Oil_LOL

Recently borrowed my friend's single-speed w/ bullhorn handlebars for a couple of days. Really enjoyed the more aerodynamic position compared to my drop bars, and feel these would be awesome maybe with some cross levers for longer trips (though for now, I'm sticking with my drops). I was also thinking about how I've never really seen these on a bike with multiple gears (besides Tri/TT bikes). How do you think brifters would be on these? Has anyone done this? Any opinions, and pictures, would be awesome.

JeffS

I don't see how it could work.

I'm also not sure how a handlebar is more aerodynamic. Where you position them seems to be the more important thing.

tjspiel

Not mine. Just an image search. Don't know how well it would in practice.

tarwheel 

I've seen it done, but a much better setup, IMHO, is to use bar-end shifters and canti/shorty brakes on the bar tops. Or use bar-end brakes and downtube shifters. I've got one of my bikes set up with bullhorns, and I love it for short rides when it's not too windy. Mine has bar-end brakes and DT shifters. Something about bullhorns seems to make a bike more fun to ride. However, on a windy day, you've got nowhere to hide and I much prefer drop bars on those days.

crhilton

I've not tried it, but I kind of think it would work. Might be a little inconvenient to get to the shifter.

There's a wide variety of bullhorn bars though.

Santaria

If your ride can accommodate a lot of standing, then yeah - I think it would be fun for short mileage. But after a dozen miles or so without being able to really get down into any kind of a comfortable position, I'd pass.

Lots of TT/Aero shifters would work. Just would be awkward to be out so far in slow traffic.

Steely Dan

i put some bullhorns on my old mountain bike over the winter. i thought about brifters, but didn't know how to make them work, so i went with reverse pull brake levers on horns and some shimano rapid fire shifters close in to the stem for the 3x7 drivetrain. the set-up works very well, and i love having proper bullhorns with brake levers to ride on as opposed to my old set-up of a flat-bar with bar ends. just a heads up, when i first put the bullhorns on, the stem i had (120mm) was way too long for comfortable riding out on the horns, so i dialed it back to 80mm with a new stem and that made all the difference in the world.

here are some pics of the final product:

fietsbob

up turned cow horn can take STI brifters.. that's what Bike Friday makes,
a ski tip bend upward a bit further than off the shelf bullhorn bars..

Breathegood

I tried just what you are talking about for a time.



It was functional and comfortable on that bike. However, I never felt quite as confident as I would have liked when braking with this setup, and you really have to get the levers into just the right position to be comfortable shifting. FWIW, this bike has become a dedicated basement bike. This setup is GREAT on a dedicated trainer, but it is not likely to ever see pavement again.

beebe

Dahon vector x27 does it. Seems to work fine.