Utility Cycling - Mounting Twist Grips on Road Bars

Ok, so I've seen the bar-end thing that Harris has, but are there any other solutions?

I've seen a twist grip shifter mounted on the upright (vertical) part of the stem, over the headset; whether it'll fit, of course, depends... whether you'll like shifting that way, well... I didn't even bother trying it!

There are a variety of things you can mount to the handlebar that give you a place to put the shifter, sticking out perpendicular to the bar. I tried that for a while, and found I didn't like shifting that way, because I couldn't put the shifter someplace I wanted to put my hand (i.e. near a brake lever).

Here's something I've considered, but have not tried: make a doodad with the correct diameter that mounts to the handlebar, perpendicular to it, as above; mount the twist shifter on that, and mount a time trial brake lever at the end of it. You'd have the equivalent of a brake-lever-shifter-combo. If done right, it could be nice... if done wrong, it could be suicidal.

I'm wondering about something which has a right angle, so that the shifter is parallel to the flats of the bars once it's mounted. I wondered whether those Minoura t bars for mounting lights etc might work....

What project are you doing? Context might help the creative juices flow.

You could buy strait mtb bar ends and put them on the drops facing inward. Or you might be able to find the one type of road bar that curves inward after the drop.

I saw some used drop bars at a bike shop around here that curved inward at the bottom. Never seen them before, but they seem to work like bar ends would.

Sheldon put twist shifters on Scott bars, but I'm guessing drops have tighter curves. http://sheldonbrown.com/scott.html#gripshift

The GMC Denali has two-part drops with twist shifters. Somehow I doubt there's a decent way to do this.

You could buy strait mtb bar ends and put them on the drops facing inward.

I tried that; MTB bars are thinner than "road" bars, and I couldn't get the MTB bar ends onto the drop bars at all. Maybe that was just the Profile bar ends I tried.

I don't have a specific project in mind. It's actually more that I think I have a good way of doing it (something like a bar end, but with a 90 degree bend so that you can clamp it near the stem, and have the twist grip aligned with, and parallel to, the flats), and I want to find out if such a thing is already in existence somewhere. If it is, it'd make a great addition to the lineup of my planned Utility focused OBS, and if it doesn't, I might need to look at getting it made.

a bit pricey - but should do it http://www.benscycle.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=146_240&products_id=875&zenid=4910edf199b79c902c15872ba42d333d

Thats just the sort of thing, though the Minoura ones are way cheaper, and I could get a more fit for purpose one made and still sell it WAY cheaper. Thanks for the link!

Here's another idea. Start with a MTB handlebar and add these:

http://www.endless-innovations.com/images/Rec/RoadEndsLG.jpg

http://www.endless-innovations.com/mall/more.asp?ProdID=167

How about one of these things? I forgot what they were called until I remembered I had a photo saved. Did a quick search so you could get a name or a part number. I think they come in several sizes.

http://www.cambriabike.com/shopexd.asp?id=35032

Those could well work, specially if they were a bit longer.

I though Sachs used to make 8spd gripshift shifters for drops. Check ebay.