Feeling the need to mod...
 

I've been toying with the idea of changing the bars on my NWT from drops to butterfly (trekking) bars. Has anybody done that on the folder?

I have Trekking bars on my Pocket Llama, the gear shifter change over,
will be an issue.
.. if you have Road Brifters, switching over to a set of Bar Con's or Downtube levers,
mounted in Paul's Thumbies , or a road type flat bar gear /brake set control
will do the trick.

My bike has a 2 cable grip shifter , on it, for the German IGH. + BB7 disc brakes.

Oh, good to know, I haven't seen any BFs with them. Is the handling pretty much the same? I've never rode with those bars and don't have a chance to try them out. Also, I'm thinking the fold will be easier/flatter, much better for the suitcase and the soft bag.

I have bar end shifters and really, really like them. I did read about the Thumbies, would need to order those. And the bars. Break levers? I have the extra break levers mounted on the current bar besides the hoods, never use them though. Will they be good enough?
Anything else I'm missing?

I just mounted some Nashbar Trekking bars on my minivelo and love them so much I am considering them for my Dahon Mu. However both these bikes have gripshifters and vee brakes, which makes the conversion easier than for a drop bar bike with brifters.

The Dahon has a QR on the handlebar clamp which allows the bar to be turned flat for folding.

Bar end shifters would seem difficult to incorporate with trekking bar unless you ran them on separate stalks like the TT bikes use.

Good luck with your project. In my opinion the comfort these bars provide, plus the ability to climb out of the saddle and lean forward to power into a head wind or a slight grade are worth effort of installing them.

BF's 3 piece flat bar and a set of Ergon GC3 grip-bar end sets,
gets a portion of the benefits of Trekking bars,
but the advantage of coming apart into halves for packing.

BiFri's H bar will take a reverse brake lever, in the front,
and a bar end shifter on the back end..
its like being on the bar ends, with the brake lever and shift levers close at hand..

Drop bars and trekking bars move your hand positions in opposite directions relative to the headset. So a drop bar bike generally has a shorter TT to account for the longer reach to the hoods/drops. A trekking bar bike generally has a longer TT to account for the shorter reach to the brake/shifter portion of the bars. And a flat bar bike would have a TT somewhere in between.

I would mock up the rough position of the controls on the trekking bars you are considering and see if the TT on your BF works with that position before you invest in the needed parts. The Bike Friday H-bars offer some of the benefits of Trekking bars and would work with similar TT lengths as drops.

Hard to make sight unseen generalization, of course,
but if we were in the same room, that could be better sorted ..

My medium BF, is 56 long TT, with trekking bars, I use a 50mm stem,
my RB1 is a 55.5TT on it I used a either an 8 0r 9.5cm stem ..

there is a 55 cm top tube on my 26" wheel Trekking bike, a Koga Miyata.
though there is a 10 stem , it is an up-angled adjustable one,
and the particular bar on it is 2 D shaped pieces. which are adjustable in the yoke its pushed back, to make that a bit shorter yet.

Thanks for your answers.

H bar is not what I'm looking for, because I like to keep my hands on the curve of the drop bar and H bar doesn't have that. That's why just from looking at them, the trekking bars seem like they might be comfortable for me.

I also will not be switching the shifters, because I love the bar ends, can't imagine anything better. I just don't like them to be well... on end of the bar... ;)

I'll play around with it and chat with the mechanic at LBS. It will probably take me a while, but will report back. Thanks again!

the 10:00 and 2:00, like hands on the car steering wheel, is a hand position
I too use as my normal grip on my Trekking bars ..

no clue how you will set up your road brifters on trekking bars, good luck on that.

Fletsbob, NO brifters. I have bar end shifters, like these: http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-...hifter-service

And with Paul Thumbies it will look like this: http://maddogmedia.com/wordpress/?p=2260

Pretty nifty, eh?

so so

Thumbies give you 2 options. on the end. with the brake-lever, on the back.

Or right near the center , because of the figure 8 bend that is also in reach.

I've seen a Mustache bar like set-up, with road type brake levers
mounted on the front.

I suppose putting a reverse brake lever in the end, in back,
and an interrupter lever in the front
to have double brake locations, would work.
though the front one would need shimming to work on the 22.2 tube.