garethzbarker

****added progress at a lower post, please read at he bottom****


Hi, I'm trying to get used to my new LHT. I got a real relaxed fit and went a size down. Now I'm working on the drop bar position. I've only had one other bike with drop bars and it was more aggressive. I'm having trouble figuring out where to put the LHT bars for a few reasons.
Firstly, they are shaped differently than my other bars and I think they might even be a bit less wide. My other bars had a place to rest your hands in the drops that was kind of straight. I used this as a guide. THe LHT bar is just curved. Also the hoods are smaller than my brifters are.
Secondly, I now have barends and I'm wondering where the best location is so I can shift easily from any position.
Thirdly, I'm trying to ride in a comfy position with my whole body and don't exactly know how straight my back should be ect.
Can I get some general advice and maybe even pictures that will help me out? I'm looking for maximum comfort on all 3 major positions.

Thanks
GZB

P.S. I'm overweight with a big belly

bradtx

GZB, I basically set up my touring bike to fit the same as my road bikes, which are all day comfortable. So far so good, but may be tweaked some in the future. I think it's Tektro that make a brake lever with an integrated shifter's hood profile or switch to integrated shifters if you don't like the bar end shifters and kill two birds with one stone.

I consider handlebar width important. Over the years I've learned that 42-45 cm wide bars suit me best and I replaced the 38 cm wide bars that came on my touring bike right away. I haven't found the perfect handlebar, where all three major positions are equally comfortable, you maybe luckier than I.

Brad

staehpj1

I too like my touring bike set up just like my road bike. For me that means bars 4-5" below the saddle. I do not care for the more upright posture that many seem to prefer. I find it puts more weight on the saddle, is less aero, lets more road shock go up the spine, and just is generally less comfortable on long days.

Others find the opposite so, the bottom line is that you need to figure out what works for you.

fas2c

You may find you will be more comfortable riding in a more less aggressive upright position. WTB Dirt Drops offer a bar with shallow drops that flair. The Raleigh Sojourn is sporting them.

fietsbob

You could also lose the Drop Bars, and adopt Trekking bars ,
a decent variety of hand grips
and a more upright comfortable position .

particularly as you say :
tall and close , I hope the shop didn't already cut the steerer too short..

Might need to get them so supply a second fork, and then you can leave it long and tall .
I have 2 stems on my trekking bike, Handlebar bag has it's own stem.

garethzbarker

I measured the bars on my Roubaix and found them to be almost an inch wider. So I'm assuming the stock bars aren't wide enough and that's why I'm having trouble getting comfortable. Here in Korea bike parts are really high. I want to try some dirt drops before I order some but I'm having trouble locating a store with any in stock. Are the comfortable for long riding? Also, I've heard a lot of different terms: dirt drops, rando bars, flayed drop bars; are they all the same?

staehpj1

Everyone is different, but I have found bar width to not be very critical when my bike is set up so that my elbows are bent while riding (as they should be). If bar width seems critical it might be a sign that you are riding with your arms too straight or worse yet with your elbows locked.

bradtx

GZB, Dirt drop, randonneur and flayed (flared?) are essentially the same. The drops are outward of the tops at some cost of width along the tops, Google likely has tons of images. Trekking bars are complex in the number and style of the bends and aren't drop bars at all. If you're happy with the bars on the Roubaix then a safe suggestion is to get another set. The rando bars are good if your arm interferes with the upper bend of the drop bar.

Brad

garethzbarker

thanks Staehpj1 I'll be sure to watch my posture. by the way, I find lot of your posts useful when I'm trolling around this website.
Trekking bars do look pretty interesting. Actually mustache bars are kind of attractive but I wonder how they would feel for all day riding.
Ya know.. I wonder if I could just find a machine shop here and ask them to heat and bend the bars I already have hehe? I'm going to look at some pictures and I'll toy around with them in the morning, I'm not giving up that it could be angle that's bugging me.

fietsbob

sounds dangerous , you talking thick wall heavy gage steel?

aluminum, forget about it .. you end up with a soft annealed bar ,
if it was heat treated before.

Buy a new piece , heat treatment is as much about the cooling at a controlled rate
as it is getting the metal normalized to remove bending stresses.

Bike Hermit

I have been using the dirt drops and really like them. We have them in stock.

Carbonfiberboy 

Text and photos:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...1#post12207030

With bar ends, you'll wind up shifting just a little less often. No big deal. I use the normal hand positions shown here on my bike with bar ends. It's all the same. I just drop a hand back and shift. A nice thing with bar ends is that you can grab or drop a bunch of cogs, even the whole cassette, with one stroke. If I'm going to double-shift using both levers, I drop my hands to the back of the drops. I usually shift with the lever trapped between my little and ring finger to make fine control easier.

NoReg

If possible don't cut the stearing tube. I hope it doesn't come that way. Then get a lot of washers to stack. In the attatched pic you can see about 3 or 4 spacer washers above the stem. The top of the bars is about an inch above the seat. This is an old picture, back when I had a good sized belly. With washers the bar height can be easily adjusted on the tour, with just a single allen key. Maybe not as easily as with a quill stem, but easily enough.

fietsbob

Ill add to Pp1,
a' locking spacer' right above the headset, keeps the headset preload adequate
while you fuss with the spacers, without that loosening the stem
means you have to re do the adjustment, fork falls out, etc.

fietsbob

mid 80's I fit 2 'grab on' sleeves on top part of the Nitto Randoneur bars,
fat is more comfortable than thin wrapped bars.

garethzbarker

i"m not cutting the tube, I actually have to put a 2nd stem on there to mount my bar bag. After looking at a lot of bars I think I want to try the 'on one midge' bar. I don't ride in the drops much b/c I find them just a little too low but these look good. I also like where the bar ends will end up.

DropBarFan

Drop bar bikes now usually come with the "ergonomic" handlbars, as you note they don't have the longer straight drop section. I don't really like the ergo-type bars & favor the classic bars--Nitto Noodle is a classic-type model that's still available. OTOH the drop distance is fairly considerable...maybe you could install a stem that angles higher. RE width I find that a bar about the same width as shoulders works nice. Re the back I see both racing pros & regular riders with both a slightly curved back or else a straight spine. Anyway enjoy your touring in South Korea, it sounds interesting. In the DC USA area there are many Koreans...they are a bit prickly & vast majority wouldn't be caught dead on a bicycle...I guess for them a bike is a symbol of poverty. OTOH we have excellent Korean grocery stores that stock a bewildering variety of produce, meat, fish, grains & legumes. Many nice Korean restaurants too. Pretty rare, must I say, to see a fat Korean. At the grocery store they usually buy a ton of veggies which are usually 1/2 the price of the standard grocery store chains.

Tourist in MSN

If you are trying to set up the bars or perhaps shop for bars for touring, it might be helpful to look at a LOT of other touring bikes. From this you can get an idea of how high most touring folks have their bars compared to seat height, etc. This link has lots of touring bike photos:
https://www.pbase.com/canyonlands/fullyloaded

10 Wheels

Lht

garethzbarker

my bar are angles a lot higher lower (hoods higher) than in those pictures. I'm going to try different positions. Today I was riding and one problem that I keep noticing is that those little hoods are just so small for me. I guess it will take getting used to.

fietsbob

Nitto 'noodles' in 48 width , as a single bar have gone on in place of the 2 bar custom setup
I have used.. but I really liked the randonneur bend.
the top comes up and is positioned level.

In order to make top wide enough , 42, vs 38,
i happened upon 2 narrow bars ,
and cut them on opposite sides of the center sleeve,
combined in a stem made with a 4" wide double clamp.

Footsore Ramble

My LHT has midge bars, and I really like them. The hood position puts my wrists half way between vertical & horizontal, and that seems to be the most comfortable position I can find for long periods of time. The drop positions are comfortable too, and give a good feeling of control.

garethzbarker

Ok so after riding a few bikes and talking to you guys I think i've determined why my bars feel weird. The bars were at a weird angle and I fixed that thanks to your help and that did make a difference; but it's still not as comfortable as my roubaix.

There are two main reasons I've found. One is the the size. My hands are big and feel way more comfortable on an oversized bar, If I remember right my big bars also have some kind of gel pads under them as well. The second are the hoods; those stock hoods are too small and just generally not shaped well. My road bike has Ultegra sl brifters, It was my first road bike so I'd never noticed how comfortable those things were until I tried different bikes. The brifters are shaped much more ergonomically, much bigger and covered with a nice soft rubber; the stock LHT brake levers are extremely small and just a hard plastic shell. a final but not as important reason is in fact the width. I rode some other bikes and the most comfortable bars were all close about the same size as my road bike.

So I know I need to switch to an oversized wider bar (probably midge or just an ergo) or double wrap the tape or something but that won't help how those crappy hoods feel. I spend a lot of time on the hoods so it's really the most important change I need to make.

The drops aren't really that bad but I do prefer the ergo bars I rode. I'm out of shape though and find I rarely use the drops. I'm thinking of going with the on one midge bar so I can use the drops for hand changes.
As a final note the rest of the bike is crazy comfortable and I love it, if I can just fix this I'll be set.

I have a few questions:
1. is there a way to make my cheap stock hoods feel like my expensive brifters that isn't too expensive or can anyone suggest what to buy if I need to change them out (I know nothing about hoods)?
2. what is the correct way to measure bar width? Center to center of the drops?
3. Is there a DIY way to add a some kind of gel material under the bar tape?
4. Should I consider just double wrapping the bars for a similar effect.

Here are some pictures of my hoods. The LHT is Tektro, R200A The purple Roubaix is Ultegra.

LHT





Roubaix

fietsbob

Those Tektro lever bodies are already fatter than average.
Brifter mechs take up space, so lever bodys are bigger.

QBP has several gel pillow kits in their catalog, visit your LBS and order them.

garethzbarker

I like to check in after I solve a problem when I remember. I ended up trying different bars after I was sure my bars were too narrow. I went with the on one midge bar with gel pillows. I have to say these are the first drop bars I really just love. We hold endurance races on the Han river out here a couple of times a year, I am not competitive but like to get out there for fun. I debuted the midge bars at the race; even with just a thin cheap tape with no gel the bars were incredibly comfortable and I had no problems with them at all. The bars are also extremely stable and offer a lot of control from the drops, almost as much as a flat bar. I recommend these bars 100% for comfort and long riding.
There was nothing wrong with the brake levers, I just needed to toy with their position a lot to get them right.
I know staehpj said he didn't find bar width to affect his riding but I found just the opposite. Maybe it's b/c I'm overweight or b/c I have big arms but opening up my bar width was like night and day for me; I could get in much more oxygen with the wider bar. More oxygen made it easier to ride in the hoods a bit but much more easy to ride in the drops.