Touring - First Touring Bike: Trekking Bar Setups

Hi everyone,

I've seen a few threads and things on handlebars, namely:


flat bar w/bar ends vs road bike bar for touring (http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php/715807);
your "go to" touring handlebar (http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php/722962);
Handlebars for Touring (http://sheldonbrown.com/deakins/handlebars.html);
as well as images on google.


There seem to be a number of ways to set up trekking bars. I'm a little confused about how you guys set up trekking bars, as in which way they're pointing, and how the shifters and brakes are set up. If any of you could explain how you're setting them up, especially with a picture, I'd really appreciate it. I don't have a camera myself, so I understand if you can't give us a picture, but they are worth a lot. Maybe it would help if you could refer to one end of the trekking bar as the open end, the other as the stem end.

Likewise other setups I'll be glad to see, especially cowhorns with aero handlebars, or straight bars with bar ends. I'm also particularly interested in setups that give multiple positions for the brakes, as in interrupter brakes.

Joe

There have been other threads (http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-618911.html) like this. Search on trekking bars or butterfly bars. I just bought a Novara Safari with trekking bars, so I've also been pondering things to do. The Safari is setup with the open end closer to the rider. The flat part of the open end is the primary hand location, with the grip-shifters and brakes mounted at the very end (inboard) of the open end. The bars are taped from there, up and around the butterfly loops. I use the outside of the loop as I would use bar ends on a mountain bike, for out-of-the-saddle pedaling up a hill. I use the bend as an alternate hand position for comfort, much like changing from the flats to the hoods on a road bike. I use the top front of the loop to stretch out, and get a little lower if there's a headwind.

One modification I will make soon is to add Ergon grips on the flats. I am also looking for solutions to mount a mirror. The best one I've seen is to take a bar end from a mountain bike and mount it up near the stem end of the trekking bar, then mount a mirror designed for bar end mounting in to the end of the bar extender. I'm also thinking about just buying this mirror (http://www.rei.com/product/784568/electra-chrome-mirror) by Electra, and mounting it so it hangs down from the stem end of the bar.

-Keith

I mounted mine with the open end back.I have downtube shifters,so the brakes went up in front of the bends in front.

I mounted mine with the open end back.I have downtube shifters,so the brakes went up in front of the bends in front.

Yeah, it's my first time building a bike up from frame, much less a tourer, and I'm concerned about this common position that I keep finding in Google image searches.

I would like to mount my trekking bars with the open end facing away from me. I would do this for two reasons:

The first reason is because I feel like I would utilize the flat bars better if they were further away from me with some sort of mountain bike style grips. I feel like it would strain my shoulders to otherwise set the flat bars so close to my elbows when I expect that I will be sitting in an upright position for long periods of time. I believe that this set up would allow for more arm extension, and relaxed shoulders.

I also really enjoy the idea of riding with the part of the bar that bends inward set closer to the headset. I think that they would be useless for me if they were placed with the inverse configuration where you had to extend and pull up on the bars with your hands gripped at a 45 degree angle facing out, as I think they would wear on your wrists over time.

But what do I know, this is all conjecture because I haven't set anything up yet...

To do this, I think I would have to buy a long enough stem to do this properly, so that I would avoid knee strike (and/or since I haven't cut the steering tube yet, to leave it as long as possible).

Thanks for responding, and your clear descriptions.

I'm not very good at searching on this site. Before posting, I searched on trekking bars, but searched "Entire Posts." This got a load of mostly irrelevant stuff, that was very time consuming and unproductive to dig through. So, instead of giving you a list of what I've found, I'll give a search method:


Advanced Search
Keywords: trekking (or butterfly)
Search Titles Only
All Open Forums (or Touring, etc.)


That got a whole pile of great threads showing pictures, giving descriptions, and discussions. I agree. My post was pretty redundant. :o:innocent: This method will only work if people are likely to put the keyword in the title. For instance, if looking for information on touring with Mavic EX721 rims, searching on titles won't net much.

Joe

i hurt my wrists, so i don't want to NEED multiple hand positions. just sit upright or get a recumbent!