods. That's a very popular position to grip the bars.

And again, you have non-aero brake levers. The cables DO NOT get wrapped under the bar tape. So WTF?

Fidelista

Always wear your helmet.
And a mouthguard.
And shoulder pads.
And keep your health insurance up to date.

hairnet

that's fugly

urban_assault

Just wondering, are you saying your shop installed the brake levers or they installed the brake levers and wrapped the cables under the bars too?

time bandit

what a bad idea....

good way to ruin the hood position too. thats my favorite place to hold on to drop bars.

chalk this up to solutions to problems that didn't exist.

coldfeet

That was your comment about an apparently undamaged handlebar. Now you are deliberately weakening your bar for somewhat doubtful reasons? And messing up a potential hand position? If you are trolling, kudos for going to the trouble of making the photos.

urban_assault

I'm not doing anything to my bar. I was asking the OP about his.

The quote to which you are referring is from a thread involving salvaging parts from a damaged bike.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=556074

Are you confusing me with the OP of this thread regarding drilling his handlebar?

urban_assault

Not to derail the thread but...

Just to clarify for you on that other thread, personally, I would not reuse those parts from that damaged bike. What the OP on the salvage bike thread or this thread wants to do is fine with me.

-------------

Here, I was asking about whether the shop ran the cables under the bar tape or the OP did so. I would find another shop
if I had non-aero brake levers installed and the mechanic ran those cables under the bar tape.

LVRider

You might want to add life insurance to that...

oldbobcat

Drilling holes in handlebars is not something I'd recommend but it's been done and nobody died. English time trial specialists of the 1960s and '70s were always drilling parts, including handlebars, and Eddy Merckx drilled a line of holes on the leeward side of the Cinelli 66s of his hour record bike. The alloy bars of this period had thicker walls and milder metallurgy than today's bars.

norwood

An hour record bike is certainly not intended to be ridden as a daily rider, recreational rider, and no more than an hour at a time in fact.

probe1957

I'm with time bandit. A solution in search of a problem.