Change to upright handlebar advice
 

Hi, any help is appreciated. I am not a great mechanic. Not even a good one. Your help is much appreciated.

I have a Trek 2120 from 1994. Here is the component list. https://www.bicyclebluebook.com/sear....aspx?id=19024. This will become my local commuting bike and I am interested in lower cost handle bar brands that allow me to be in a more straight up position. I am not sure if I want to go as low as a Sunlite brand but I could easily be convinced. Weight and such are not that important for this bike. I have seen the Velo Orange on a picture on line and I like that it was showing a bar end shifter without handlebar tape. That would be a cool design for this bike.

Key of keeping cost down is to use the bar end shifters & brake levers that I currently am using. That is the reason for providing the link. So, I have two questions. 1) Which handle bars would you recommend and do you feel fairly confident my current bar end shifters and brakes will fit 2) your thoughts about a challenged mechanic being successful doing this upgrade himself. Or is this an LBS project.?

As always, thanks for your help.

Riser bars and/or stem.
New, longer cables.

already have MTB bars or is this something else outline * in link was MTB..

bar end or thumb shifters..

*grey, vague. ...





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I want to keep my current bar end shifters and brakes. I have not purchased any parts yet and am trying to use all I got. I probably will need longer cables per Bill Kapaun

Two questions:
1. How much additional handlebar height do you think that you need?
2. Are you able to do your own brake and derailleur adjustments?

Often you can raise your handlebars by an inch or so just by inverting your stem. You can usually gain another inch or two by buying a replacement stem with more rise. If you're looking for 3" of rise, you will probably need to by a stem riser thingie. They cost around $25.00. Any of the above will allow you to keep your present handlebar.

The dirty little secret of this project has to do with your cables and housings. You probably have enough slack in your current cables to raise your handlebars an inch or two but, more than that will require you to recable the bike. That means readjusting the brakes and derailleurs - figure about a $60.00 charge (or so) at your local bike shop if you are unable to do it yourself.

Bar end shifters, by the way, are designed to fit dropped style handlebars. Dropped handlebars are generally a different tubing diameter than flat style bars. I wouldn't bet on bar end shifters fitting. The ergonomics are probably going to be wrong too.

Thanks for the very helpful advice. I have seen riser bars with bar end shifters. Apparently not all work but it looks like some do.

Drop bar brake levers are not going to fit flat bars.

That may be true, but if you look at the link he posted, the bike is FB w/ bar ends.

It's a lugged CF road bike. Original spec had drops with barend shifters.

This is true that the bike has drops and the link I posted was not meant to emphasize the picture. Having said that, what gave me the confidence for bar end shifter was seeing a picture of a bike with Velo Oranage Riser Left Bank handle bars. As you will see in their description, it accepts bar end shifters. Sorry, I cannot find the bike pic I found first which lead me to Velo Orange https://velo-orange.com/collections/...ndlebar-config From the Velo post.

• 23.8mm (road-size) bars accept standard inverse brake levers, standard bar-end shifters, and 23.8mm city brake levers. In short, anything made for road bars fits. They do not accept MTB levers or shifters.

Mustache bars, from Nitto are the way to go then.. bar end is bored to fit the shifters in ..


https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2514/4...f1b9f77a30.jpg
web picture .. these are pretty flat and of road handlebar diameter..







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+++++ measure the shifters to determine the bore you need, you can get an inexpensive Silver and Deming drill bit to bore out the ends of the bars. Get an inexpensive 1/2" chuck to hand hold the drill bit: https://www.harborfreight.com/1-2-ha...uck-45731.html Put the drill bit in the chuck and turn by hand. Use lots of oil to lubricate. Measure the depth frequently.

As a forum of shoppers more than builders.. I note .. OK to do in your shop. if you have one..

Nitto did it in Japan ... I have a set of those , In hand.. used cable out the top brake levers .. on mine, then ..

(I had a Chromoly Nitto Albatross bar , too ( Riv bike's name) as typical using the premium steel alloy, tube wall is thinner so bar end shifters slip tight in ..




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While doing the research on this site, I also reached out to Soma. They were incredibly helpful and I wanted to give a shoutout to them. This is a link to their website https://www.somafab.com/parts/handlebar. They shared this photo which turned out to be the same mustache bar suggestion as nfmisso. They also provided other designs that should work on my 25.4 Trek System 1 handle bars https://store.somafab.com/sooxha.html https://store.somafab.com/solahainal.html https://store.somafab.com/soma3speedbar.html

I am now confident it can work. I am still not sure of the cable purchase. You guys have been great and I really appreciate your support!


https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-r...ryFrench10.jpg

Your Trek's stem might actually be a 26mm clamp. Some of these clamp 25.4 bars OK (but a shim would be better), some absolutely require a shim in order to keep the bars from moving.

Nitto mustache bars come in 25.4 and 26mm options.

My favorite bars of the genre are Surly Open bars. Slightly wider and the end of the grip area is at a 53° angle as opposed to the 85-ish of the bars shown above. AND some road brake clamps won't tighten down to 22.2mm, so would need shims or would need to find other brakes.

Thing with the Open Bars is that they leave the barend shifters more exposed, so may be easier to damage them in falls or crashes.

I use the riser version to get the bars higher, and have MTB shifters and brake levers on 'em.

https://surlybikes.com/uploads/parts...BarDetails.jpg

Good Soma (Merry Sales online store) retails their stuff .. Nitto often sold thru Rivendale bike ,is a different item.. thru a different source..

Since you already have bar-end shifters, the existing cables might be long enough to re-use. A lot of it depends on the exact dimensions of the bar you choose.
I'm pretty confident that the brake cables would be OK, as is, since the levers usually end up closer together on a moustache bar than a drop bar.

Cable kits aren't too expensive, and you have to cut it to fit your bike, so there's no 'size' to consider. You also don't have to replace everything, if it's in decent shape.Depending on how you want to run the cables from the barcons, you might need longer housings. Shops get cable housing in 100' rolls, and cut the lengths as they need. Cables all come the same length, you just trim the extra.
This is where a co-op would come in handy, since this is a budget build, you provide the labor, they provide the expertise, and the only cost is parts.

Bear in mind that many of these bars result in a shortened distance between saddle and handgrip area, which also provides for a more upright position. That is why some flip moustacjhe bars so as to lower the grip to compensate for the shorter reach. I myself have moustache/Milan/ North Road bars on 4 bikes and I flipped the bars and lengthened the stem while still being more vertical than I was with bullhorns or drops. You may find, since the bars are further back, that your existing cabling is too long rather than too short.

I have found the slight downward angle of Nitto's (I have not tried Soma's, personally) Mustache bars is a more comfortable wrist hand position , than flat (or upward angle installing that same bar..)

stem choice is the other factor... higher/lower, nearer/ further is your personal fit variables to sort out..

I ended up simply using a new stem that is working well. I was most proud that I did the install myself. It included my first handlebar taping which I found was fairly easy with the youtube guidance from Park Tool and some confidence direction from my darling wife.

Thanks to all that took the time to provide advice.