drop bar to replace straight bar

Jacques Moser wrote:
Badger_South wrote:

(...)
What I'd like to get is this:

http://www.petercrandall.net/biketrip/images/bars.jpg

Unfortunately, I believe, they are no longer made anywhere
commercially.

-B


But there is also the question of bar width. Drop bars will typically
come in widths of 40 to 44 cm, which is what you need to steer your
bike on a paved road. Flat bars on mountain bikes are much wider
because you need more leverage to balance your bike on difficult
ground. But this larger width has a price, which is a larger surface
exposed to wind, hence poor aerodynamics.
I have faced the same question Kevein asks. I have first added bar
ends. Then I noticed that I was riding all the time on the bar ends,
but wished that they would be closer to the center of the bar. So I
squeezed brake levers and grips and moved them as close as I could to
the stem. Finally I understood I needed drop bars, did the change,
and am happy with them.

Jacques

I've been considering something similar to your idea about using bar ends.
It would be kind of a pain, but how about removing (temporarily) the
shifters, brakes and grips. Put the bar "ends" in towards the middle, and
then replace the components you just removed. The result would be bars where
a road biker could really use them.

Boatman

On Sun, 26 Sep 2004 21:36:03 +0200, Jacques Moser
wrote:

Badger_South wrote:

(...)
What I'd like to get is this:

http://www.petercrandall.net/biketrip/images/bars.jpg

Unfortunately, I believe, they are no longer made anywhere commercially.

-B


But there is also the question of bar width. Drop bars will typically
come in widths of 40 to 44 cm, which is what you need to steer your bike
on a paved road. Flat bars on mountain bikes are much wider because you
need more leverage to balance your bike on difficult ground. But this
larger width has a price, which is a larger surface exposed to wind,
hence poor aerodynamics.
I have faced the same question Kevein asks. I have first added bar ends.
Then I noticed that I was riding all the time on the bar ends, but
wished that they would be closer to the center of the bar. So I squeezed
brake levers and grips and moved them as close as I could to the stem.
Finally I understood I needed drop bars, did the change, and am happy
with them.

Jacques

Ah! OK, didn't exactly realize that width thing. So noted. Thanks! I'm
gonna go measure my bars. ;-)

-B

On Sat, 25 Sep 2004 11:49:29 -0400, Sheldon Brown
wrote:

(Kevein B.) wrote:

I was thinking of replacing the straight bar on my Trek 720 with a drop
bar. I am not sure what to do with the 3x7 grip shifters and brake
levers. If I have to buy all these components, what cost will there
be roughly?

"Ken" wrote:

Depends on what kind of shifters you want to buy. Those fancy STI systems
are not cheap.

$129.95 for Sora, really not that expensive when you consider it's both
bake levers and shift levers, including all 4 cables, housing and the
housing stops for the down tube.

You'll likely want to replace the stem with one that's a bit taller
and/or has less forward extension.

http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/shifters.html#brifters

I'm assuming that your bike has traditional center-pull cantilever
brakes. If it has "direct-pull" cantilevers (cable comes in from the
side) you'll need additional doodads to match the cable pull of the
brake levers.

Isn't there also a potential problem with the front derailleur
indexing?
--
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Boatman wrote:


I've been considering something similar to your idea about using bar ends.
It would be kind of a pain, but how about removing (temporarily) the
shifters, brakes and grips. Put the bar "ends" in towards the middle, and
then replace the components you just removed. The result would be bars where
a road biker could really use them.

Boatman



To me, this would be too far inside. Besides, the bar ends fit the
outer, low diameter part of the bars, but would probably not fit the
center part, which has a larger diameter.

Sheldon Brown wrote in message ...
maxo wrote:

What about some of them fancy Nitto moustache bars like y'all sell online?
They're not drops, but they'd offer a lot more hand positions than crummy
straight bars.

I don't think I agree on that. There are surprisingly few usable
positions on Moustache bars. I'd rather have straight bars with bar
ends, and maybe an aerobar if I wanted a lot of positions.

You could mount the grip shifters

No, Moustache bars are a fatter diamete, 15/16" (23.8 mm) like drop
bars, so you can't fit standard twist shifters, straight bar brake
levers or handlebar grips on them.
My grip shifters and brake handles went on the moustache bars fine.
The only problem is finding the right mirror

with regular grips + tape, or just tape
the whole bar. You'd probably want to get some new road brake levers since
they work better with moustache bars. One could even go for some bar-end
shifters,but then things start to get spendy and up towards the price of
going the drop bar/brifter route, unless you get some used and/or friction
jobbers of the net somewhere...

Waddaya think?

You'd definitely want a MUCH shorter stem extension and probably a
taller stem as well.

In my eperience, Moustache bars are fine for short hops around town, but
the limited range of positions makes them less suitable for longer rides.

However, there are those who disagree with me on this.

Sheldon "No More Mustache, But I've Still Got The Beard" Brown
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
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+-----------------------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
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http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

"Sheldon Brown" wrote in message
...

In my eperience, Moustache bars are fine for short hops around town, but
the limited range of positions makes them less suitable for longer rides.

However, there are those who disagree with me on this.

My old riding partner, "Luvs Hills" Lester had mustache bars on his
Bridgestone. He is the sort of person who does 200-300 miles/week without
much thinking about it. He regularly did long rides on that bike. So I guess
he'd be one of those who disagree with you.


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