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Convert to Drop Bars

Old 01-03-20, 09:29 PM
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Sjtaylor
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Convert to Drop Bars

I have a Novara Safari (REI), 2015 vintage I think. It has a butterfly bar with twisty shifters, Deore group set, Avid cabled disc brakes. It’s rigged up for touring. I’ve done a couple short tours with this bike and my wrists and numbing hands don’t like the butterfly bar. It seems my hands and wrists only like to be mostly on drop bar brake hoods. I’d also like to not have those twisty shifters.

I suspect the Deore is MTB and will have a compatibility issue with drop bar components. My LBS said Shimano doesn’t sell drop bar stuff compatible with Deore and I might have to research a different solution.

Any suggestions on how to best put a drop bar on my Safari? Thanks.
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Old 01-03-20, 09:32 PM
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Bar end shifters will work with your deore drive train.
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Old 01-03-20, 09:54 PM
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I had a 2014 Novara Safari. It was my introduction to trekking bars. Unfortunately, the bike was crushed when I was rear-ended while driving back from a bike ride.

I have found the trekking bars to be much more hand friendly than drop bars. So many more hand positions. Have you tried rotating the handlebars, or even inverting them for lower or higher hand positions? I modified the Safari's replacement, a Jamis Renegade Expert, to use the butterfly bars, converting to an mtb drive train. The variety in hand positions is liberating. I only ever used the brake hoods and the horizontal top of the drop bars anyway, but I suppose people have different preferences. I love my trekking handlebars.
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Old 01-03-20, 10:35 PM
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Agree with Kingston, bar end levers solve a lot of problems when mixing road and MtB systems. This is the primary reason why bar end levers have been the common spec for so many touring bikes for so long. Then there's Gevenalle shifters https://www.gevenalle.com/shifters/

I ride with my hands on the hoods most of the time. Grew up with drop bars (and with far less friendly hood/bar shapes) and use them on all but a couple of bikes. My shifter of choice from about 1974 to 1995 was SunTour's bar ends, both the ratchet and the indexed versions. Sometimes I found trimming an inch or less from the bar's ends made reaching for the levers easier and gave me more knee clearance (not that it's a real issue). Watch your hips to hands reach growth with the switch to drop bars. Many times a shorter stem is also wanted. Andy
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Old 01-04-20, 08:02 AM
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I am a big fan of the Gevenalle shifters and have them on four bikes. They are available in 9,10 and 11-speed form and in both road and MTB derailleur compatibility and with both road and MTB cable pull brake levers. They are nearly as convenient as brifters and far more accessible than bar ends (which I've used a fair bit and don't like).

BTW, depending on the model of your Deore rear derailleur, if it is a 9-speed or earlier version, it is compatible with road shifters. If it is a 10-speed model you need MTB shifters.
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Old 01-04-20, 11:32 AM
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What HillRider says. I run Sora 3503 shifters with FD-5504 in the front and Deore RD-M591 in the back and Deore M590 (48-36-22) crankset.
You can run the new ST-R3030 in this case. You may or may not need to change the front derailleur to the "road" one. Also, you may have problems with brakes if you have "long pull" ones.
Another problem is a significant elongation of the effective reach: trekking bars shorten the reach compared to the flat bars, and drop bars extend it compared to the flat bars.
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Old 01-04-20, 04:40 PM
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Originally Posted by csport
What HillRider says. I run Sora 3503 shifters with FD-5504 in the front and Deore RD-M591 in the back and Deore M590 (48-36-22) crankset.
You can run the new ST-R3030 in this case. You may or may not need to change the front derailleur to the "road" one. Also, you may have problems with brakes if you have "long pull" ones.
Another problem is a significant elongation of the effective reach: trekking bars shorten the reach compared to the flat bars, and drop bars extend it compared to the flat bars.
+1.

Also, I suggest you look into the possibility of using Campagnolo Ergo brifters. Depending on the drivetrain you've got, chances are that there is a Campy set that will work. See the table below. The nice thing is that Campagnolo uses a ratcheting mechanism for he FD, so it will work with your MTB stuff.

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