Telly

After more than a year of commuting on my trusty trekking bike with flat handle bar and front lockable suspension, I've been thinking of changing over to drop bars. Have any of you actually done this with front suspension, and with what kind of results concerning handling?

This isn't so much a mechanical question as it is on how practical a change like this would be... (here's a close up of the type of stem that's on my bike now, and which I believe shouldn't pose a problem fitting drop bars to):

marqueemoon

What kind of brakes does the bike have?

Telly

Shimano Deore v-brakes

BassNotBass

I had a full suspension MTB commuter to which I fitted drops. I eventually added bar ends to either sides of the top portion of the drops to get the hand position of flat bars... so now my bars were essentially flats, drops and bullhorns in one. I eventually just went to bullhorns since I rarely found myself in the drops. BTW, the tops of my bars are usually several inches below my saddle height which may be the reason I rarely was down in the drops while commuting.

BassNotBass

You'll have to fit levers of the correct ratio for v-brakes that also fit drops.

PatrickGSR94

Cx brake levers, no problem.

linus

John Tomac used to race with that set up.

BassNotBass

But what was his commuting setup?

mikhalit

might be quite expensive, plus you need to be sure the geometry of your bike will allow a good fit with drop bars.

Get ready for:
* getting drop style brake levers, either made to work with V (e.g. Tektro RL520, no integrated shifters) or cantilever brifters, you need to use a travel agent to make it work with your brakes. Or change V for cantilevers. Or get Sora 2013 brifters, they are supposed to work with both, short and long pull brakes.
* drop bars will likely put you lower and stretch your farther forwards. That may result in very uncomfortable position -> say hi to the back pain. You may need to get a riser stem, to fix that. Try various length. Use competitive cyclist fit calculator (french fit option) to get some numbers.

I've done it though and it worked Ok. Here is what i'd ended up with (note the short and tall stem):


Today I would probably get a longer stem and bars like this:



Or trekking bars with some backsweep, something like this:

fietsbob

Trekking Bars will be a simpler changeover.. all the Levers you have will fit.

Mark Stone

As did Jacquie Phelan . . .


"Alice B.Toeclips"

E.W.G.M.B

It should be ok. As for me i would be worried as i have some areas that i commute that are very bumpy that if im in the drops and hit a big hole that my hands might slip and my face hits the bar/stem.

fuzz2050

You'd be surprised. I'm a fan of drop bars for mountain bikes, and I've found that hitting bumps actually pushes the bar more firmly into your hands. It does call for padding though.

Telly

@mikhalit, how was the handling with drop bars and suspension?
@fietsbob, my bike actually came with trekking bars, not exactly like the ones shown above though; I couldn't get used to them for my daily commuting needs, although I've kept them since I eventually would like to start touring.



Here's the trekking bars that came with the bike...


..and here's my setup today.

fietsbob

The figure 8 bend ones was what I was referring to..

an example :https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/bbb-multi...ver-prod28913/
from same source , cheaper yet,
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/humpert-c...ver-prod28188/

difference as the lower picture shows better, is the forward bend, right out of the stem.

that puts the side at where the end of straight bar is,
reaching the forward grip gets the headwind tuck,
The control levers go on the inside rear
open end, so combined with an open face stem you can swap bars
without disturbing the tape job.

I've double layered my padded tape. ..

I have 2 made by ITM, of Italy. for Koga Miyata, in '04~ '08
1 resembles the Humpert,
the other was 3 parts, 2 D shaped 'wings',
and an H shaped yoke that clamped the wing tubes,
and was in turn clamped by the stem.


the ones you show just have 1 larger radius bend.. out past where the grips and controls go,
so the tape or grip sleeves, have to come off to swap the bars, as you found out.

Telly

I have to say that the second link (Humpert Contest Multi Position Handlebars) seems really cool! At that price, it really wouldn't hurt to try these type of bars and from what I've seen, they're quite common in the commuting group. Too bad the shop doesn't have them in black finish.

Note: Found two different brands in the local market... XLC and Zoom (same brand as the handlebar I have on now), will probably order the Zoom tomorrow morning. @fietsbob, can you recommend a type/brand of handlebar tape, since the last time I used them was almost 25 years ago on my 10-speed at NYSU?

https://www.bikestation.gr/products.php?CatID=71

Now where do you install an airzhound on it??? lol

E.W.G.M.B

do you have front suspension? I just would think that after the fork travels down and hits it bottom then springs back up my body is still in the drop motion and my hands might slip off or im still holding on but my body dosent push up as fast as the fork and my face would get hit by the bar

mikhalit

There wasn't anything particularly good or bad about it, except that it was hard to achieve proper fit. The handling was Ok, I could even ride some singletrack and those bars are typical road bars, not dirt drops.

That suspension fork was usual elastomer crap you find on low to middle price level hybrids, rigid most of the time, unless i land on it with my full weight.

fietsbob

Telly,
I use the fairly common padded foam tape ,
top brand , Cinelli has a few bits of cork in the mix of the foam plastic strips. lots of color combinations too..
I have not used the big C stuff, but it is the type..

2 layer, older tape goes on the bottom..
paper peel off adhesive strip is one way the stuff is packaged, now..
the Gel / foam tape .. applies a strip of stuff that is not adhesive per se, not much of a cushion either,
but makes the back-center strip tacky enough to not slip.

re: black.. there is always spray paint in a rattle-can

wirespot

There's also one other difference, if you'll compare those with mikhalit's trekking bars pic above: the angle of the nearby handles (where the levers go). Most trekking bars have zero or near-zero angle, a more pronounced angle, like in mikhalit's pic, is rather hard to find.

Telly

@mihalit, the bike has lockable suspension (RST Neon), and I usually have it set 1-2 notches before full lock so it gives the effect of being locked and only (slightly) travels with large bumps or excessive braking.

I've decided to go with fietsbob's bars which have always intrigued me and had forgotten until today. I'll order the following bar tomorrow morning:

along with these foam pieces until I figure out what tape/color/type I will eventually use.


I believe that two 40cm pieces of foam should cover the above bar.


Wow, I started a thread on drop bars and ended up going with trekking bars... goes to show you how a proper forum always opens up the imagination to new ideas!

mikhalit

Cool, hope you'll enjoy! You just saved yourself quite a bit of time and money.
Add your impressions please once you ride it a bit.

mtbikerinpa

Basic road drops work quite well on my mtb. The suspension fork actually puts the head a little higher which can help the drop ratio a bit. I ended up using a 50mm stem with a little rise to get the right reach and Canti-travel brakes. Nice thing now is the option to use road/canti range avid disc brakes. Then you get the best of both worlds with the aero bars and mtb braking.

Telly

Happy Holidays everyone!

Just a followup and a thank you to everyone that helped on this question/issue.
I ended up installing trekking (butterfly) bars and although I haven't gotten the hang of them yet, I did manage to take the bike out today for some fine tuning and am starting to get comfortable. The only problem I have so far is the mirror; I already had a Blackburn Road mirror which I placed on the bars over the (temporary) foam padding, and when I manage to find the best spot to install it, I'll have the bars (double) wrapped in leather and will have the mirror's base wrapped under the tape. If someone's already done this with the Road, can you please send me photos of how the installation came out?



Unfortunately the grips are placed farther in that I wished for, but I can't place the airzound anythere else since the shifter display housing is very near the front of the bars.

fietsbob

I don't mount a mirror on my bars, and grip the bars where you mounted that one
So it would/did not go on my setup,
at least it's velcro strap on,,

and where I live Leather bar wrap is impractical, too wet, here , [temperate rainforest of Firs].
(it absorbs water, and I lock my bike up outside in the Rain)
and leaning the bike against masonry and concrete walls scuffs the tape, so needs occasional replacement..

YMMV, of course