am8117

All modern (regular) dropbars are rather conical shape near the stem where one wants to put on front lights, knog-style bells and other clamps. Most of them come with universal clamp and inserts for narrower tube diameter, but how do you go about no to have the brackets sliding down the cone?

I mean you don't want the light start sloping down by itself afer a few bumps and I presume no one wants to put the brackets on the cylindrical portion of the bars where it would mean clamping the housing as well.

chaadster

Running out of bar space to mount stuff is a thing.

Realizing that not all modern bars taper from the clamp diameter may be helpful.

There are also a variety of accessory mounting bars, out front mounts, and mount adapters which may be helpful as well.

Selecting the right equipment for your needs and your bike takes some work, because as you’ve found, not all bits work well together.

The good news is that you’ve tons of possible solutions.

Elvo

Litespud

I clamp my Garmin mount or anything else right up against the stem, where the bars are an actual 31.6(8?) mm. Everything else I mount to the underside of the Garmin mount or I have the option of mounting a go-pro “standard” mount to the front plate of my stem (Ritchey WCS). I don’t want stuff clamped anywhere else on the bars - that real-estate is for hand positions.

MinnMan

it's even worse for aerodynamically shaped carbon bars. Probably best to go with an out front mount, like pictured in Elvo 's post

ofajen

When I’m running drop bars on my road frame, I prefer old school 25.4 or 26.0 bars and I don’t put anything near the stem. That area is too important for hard climbing work where I’m pulling on the bars to not push myself back off the saddle. For me, that close to the stem position is one of the more useful and endearing features of drop bars. Not interested in those fat modern bars, they mess up the bars for my preferences. Obviously, YMMV.

Otto

robbyville

I run a similar set up to the one above from Elvo, can’t stand the idea of clamping items to my bars in an un-aesthetically pleasing manner lol! The setup has actually changed. New Bontrager front light to replace the previous (7yrs old), and the handlebar tape is now leather and matches the bike paint. That weird adjusting knob for the light angle is also gone once I set it up properly

eduskator

I have the same hate for these shaped handlebar. It's even worst for these aero ones who aren't even close to being round!! You will most likely need custom mount. You could also put electrical tape on the left side of the mount to prevent it from sliding down, but it will not look great.

I was able to secure my computer mount on my new gravel bike by adding a layer of rubber tape between the bars and the mount clamp. It seems to be holding. Will see after a few rides if it slides down towards the drops or not.

black_box 

Aero bar mount for GoPro style devices (including some lights) and computer:
https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/ri...ero-handlebars

more options for extending the clamp area out front:
https://bdopcycling.com/computer-cam...-light-mounts/

The deluxe version with two mounting brackets on opposite sides of the stem shouldn't move around much even if it's conical:
https://bdopcycling.com/product/dash...-sooper-d-lux/

am8117

I wish there was conical insert made with a stopper that can be put on whichever side of the stem and provide constant diameter tube. Most of the clamps that come with lights/computers/etc already look hideous. I am trying to solve this problem without adding whole new bumper to the bike as much as I understand it might be functional.

Then the super sleek solutions are very specific e.g. garmin & gopro mount that's it ... I would like eg 2 gopro mounts for 2 lights both of which come with that "universal" mount.

If the adapter goes for $50 ... well given my aluminium bars I might look for some with non-conical shape but I have not seen any ... regular aluminium kind ... with that shape.

am8117

I appreciate the effort but this got me cracking ... I'm not sure which looks worse now even.

am8117

Call me silly but how does the bike above stays upright?

Zaskar

I started using outfront mounts for the computer and light because I "had" to. But now I prefer the setup enough that I run outfront mounts on my round bar bikes too. It's just cleaner. I don't even see the headlight when I'm on the bike.

black_box 

The back wheel is leaning against the bump-out in the wall

It's true that some solutions are either expensive or... less aesthetically pleasing.

You could probably wrap a stiff handlebar tape over the conical portion, with additional wraps or pieces that build it up evenly. Or use duct tape (or gaffer tape, doesn't leave a sticky residue) to build it up. If you need a solid surface, you could try cutting a short piece of PVC pipe and then cut a chunk out along its length so it has some flexibility to better clamp around the bar and tape.

spelger

Is it normal to end the bar wrap just after the bend and not cover the top? do you not use the top? or is that the cost of the aero design?

am8117

This is not gonna end up well... I'm going to lose this OP of mine really quickly here.

sfrider 

No need to. Cables are inside the bars, carbon fiber will never feel cold, and the wide, naked surface is perfectly comfortable to rest hands on. So makes perfect sense to only wrap up slightly past the cable entry points.

spelger

got it. i am assuming then that you do wear gloves while riding.

edit: recently i replaced a lot of parts on my ride and i left the bar tape off for about a week to make sure the shifters and cabling was just right. indoor riding but with no gloves and was not very comfortable. i wore gloves after that until i taped it all up.

rm -rf

My Cygolite Dash Pro 600 has stretchy rubber band mount. If there's a gap between the cable housing and the bar, slide it in there. Otherwise, it's long enough and stretchy enough to go around the bar and the housing. It has a clicky side-to-side aiming adjustment, too. I have mine upside down on the bars so it doesn't shine onto my front mounted Garmin screen.

Stretchy band mounts are great for lights. It's easy to adjust their aim up or down while riding, depending on conditions.

My other bike: for gravel, all-day adventure rides, etc, has the PDW stem spacer mounted bell. It has a loud, clear diiiiiiiiiing sound. Nice!

am8117

Thanks! I am aware of the stretchy mounts, but never really became a big fan. I do a lot of riding at night and ended up having two lights at the same time. I'm in Europe and in fact on public roads the beam should be "regulated" and I tend to use that alone on full settings while in the streets, once I am out I just turn on the flood light pointed much further ahead. I end up turning on and off the flood light depending if I get opposite traffic. If I were to do this at all times with rubber bands I suspect I would be adjusting the position on the bars as well... grr

But I do like the stem mounted bell! As much as it's retro look it's a great mount point for that kind of accessory. I used to have the knog/ring style one which has cutouts for the cable housing but it's all wrong positioned. Just I wonder if these traditional bells do not ring when the frame rattles significantly on hardpack for instance. Any experience?

rm -rf

Here, the bike lights don't have a beam cutoff. That's good for the rider, bad for oncoming riders or traffic.

The PDW stem bell isn't affected by rough roads or bumps. The ringer has a gap between it and the bell and actually can't be pushed with a finger to touch the bell, there's a hard stop. So it must ring from the sudden hard stop by a small flex in the metal arm, which needs the high ringer arm velocity to work. (do all bells work like this?) I have to pull the thumb lever at least 1/3 of the way, or it won't ring at all. And the ringer arm moves "forward" instead of "down" so it's moving in a different direction than an up-and-down road bump.

I like the bell sound. It's loud enough to hear, very musical sounding and sustained, but not "too loud". Easy to "ding-ding" too. I really like not having it on the bar, in the way.

All my minor complaints:
I have to move my hand to the "tops" and reach back with my thumb to ring it. Not as convenient. And the bell tends to creep forward after ringing many times, instead of staying 90 degrees to the right. The stem spacers aren't compressed enough to lock it in place. I just occasionally push it back while riding. (I should try some thread locker on the bell spacer surfaces. Or even some tape over the spacers on the opposite side.) The polished brass bell is getting dull and tarnished after some years.