Bicycle Mechanics - STI's on regular drop bars?

Is it possible to mount STI's on a non ergo bent bar? I know it's possible, but will the brake
levers be too far out of reach? I have a set of Scott Drop LF bars and I love the small drops
and hand positioning. The shape of the ergo bars leads me to believe the levers will be unreachable.
Or is it the opposite, and they'll hit the bars before becoming effective?,,,,BD

My Speedster S4 will be the recipient if it will work. I can't seem to find a happy medium
between the hoods being too low, and the levers too high on the drop. If I rotate the hoods up, I can't reach the levers from the drop safely without changing hand position. Just thinking out loud, but it would help if doable.,,,,BD

STI levers work fine with regular drops. Go for it.

Is it possible to mount STI's on a non ergo bent bar? I know it's possible, but will the brake
levers be too far out of reach? I have a set of Scott Drop LF bars and I love the small drops
and hand positioning. The shape of the ergo bars leads me to believe the levers will be unreachable.
Or is it the opposite, and they'll hit the bars before becoming effective?,,,,BD

My Speedster S4 will be the recipient if it will work. I can't seem to find a happy medium
between the hoods being too low, and the levers too high on the drop. If I rotate the hoods up, I can't reach the levers from the drop safely without changing hand position. Just thinking out loud, but it would help if doable.,,,,BD

Yes, of course it is. Many people run STI's on regular bend drop bars.

The trick to setting them up is to postion the brifters where they are comfortable for your hands before you run you cables and tape the bars. Install the bars and position them where you want and then lock down the position. Then install your brifters and move them to the point on the curve of the bar where they feel right. You should be sitting on the bike when you make these decisions.

If you aren't totally sure, then hold off on wrapping the bar. If you cut your cable housings and then tilt the bar up then you might find the housings too short at that point. You can always do a test right with just some electrical tape securing the brake cables to the bar (I'm assuming Shimano STI brifters here ). Just keep that in mind. Once you get the tilt of the bar and the postion of the brifters to your liking, then you can go ahead and cut the housings to correct lengths and wrap the bar.

I tried ergo bars and I don't like them. So, all my bikes are, over time, getting refitted with traditional bend drop bars. And, I am just reusing the STI brifters on all of them.

I hope I'd know "how" to do it by now, hehe. I was just wondering if the angle of the levers would physically work with the curvature of normal drops. Some of the ergo bars work for me, but others seem too large in the flat area.,,,,BD

I think the answer to your question is that the position of the levers may be different with different bars, but they will work.

Also, as I know you understand, different riders like different styles of bars (ergo/standard, shallow/deep etc)

These are two different (but distantly related) issues.

Yep, that's pretty much what I wanted to know. I have early ergo (modolo patent) on my Trek 560 and they
work fine with Dia Compe AC levers. The newer ergos with the huge flat drops seem over sized to me, and my hands end up at the bottom with the levers out of reach. The modolos have a shorter flat which keeps my hand in the best braking position, yet still comfortable. They're hard to find in the wider widths though.,,,,BD

If you notice, most people have their brifters set up wrong on the ergos anyway.

I dislike ergo bars because they essentially limit you to one drop position.

As a result, because you have only one drop position, you have essentially one brifter position - as high up as you can put it while still being able to efficiently and effectively shift and brake without moving your hands from the drops. This is true because a properly fit bike will brake, steer, and handle the best from the drops. Also it's the best sprinting position (because you can brake, steer, and handle the best) and it happens to give you the best bike throw angle.

With "ergo" type bars, I find I have to put the brifters down pretty low in order to be able to brake and shift from the drops.

I use round curve drop bars, i.e. "non-ergo".

Also, as a note, STI levers pre-date ergo levers, at least in common usage. STI came out in 90 I think, 89 it was on 7-Eleven's bikes here and there (Hampsten usually). At any rate there were tons of "non-ergo" bars at the time. So they were designed for "non-ergo" bars.

cdr

With "ergo" type bars, I find I have to put the brifters down pretty low in order to be able to brake and shift from the drops.


Exactly my problem with them. The SR modolo's are different. They have a slight flat only in the area where your palms rest, and it puts your hands a little higher into the "bent" area. If I could only buy bars exactly like my Le Tour but a little wider. The Scott LF has almost the same shape. The hoods are perfectly comfortable on top, and two fingers on the levers is easy.,,,,BD

A few pics, showing the bars that work for me.

SR modolo

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n267/Kustombyker/HolyTrek.jpg

83 Le Tour, stock handlebars.

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n267/Kustombyker/GoldenTour4.jpg

The Scott, aka: HUGE flats.... As found condition, stem changes and other adjustments have been made.

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n267/Kustombyker/SpeedsterS4.jpg

And yeah, the hoods are a little low on the Trek. Riding in the drops is great on that bar though. I may mess with it some more.,,,,BD