CenturionIM

Trying to decide between which one to get. I am a roadie so am used to the drop bar. But trekking bar seems to give you a lot of real estate for mounting gadgets.

Which do you prefer? which one do you have on your bike?

Edit: if you can give the model of your trekking bar that will be great too. Want something not noodly.

Carbonfiberboy 

Drop.

B. Carfree

+1

wahoonc

Both... depends on the bike. I actually have two identical bikes that are currently set up with drop bars, I will be converting one to Trekking bars. Currently I have a converted MTB with trekking bars for rough stuff touring, the drop bar bikes run 700c wheels and are better suited for roads or graded paths. Current trekking bars came from Nashbar, probably their house brand.

Aaron

bradtx

CenturianIM, If I had continued to use my mountain bike for my day tripping I would've tried trekking bars. They seem to go best with bikes that were originally flat bar bikes like hybrids and mountain bikes. Typically these styles have a little longer top tube than a drop bar bike, but adapting a drop bar bike would be easy enough though not inexpensive.

If you have a threadless headset maybe you can substitute some spacers with a second stem and a partial handle bar to mount more stuff onto either a drop bar or trekking bar equipped bike.

Brad

robow

+1 my thoughts exactly

Tourist in MSN

Prefer drops.

I used the drop position maybe 5 percent of the time until a few years ago, I primarily had drops because of the many hand positions on the tops and hoods. But, since I lost some weight, I now use the drop position maybe a third of the time, primarily for headwinds. The top of the bars are about 10 to 20mm below top of my saddle. For comparison, I am 72.5 inches and now weigh about 170-175, used to weight about 205 to 210.

I recently picked up one of these to give me more space for stuff on my bars. On one of my bikes where I have very little spare handlarbar space, I use one side for a GPS and the other for heart rate monitor.
https://deltacycle.com/accessories/ho...computer-caddy

Passinggas

After years of touring with drop bars (because that's what came on the bikes), I've become a convert to trekking bars. I was introduced to trekking bars when I bought a Navora Safari to use for off-pavement touring. I like the variety of hand positions the bar offers (more than drop bars), but became sold on the bars when I found that riding with my hands flat on the "outside curve" is the most comfortable hand position I ever experienced. I use the Safari for on- and off-pavement tours, easy mountain biking, and around-town errands. After thinking about it for a couple of years, I just had my Bruce Gordon BLT converted to a trekking bar. I'm happy I made the switch; the new bar is more comfortable and elimnates pain I was experiencing in one hand with the drop bar. I'll give it a real test next month on a tour of Route 66 in Arizona and New Mexico.

Converting from drop to trekking bars isn't simple or inexpensive. I needed a stem riser, new stem, brake levers, and shifters, for a total cost of about $250 (including labor, new cables and bar tape). I provided the bar -- from Nashbar.

Before making the plunge, try to borrow a bike with trekking bars to test them for yourself.

TheReal Houdini

Long-time rodie here, prefer trekking bars for touring. I have the stock Novara Safari bar. I don't use the real estate for a bunch of accessories though, that would drive me nuts. A bell on the bar and a speedo on the stem. That's it. That flat hand position is really excellent. My bar is almost level. When I need a lower body position I move to the forward part of the bar.

Tandem Tom

Are all Trekking bars similar in size and configuration? I just got the Dimension brand. Looks nice and it will be going on the LHT that I am building up.

FrenchFit 

I have the Kalloy trekking bars, they come in two sizes and I have the bigger. They are huge. On a converted MTB it's fine but I wouldn't consider them for a road bike. As bardtx says, a long top tube seems essential, the closer hand positions are going to be in the vicinity of your stem cap.

robow

You can always throw a longer stem on if needed. I think on my LHT, I've got a 130mm stem but on a previous mountain bike with a huge top tube, I used a 90 mm.

fietsbob

Older bike has drop-bars, derailleurs , recent bike's have a Rohloff Hub and trekking bars .

I use the trekking bar * bike daily , havent used my derailleur bike in a few years..


* I bought a used Koga WTR, it had ITM Freetime figure 8 bars on it ,,

Wall Bike got a few other Trekking bars from ITM-Koga

they used the D wing adjustable butterfly bars on some tandems ..

I set the original Bars Aside , fitted one of those ,... then later having bought a BiFri Pocket Llama
with another R'off,

put the Freetimes on it.. they are a bit narrower than the Kalloy -etc., ones commonly sold now..


It's all good..