Tandem Cycling - Handlebar Question Drop vs Flat

I have recently acquirred a Santana Vision and intend to ride it on short (5-10 miles) to moderate (50 miles) trips with either my wife or daughter. My question is about the pros and cons of using a flat (mtb style) bar on the front versus the drop bars. I presently ride a mountain bike and find it comfortable and easy to ride (I'am 54 yrs old) and had ridden rode bikes with drop bars in the past. Can anyone or everyone give me their oppinions on this ?. Also what would be involved in doing so. Would the existing cables be ok and what shifters might I use ( 8 speed hub) Thanks for your responses!!!

I have ridden both and have decided that for road use I like wide drop bars but it is really a matter of choice. If I am going to do a lot of gravel road riding I would opt for a flat bar with extensions.

One way that you can have your cake and eat it too is to get some cable splitters from DaVinci or Bruce Gordon and split the cables in a convient location and you can go from one to the other in 10 minutes or so, given the right lever choice.

I have recently acquirred a Santana Vision and intend to ride it on short (5-10 miles) to moderate (50 miles) trips with either my wife or daughter. My question is about the pros and cons of using a flat (mtb style) bar on the front versus the drop bars.

I would ride it the way it is until the need for change arises.

Hi Warren,
I ride both mtn and more recently, road bikes, so I know your question. If you haven't ridden drop bar much yet, they might be a bit 'different' for you, and something to get used to. They are narrower, and to me at least, were harder to get used to when I first started riding. However now I'm fine with them, but I do use the 46cm width. (I'm also a larger, wider, heavier guy) When I got our tandem, they had straight bars on them. I've stayed with them, although I've replaced them with a wider CF bar with bar ends. I did this because of the different hand positions I could have, which I missed from my road bike, but with better steering control of a wider bar. It also seemed to me that with a tandem, until you really get your team coordination down, you'll have a few piloting surprises when your stoker moves unexpectedly, and the wider bars helped with that, along with playing with the cars in tight traffic. Now if I could find wider than 46cm drop bars and have the extra $ to change over to STI levers, then I might do it. But for now, riding with my daughter and wife at the distances you mentioned during our first winter season, its fine.
I would suggest that you get some time with your tandem and your stokers and see how you feel about your hand and body postions, and control over the steering and braking. (The braking will be much less effective than a mtn bike with good hydraulic brakes, if you'r e used to that, imo.). Also see if there's a 'need for speed' or just having a good ride. Then see what you might want to do...
Whatever, you'll find tandeming really enjoyable. I know I'm looking forward to anything over 40 degrees.
Regards,
INDY

Thanks for your response. The one thing I like about my flat bar arraigment on my mtb is that the brakes and shifter is very conveinient Iam just wondering if the upright position will be detremental to me for the long hauls

See if the flat bars work out on longer rides. If not, you can always switch to drops.
Personally, the most I've ridden with flat bars on a tandem was a 50 miler . . . much prefer drops for rides that long as there are many more hand positions available.
Age has nothing to do with flat/drop bars . . . am 75 and drops are what we use.
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Flat bar is fine on shorter rides, but for longer rides drop bar is the way to go.

It's a very personal thing. My view as someone with a few grandkids who finds his bars creeping higher and closer to his saddle...

There are about 8 different positions that I can use on my drop-bar bikes... I can get 3 or 4 out of the flat bars with Profile bar-ends. On a typical short ride like today's 30 miler when it's cold, I probably used 5 of the 8 positions on the drop-bars given our very irregular terrain.

Changing out hardware on an 8 speed bike... if you're frugal and can get by without integrated shifters a nice set of DiaCompe 287s and some 8 speed bar-end shifters should do the trick along with the drop bars, a new stem, cable set, and bar tape. About $75 - $200 depending on how resourceful you are, i.e., swap meets, Flea-Bay, etc.

Warren:

Just want to confirm: Santana Vision currently has drop bars/bar-end shifters/v-brakes, front and rear derailleurs are Shimano XT.

And you are considering installing flat bars / mtb shifters v-brake levers. If I am wrong, then everything which follows is too.

Shopping LBS, eBay or equivalent (with lots of patience) can yield anything from Altus up to NOS 8 Speed XTR shifters but you probably wasnt to stick Deore or better (or you can play with the SRAM equivalents; even twist grips). A set of brake levers (Avid, Hayes/Shimano/etc, they all pull the same), an appropriate bar (flat, low rise or high rise) and you are set. $75 - $200+ depending on patience and bling (aka carbon/premium components) and you are all set.

As has been suggested, cable splitters allow you to swap on short notice if you are going for the long haul.

Prairie*boy

p.s.
I have done centuries on my Tsunami with flat bars and can't say I was any worse for it...but like you I ride a mtb bike as my commuter all winter so am comfortable in that position (I actually have more issues riding on the hoods on my single with drop bars.)

For rides of any distance, I prefer drop bars; with flat bars I find the wrist angle and the fact that my elbows tend to flare out to be uncomfortable. That said, our ride leaders two Saturdays ago - Randall and Barb Angell - rode a Santana from Alaska to Florida using flat bars with extensions.

I have moustache handle bars on my Cannondale MT tandem .... gives me room to move my hands around and gives great control. They were used on some Bridgestone bikes in the 90's ... here is a link. http://www.stanford.edu/~dru/moustache.html

The trade-off for better control at lower speeds with flat bars is the variety of hand positions and better aerodynamics with drops. Hand positions are important become important in longer rides + 50 km., aerodynamics are important at speeds over 30 km/hr or with headwinds. The other issue is if you prefer a more upright position on the bike, which is generally deployed on bikes with flat bars. However you can have a lean forward position with flat bars also or be more upright with drops just a question of stem adjustments. When you lean forward you tend to put more weight on your hands, and will miss that variety of hand positions more if your bars are flat.

I had flat bars on our first tandem and went to drops on the new one. As stated by others flat bars give you more control at slow speeds, when off paved roads or during the learning curve of tandeming. On the flat bar bike I added aerobars, which might look a little silly mounted on flat bars, but it allowed me to get more aerodynamic and rest my hands/wrists at higher speeds (over 17 mph). Went on to drops and no longer found a need for the aerobars.

You will find most people in this forum to be on drops, more road tandems around than mountain tandems. I often pilot with drops on gravel roads and do fine, if you get more into technical single track, you will want a different bike anyway.

A separate issue are stoker bars, here you will find a mix on bullhorns, drops with fake brake hoods, and flat bars, whatever your stoker wants, you might want to try them all.