Commuting, flat bars, bar ends and my sirrus

[Twanger]

The point is to have something to grab when honking up hills. I am not sure aero bars would meet this requirement.

 

[JsfWitney]

I just fitted these to a mountain bike - but I hacksawed an inch of each end of the bars. Whenever I have fitted bar ends I shortened the bars - no problems

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/ebw...QRY=C417&f_SortOrderID=1&f_bct=c012372c012369

 

[Cubist]

. But I am not so happy with the flat bars while zooming down long stretches of relatively empty, fast, straight bus lane (think Brixton Road, Kennington Road, Camberwell New Road), quote]


Sorry, I read this bit...........

And have wide low-risers on my XC bike, so cannot see the issue with honking on wide bars. . It gets me up some pretty steep savage climbs both on and off road......

And much hill-climbing wisdom on this wonderful forum points out that it's best to relax on climbs rather than use a death grip.

 

[Twanger]

Yup. I have two issues, coming from drop bars as I do. One is the unchanging position on the flat (The aero bars would indeed be good for that), the other is climbing. . Not so much a death grip, but simply needing something further out in front to grab on to.

I am all in favour of a touring climb, where I pedal briskly and steadily in a low gear, and get up a hill unknackered. But there are also hills that are short, sharp and tough. I have one on my route home (Gipsy Hill) I want to be able to stand up on the pedals in such cases and honk.

I don't want to go back to drops, because as I said above, I love the flat bars while actually in town and this is a commuting machine.

Anyway, I will go an try a bunch of stuff and see what works. Thanks to everyone for your ideas.

 

[fossyant]

OK...Jim was correct.....use the bar ends where you don't need brake access that quick...

I've been a roadie since a wee 16 year old....

I was used to the road bike hand positions.... got my first MTB at about 21 (my 3rd bike) - duly chopped the width off and popped some bar ends on - why, they offer additional hand positions and you can avoid carpel tunnel syndrome..... width..near road bike width, you should see the saddle to bar drop on my mtb.......... road bike .............. (PS still is...)

They just give you some release from the fixed flat palm..... use when you can, but not in traffic - great for honking a climb...... but most MTB's don't honk as they are pansies......

NO SUSPENSION HERE..... you may kill me down hill, you'll die up it....

 

[MacB]

another option is to not cut the bars but just fit the bar ends further in. When you're happy with setup then cut away.

I'm currently using butterfly bars and am fairly happy, at least with hand positions. But I ride with hands mainly on the sides, similar to the hoods position on drops. Unfortunately this means a hand shift every time I want to change gears or brake.

I've looked extensively at this and cannot get my ideal setup on the butterfly bars. I wanted to have brake levers on sides and secondary levers on the flats, working with my existing v-brakes. I foolishly thought this would be straightforward, how wrong I was. The best I found was a widget that allowed you to connect two levers to the same v-brake, but it meant 2 cable runs as well. On my bike build I'm going with flat bars and bar ends. I'm going to see if I can fit the v-brake levers to the bar ends. I don't know how this will work with cables and visually, so we'll see, I could even fit the levers facing the bars. The beauty of this would be the ability to move the bar ends around to experiment with ideal width. The b-bars felt very wide when I first had them, I've gotten used to it but think narrower might be nicer.

I have a fantasy, sad I know, of a lever that you fit to the flat bar that has 2 levers running off it at 90 degrees to each other. So one runs along the flat bit and the other up underneath the bar end. One cable goes into a central widget and each lever pulls the widget the same amount.

 

[Cubist]

but most MTB's don't honk as they are pansies......

And Fossy won't ride off-road 'cos it might get his bike muddy!!!



MBR called roadies "stiff-backed sc*m last week. I was going to write in and complain on your behalf, but I don't think I'll bother now! Pansies indeed. How much "honking" do you do in Manchester anyway? Hills? Pah. Try it on mud and shale! Rant, blather, rant.

 

[Twanger]

I have a fantasy, sad I know, of a lever that you fit to the flat bar that has 2 levers running off it at 90 degrees to each other. So one runs along the flat bit and the other up underneath the bar end. One cable goes into a central widget and each lever pulls the widget the same amount.

That reminds me of those secondary levers they had for (cheap) drop bars so you could operate the brakes from the bar top as well as from the main levers. They never worked properly and were dangerous, lulling the rider into a false sense of security.

Think about it. Motorists don't drive with their foot on the brake. I never had any problems getting from bar top to brake hoods in time in any situation on drop bars. You don't have to have the brake levers immediately under your hand at all moments. You have quick reactions.

 

[scouserinlondon]

Timely thread.

I'm loving my new trek valencia, but even after half a dozen commutes I'm still not sure about the handle bars. Clearly I'll give it more time, but can imagine a time in the future when I'll opt for a more MTB like flat bar bar-end combo.

 

[MacB]

Timely thread.

I'm loving my new trek valencia, but even after half a dozen commutes I'm still not sure about the handle bars. Clearly I'll give it more time, but can imagine a time in the future when I'll opt for a more MTB like flat bar bar-end combo.

if you already have drop bars then a conversion to aero style should be fairly straight forward.

 

[Bodhbh]

Another thought...is it possible to mount bar "ends" in other places, such as immediately inside the grips on the bar?

Yes you can, I have mine like that and prefer the positon. If you have rapid-fire shifters you can still manage some gear changes with your fingertips the hands/palms on the barends and they are still fairly close to the brakes. Also when you want to get your head down the position is narrower as well as further forward. There is probably some downside to the position tho, maybe going up hills having nothing further foward *and* wide-out to grab on.

 

[Bodhbh]

You're not going to know which suits you best without experimenting. What might be comortable to some one else might be torture for you. You can have them pointing directly up, down, flat or even backwards if that takes your fancy .

I did see one young chap riding about with them pointing directly up and back at him like a pair of daggers. Not sure what that's all abotu seemed almost optimally positioned to render them entirely unusable.

 

[Twanger]

I had a go on a friend's hybrid with 58cm bars and bar ends. They seemed a bit wide for me. I think I will go the Bodhbh route on placing.

 

[dellzeqq]

if you have one bike, and it's a flat bar bike, then bar ends are great for riding distances out of town - but I sawed off the ends of the bars on the hybrid (leaving no room for bar ends) and the advantage gained in traffic was far greater than that gained by having bar ends. Happily I no longer need to take it for any distance at all.

And...honking down Camberwell New Road and Brixton Road? I'd want my hands on the levers non-stop on those two.

 

[Twanger]

And...honking down Camberwell New Road and Brixton Road? I'd want my hands on the levers non-stop on those two.

I take your meaning. Depends on the time of day, though. In the morning, yes, when everyone in London is trying to get to work at exactly the same time. Passing buses, yes. Watching out for those lethal gaps left for motorists to turn into side roads, yes.But there are times when the road just empties....even Brixton road! And I want a variety of positions. And I need something forward to grab up Gipsy Hill.