Flat bar controls, classic touring positioning - possible?

[JennyB]

Classic touring/audax bikes have a nicely evolved set of bar
positions, but classic touring bar controls don't work well with long-
arm V-brakes and gripshifts.

What solutions are possible? I'm thinking of some kind of barend
thingto either provide a drop/hoods position on a flat bar or to fix
on the hood position of a randonneur bar and hold the controls.

 

[Chalo]

JennyB wrote:
>
> Classic touring/audax bikes have a nicely evolved set of bar
> positions, but classic touring bar controls don't work well with long-
> arm V-brakes and gripshifts.
>
> What solutions are possible? I'm thinking of some kind of barend
> thingto either provide a drop/hoods position on a flat bar or to fix
> on the hood position of a randonneur bar and hold the controls.

Trekking bars have multiple positions and work with real brake
levers.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/deakins/handlebars.html

The defunct company Newk used to make MTB bar ends shaped like road
drops. You might be able to find some on eBay or at a swap meet.

You could find some old steel drop bars that have a 22.2mm grip
diameter, and work the brake levers over the bends. You can use
stoker dummy levers to give a "hoods" position.

I think that some cyclocross bar top levers are linear-pull
compatible; Paul cross levers are.

Chalo

 

[Nigel Cliffe]

JennyB wrote:
> Classic touring/audax bikes have a nicely evolved set of bar
> positions, but classic touring bar controls don't work well with long-
> arm V-brakes and gripshifts.
>
> What solutions are possible? I'm thinking of some kind of barend
> thingto either provide a drop/hoods position on a flat bar or to fix
> on the hood position of a randonneur bar and hold the controls.

There are lots of non-drop handlebars, such as the butterfly, which have a
lot of hand positions and take MTB-style gear and brake controls without
argument.



If wanting drop handlebars:

Brakes: V-brake specific levers, such as the Dia Compe 287V. Or, I think,
the TravelMate style adaptors might be an option to alter the cable pull on
other levers.


Shifter: There is a bar-end adaptor for grip shifts, think its Hubbub who
make it.
http://www.hubbub.com/
http://sheldonbrown.org/raleigh-international/index.html


Slightly wierd double handlebar solution:
http://sheldonbrown.org/thorn/index.html

Thorn in the UK offer a bracket to fit Rohloff gear changers, which is
essentially a massively stronger version of the Minoura Space Grip (sold to
attach computer/headlamp when bar space getting tight). Its a smaller
version of Sheldon's handlebars, though usually mounted below the main bars.
Personally I think the Hubbub bar-end is nicer.


There is a German firm (whose name escapes me) who have an adaptor to fit a
Rohloff shifter to the smaller diameter of a drop bar. Its two bits of
aluminium which the shifter then holds together around the bar. No idea if
it works with other shifters.



- Nigel



--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

 

[landotter]

On Sep 14, 5:20 am, Chalo <[email protected]> wrote:
> JennyB wrote:
>
> > Classic touring/audax bikes have a nicely evolved set of bar
> > positions, but classic touring bar controls don't work well with long-
> > arm V-brakes and gripshifts.
>
> > What solutions are possible? I'm thinking of some kind of barend
> > thingto either provide a drop/hoods position on a flat bar or to fix
> > on the hood position of a randonneur bar and hold the controls.
>
> Trekking bars have multiple positions and work with real brake
> levers.http://www.sheldonbrown.com/deakins/handlebars.html

Beware that Cap'n Bike's pics show the trekking bars mounted with
roadie kit. Usually you mount mtb levers and shifters on the open
flats nearest you. You may want a shorter stem if you feel that you're
already reaching, but wait and see if the far grip position works out.

Not much bad to say about such bars, I'd ride them if they weren't so
Stair-Mastery. ;-)

$20 for a nice version at your favorite soul-less discounter:
http://tinyurl.com/2l3dzd

Don't forget the bar tape!

 

[Nigel Cliffe]

landotter wrote:
> On Sep 14, 5:20 am, Chalo <[email protected]> wrote:
>> JennyB wrote:
>>
>>> Classic touring/audax bikes have a nicely evolved set of bar
>>> positions, but classic touring bar controls don't work well with
>>> long- arm V-brakes and gripshifts.
>>
>>> What solutions are possible? I'm thinking of some kind of barend
>>> thingto either provide a drop/hoods position on a flat bar or to fix
>>> on the hood position of a randonneur bar and hold the controls.
>>
>> Trekking bars have multiple positions and work with real brake
>> levers.http://www.sheldonbrown.com/deakins/handlebars.html
>
> Beware that Cap'n Bike's pics show the trekking bars mounted with
> roadie kit. Usually you mount mtb levers and shifters on the open
> flats nearest you. You may want a shorter stem if you feel that you're
> already reaching, but wait and see if the far grip position works out.

Take care on very short stems, you can get the open ends of the bars riding
behind the steering axis.
I'm not completely sure what this does to the bike's behaviour, but I think
an early crash of my wife was due in part to the very short stem and
trekking/butterfly bars then fitted to her bike (she hit some soft sand on a
road which had been washed off a field, and the steering grabbed away from
her resulting in a fairly rapid crash). She's since swapped to fairly
straight flat bars, with Ergon grips, and found them better for her.




- Nigel



--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

 

[Hank Wirtz]

On Sep 14, 2:34 am, JennyB <[email protected]> wrote:
> Classic touring/audax bikes have a nicely evolved set of bar
> positions, but classic touring bar controls don't work well with long-
> arm V-brakes and gripshifts.
>
> What solutions are possible? I'm thinking of some kind of barend
> thingto either provide a drop/hoods position on a flat bar or to fix
> on the hood position of a randonneur bar and hold the controls.

If you have a 1" quill stem, a set of short, no-bend ATB bar-ends can
be clamped aroud the stem, and in turn have grip-shifters mounted.

If you're using grip-shifters to make a SRAM 1:1 derailleur work, you
can get a Shiftmate to make Shimano or Campy indexed shifters (STI/
Ergo or bar-end) compatible with 1:1 RDs.
http://jtekengineering.com/shiftmate_straight.htm

Travel agents allow you to use V-brakes with short-pull levers, and
Dia-Compe makes the 287V long-pull drop lever. Regular centerpull
cantilevers are a better option than any of those, IMO. Tektro Oryx
can be found under $40 for a bike's worth.

I tend to think that all riders, but especially tourists, should pick
their parts based on their ideal cockpit, rather than changing the
cockpit to suit the parts that the body doesn't interface with. If you
like drop bars, go with drop bars, and configure the rest of the bike
around that.

 

[JennyB]

On Sep 14, 8:36 pm, Hank Wirtz <[email protected]> wrote:

> I tend to think that all riders, but especially tourists, should pick
> their parts based on their ideal cockpit, rather than changing the
> cockpit to suit the parts that the body doesn't interface with. If you
> like drop bars, go with drop bars, and configure the rest of the bike
> around that.

I'm inclined to agree with that. The problem is to set up a hybrid
type bike for centuries. In my youth I had no trouble riding cowhorns,
so I'd just cut down the bar width and add some bar ends. Nowadays I
appreciate a next-the-stem position that's higher than the saddle.
That means changing the stem anyway, and using a drop bar. I've no
problem with the controls, other than the fact that the bar puts them
in the wrong place. ATM I'm thinking of mounting them on something
like a stubby bar-end pointing about 45 degrees inward in the hoods
position.