RichardGlover

OK... so I'm going to use my commuter for Randonneuring (at least until I can convince my wife that I 'need' a different bike to get past the 200k distances).

I'm currently planning on replacing my upright bars with some butterfly/trekker bars. I had this crazy thought that I would mount them such that the front of the bars would be slightly lower than the back (reverse from what I typically see), and that I'd mount some MTB bar ends on the frontmost point of the bars, pointing forward.

In this configuration (it's all in my head, trust me. ), not only would they provide an additional set of handholds, I'd also be able to rest my elbows on the rear loop, with my hands on the bar-ends, and use them like a poor-mans set of aero bars.

Now... is something like that going to be a problem in Randonneuring? I read the 2007 PBP rules that all extensions are forbidden. Is that just for PBP, or is that a fairly standard rule for most Brevets? I'm not ever likely to see PBP (sure, it's a pipe-dream for 2015), but if I do, it's a sure bet that I'll be riding a purpose-build LD bike with drop bars, not some 50lb commuter monstrosity jury-rigged for the purpose.

Chris_W

I'm not sure many people will have tried that configuration before, and even if they have, whether or not it worked for them is not a very good predictor of whether it will work for you. Bar-ends are not expensive, so I would just try it and see how it goes. It seems that some randonneuring events allow extensions, and others don't, so you may or may not be able to use them in the event.

LWaB

AUK asked this question of the ACP about virtually every type of handlebar imaginable (bar ends, cowhorns, butterfly bars, etc) before a 1990s PBP and everything other than standard drops was rejected. In the event, only bolt-on aerobars and one-piece aerobars were rejected at the bike check. Everything else sailed through with no problems.

RichardGlover

Yeah, so revisiting this idea after I actually bought and have been using my trekker bars.


Not gonna do it. Here's why. First... I finally realize why everybody with trekker bars has them angled the way they do (the rear loop significantly lower); it's so your wrists are at a natural angle when you're grabbing the outer loop - much like acutal MTB bar ends.

With my bars in this configuration, plus the addition of a handlebar bag (cheap, not mounted low enough, but what I'm sticking with), I can rest my arms on the bars without having to have extensions out front. My arms aren't horizontal to the ground, but then again, I'm not a tri-athlete trying to reduce that last 0.4% of wind resistance so I can finish a 100 mile race 2 and a quarter seconds faster.

tompt

Thanks for the update!