Hello! Some help please

[spaiceman101]

Hello bike fans. I'm hoping to lean on your wisdom. firstly, apologies if i use the wrong bike terminology...

I just got my hands on a lovely Specialized Langster SS to be my city-zipper and commuter. See picture.

It currently has drop bars and i'd like to get some bullhorns with breaks on the flats (not on the end of the horns) as i think that will be easier in and around traffic. My thinking is I can use the bullhorns when on a long stretch but the flats when in and around traffic.

i'm planning on buying the materials and getting a bike shop to do the labour on it so that it is well done. I'm not terribly handy with DIY. My plan was to get these bullhorns . Would they be good? If so, i then don't know what brakes i would need on top of that. I'm not looking to get the top of the range but something decent. Any help with that would be hugely appreciated.

Cheers

Eric

 

[alicat]

Welcome to the forum @spaiceman101.

The stem clamp diameter is wrong. It probably needs to be 31.8mm.

You could use the existing handlebar and fit some additional brakes so that you can brake on the flat as well. Or you can turn the handlebar upside down, cut off the drops and do the same so that you lose the drops.

If you buy a bullhorn handlebar, make sure that the brakes have the same diameter as the bar and that the bar is the same diameter as the stem - see above. Handlebars come in different diameters at the brake section, depending on whether they are drops or flats.

31.8mm.

 

[mjr]

Drops brake diameter 23.8mm maybe? Flats 22.2mm.

Crosstop aka interrupter aka cyclocross brakes are an easier modification.

 

[Cycleops]

Hello and welcome to the forum

If you are using bullhorns you could use any standard brake levers intended for flat bars like these https://www.evanscycles.com/shimano...handlebars-EV173756#modal__product-zoom-modal
or you could use the cross top levers with your existing bar and brake set up as suggested by @mjr.
Your LBS might have these items in stock so check.

 

[Sharky]

Welcome to the forum.

Before you change anything, give yourself a good trial with the drops.
With drops you get a greater variation in positions and on drops your centre of gravity is lower, which is better for cornering and descending.

 

[mjr]

If you are using bullhorns you could use any standard brake levers intended for flat bars like these https://www.evanscycles.com/shimano...handlebars-EV173756#modal__product-zoom-modal

Standard brake levers intended for flat bars these days are likely to be V brake levers which pull a different amount of cable to road caliper levers and would be a bit poor. If you change bar types, take care to get the right levers for your brakes.

 

[raleighnut]