jkelley73

My eight year old son and I will be riding BRAG on our Trek T100 tandem for the second time this year. We loved the ride last year, and the bike performed well for us. The only change I want to make before the ride this year is swap the flat handlebars to some On One Midge bars. 400+ miles with almost no variety in hand positions is not my idea of fun.

Currently, our tandem has 400 SRT FFS grip shifters, with Shimano Deore LX front and rear derailleurs. I understand that I can't use the grip shifters with the Midge bars. What kind of shifters should I use? I'm leaning towards bar end shifters, but I'm open to other ideas. I also know that I'm going to need to replace the cables and housings. Is there anything else that I'm overlooking?

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

SweetLou

Any road bar shifter you like. Though some will say that Shimano road bar shifters will not index properly with Shimano mountain bike front derailers, rear derailers are fine. I don't know the Trek T100 but if it has a quill stem, you could use stem shifters. You could get some Paul Thumbies for road bars.

If you don't have the bars yet, you could get Trekking bars and use your LX shifters. Or get bar ends, they even make some like the drops on drop bars.

TRUMPHENT

Trekking bars are good. Bar One Midge are even better for a cross state run. I have the Midge bar on my cyclocross based commuter/roadbike. I live in the drops and love it.

Shimano barend shifters are perfect for the Bar One Midge. Road bike brake levers work fine on the Bar Ones too.

grizwold

I've got Shimano bar ends on my Midge bars and have no complaints.

Trocadile

+1

I use a Shimano bar end shifter with Midge bars and a Deore LX RD (just a 1x9) and love the setup. I don't use a FD but I believe you can choose either indexing or friction with the Shimanos (in case the indexing isn't quite right). Midge bars are great if you prefer a short drop and a wide spread in the drops. I set them up with the hoods just above saddle level and the drops just below and find both positions offer excellent control and comfort.

Camilo

Just curious - what's BRAG?

jkelley73

BRAG - Bicycle Ride Across Georgia - www.brag.org

It's a 7-day, family oriented ride, with about 2000 people participating. We ride about 65-70 miles a day, camp in schools, and all in all just have a blast. This year, this is going to be our family vacation (me, my son, my wife, and my mom).

Check out their site - that's a picture of my little boy in the Spongebob jersey, next to the little girl in the pink Bubble Yum jersey.