I'm assembling an old Nishiki road bike out of spare stuff that I have lying around. I originally wanted to take the bullhorns and bar end brakes from an existing bike (first photo below) and put them on the Nishiki (second and third photos). I later decided to splurge on some new bullhorns without any drop to them because one of my goals for the Nishiki is to experiment with a taller, more upright setup. Also, my old bullhorns were very comfortable on my hands if a bit low for my back.
When the new, Venzo bars showed up, I was surprised by their geometry in that, other than the cross bar, there is actually no straight section on the handlebar that is anywhere close to being long enough to accommodate the width of my hand. You'd pretty much have to be a small child for your hand to fit on any of the forward projecting parts of the handle bar. For me to hold the forward projecting parts of the handle bar, my hand would have to straddle the kink in the bars. That strikes me as being pretty uncomfortable for longer rides. This is quite different from my original bullhorns and has me wondering if I understand I how bullhorns are meant to be used. So, my questions:
1) Where is one's hand meant to reside on the horns? Should it fit on a straight section? Should it straddle the kink?
2) Are bullhorns not actually meant for prolonged rides without being combined with aero bars etc?
3) Are the Venzos a fundamentally different product from my tri-bar setup bullhorns? The venzos are a nice width and rated highly on Amazon.
4) In terms of the angles of the setup etc, have I got it wrong on my Nishiki?
My old bullhorns with a vertical drop and plenty of hand space.
New bullhorns with very little hand space.
Another shot of the new bullhorns.