Originally Posted by
badger_biker
I'm also considering them and was wondering if there different types? I haven't looked into them very closely but I saw a new REI Safari with them the other day and noticed the rear open side with the controls was lower than the front. For some reason I thought others I've seen were pretty much flat. Also are there different sizes regarding the depth or is that just done with the stem? I would like to get as much reach out of them as I could.
I'm also wondering what type of controls are preferred - it would be nice if those who reply could mention their set up.
Yes, they come in different shapes. I have both the Nashbar Trekking bars, and a set of Dirt Research trekking bars. I just moved my existing MTB controls onto the bars, and wrapped them. Here is a pic of my Trek 950 with the Dirt Research bars. I picked up those bars off ebay a while ago when someone was selling off a stash at $10 each. The Dirt Research have a different shape than the Nashbar version. They come straight out the sides of the stem, while the Nashbar immediately turn and loop around. I wanted the controls at the distance of the existing stem, so the DR worked best. With the Nashbar style the controls will either be closer to the rider or further away, depending how you rotate them. While I would like to try road bike drops, its a lot cheaper (no changes to controls) to just go with trekking bars. I have been considering going with drops and bar cons on my Univega MTB.... Maybe I'll get around to it.
