road bike bars to flat

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Levo-Lon

Guru
I was thinking of taking the bars off the road bike and fitting flats.
im thinking of just removing the bars with levers and cables attached so I can convert back quickly.
I have bars 10 speed mtb slx shifters and cables, just brake levers to get.

will any levers do? My brakes are tiagra side pull so do I need specific or will the v levers work?
ive seen a pair on crc for under a tenner and £4 ish on ebay.
Im having a bit of tendon trouble so this will help settle it down as the road position is to much atm
anything else I need to considder?
 

SWSteve

Guru
Location
Bristol...ish
You'll need to check pull ratios. Someone else will know more I'm sure, but that's one thing that comes to mind immediately
 

Tim Hall

Guest
Location
Crawley
V brake levers pull the wrong amount of cable so you'll need calliper/cantilever brake levers. Sheldon explains why here. (scroll down a bit to Lever Compatability)
 

Broadside

Guru
Location
Fleet, Hants
I was thinking of taking the bars off the road bike and fitting flats.
im thinking of just removing the bars with levers and cables attached so I can convert back quickly.
I have bars 10 speed mtb slx shifters and cables, just brake levers to get.

will any levers do? My brakes are tiagra side pull so do I need specific or will the v levers work?
ive seen a pair on crc for under a tenner and £4 ish on ebay.
Im having a bit of tendon trouble so this will help settle it down as the road position is to much atm
anything else I need to considder?
You might need to get a longer stem; with drops you are leaning on the hoods which are about 50mm forward of where your hands will be on flat bars. Are the flat bars the same diameter as the drops you are removing?
 

RecordAceFromNew

Swinging Member
Location
West London
I was thinking of taking the bars off the road bike and fitting flats.
im thinking of just removing the bars with levers and cables attached so I can convert back quickly.
I have bars 10 speed mtb slx shifters and cables, just brake levers to get.

will any levers do? My brakes are tiagra side pull so do I need specific or will the v levers work?
ive seen a pair on crc for under a tenner and £4 ish on ebay.
Im having a bit of tendon trouble so this will help settle it down as the road position is to much atm
anything else I need to considder?

Won't work.

Your Shimano mtb 10 speed (i.e. Dynasys) rear shifter pulls too much cable for Shimano road bike rear mechs, so you will not be able to get it to index properly. Secondly mtb front shifters pull too much cable for their road front mechs but if adjusted right could still work with careful cable tension adjustment and the help of the stop screws (but the cable will likely be slack for small ring and/or tension too high for the big ring than per designed). You can get flat bar brake levers that pull the correct amount of cable for side pull road calipers.

Best option forward probably depends on why you want to switch to flat bars.
 

Sharky

Guru
Location
Kent
Im having a bit of tendon trouble so this will help settle it down as the road position is to much atm
anything else I need to consider?

If this is the reason for wanting flat bars, I'm not sure it will help that much. I always find that drop bars give more varied positions than flats. If you think the wrists are taking too much weight, moving the saddle back a smidge or slightly longer stem could alter the "pivot" point and move the weight balance back a little. Clip on tri bars are another effective solution and effective at taking weight off the hands.

Good luck
Keith
 
OP
OP
Levo-Lon

Levo-Lon

Guru
Won't work.

Your Shimano mtb 10 speed (i.e. Dynasys) rear shifter pulls too much cable for Shimano road bike rear mechs, so you will not be able to get it to index properly. Secondly mtb front shifters pull too much cable for their road front mechs but if adjusted right could still work with careful cable tension adjustment and the help of the stop screws (but the cable will likely be slack for small ring and/or tension too high for the big ring than per designed). You can get flat bar brake levers that pull the correct amount of cable for side pull road calipers.

Best option forward probably depends on why you want to switch to flat bars.


right, now id not considdered that? I thought rear shimano 10s were the same unlike sram,shimano.

ill leave it then .... thanks for the help everyone.
reason was im starting to get a numb right hand "think its ulnar nerve as it starts in my lower arm" , thinking its nerve damage But its far worse with the road bike. Mtb with bar grips seems better.
 

vickster

Legendary Member
Are the bars the correct reach, correct stretch, well padded? I got tendonitis in my right hand as these were wrong for me, sorting it out cured the issue. It could also be the riding position that's wrpng for you if an MTB is ok. You can always ride on the tops, see if that helps. Add crosslevers as suggested above for braking
 
Top Bottom