Installing New Handlebars -- How Difficult?
02-23-07 | 08:29 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 100
Likes: 0
From: Philadelphia
Installing New Handlebars -- How Difficult?
Hello Again,
I've been considering replacing my standard hybrid handlebars with new ones that would allow me more hand positions (something like this one I found at Nashbar https://www.nashbar.com/profile_morei...ku=9756&brand= ). How difficult would this be for a novice to do? What would it involve?
Thanks!
I've been considering replacing my standard hybrid handlebars with new ones that would allow me more hand positions (something like this one I found at Nashbar https://www.nashbar.com/profile_morei...ku=9756&brand= ). How difficult would this be for a novice to do? What would it involve?
Thanks!
02-23-07 | 08:56 AM
#2
rebmeM roineS
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 16,231
Likes: 366
From: Metro Indy, IN
Bikes: Bacchetta Giro A20, RANS V-Rex, RANS Screamer
Does the front of you stem come off completely? If yes, it will be easy, probably.You will have to remove brake levers, shifters, etc. from your current bars and put them back on your new bars. Hopefully, they will go around the various bends without difficulty. Likely most easily done with the bars off the stem. If the front of your stem (the binder?) does not come off, but only loosens, it might be very difficult to mount these new bars in the stem.
02-23-07 | 09:33 AM
#3
Mad bike riding scientist
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 29,184
Likes: 6,264
From: Denver, CO
Bikes: Some silver ones, a red one, a black and orange one, and a few titanium ones
Originally Posted by dydst
Hello Again,
I've been considering replacing my standard hybrid handlebars with new ones that would allow me more hand positions (something like this one I found at Nashbar https://www.nashbar.com/profile_morei...ku=9756&brand= ). How difficult would this be for a novice to do? What would it involve?
Thanks!
I've been considering replacing my standard hybrid handlebars with new ones that would allow me more hand positions (something like this one I found at Nashbar https://www.nashbar.com/profile_morei...ku=9756&brand= ). How difficult would this be for a novice to do? What would it involve?
Thanks!
The place where problems can arise is with the installation of the brakes and shifters. Depending on where you want to mount them, you might have to have new cables and housing. It's not likely but it could be an issue. You will need new grips. Personally, I like the very old school Grab-ons like here. I'd probably go with the Maxi-grip for road bars at the bottom of the page. To install them, get a bottle of AquaNet hairspray and liberally spray the inside of the grip (more on the part that's going further up the bar) and slide them on. The hairspray will dry and stick the grip to the bars.
Word of caution about Grab-on. They sell a great product and they deliver the stuff quickly but don't try to order from them on the weekend. They don't even take on-line orders on Saturday or Sunday.
__________________
Stuart Black
Dreamin' of Bemidji Down the Mississippi (in part)
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Stuart Black
Dreamin' of Bemidji Down the Mississippi (in part)
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
02-23-07 | 11:25 AM
#4
Senior Member
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 411
Likes: 0
From: Oklahoma
Bikes: Bianchi San Remo, Cannondale SR500
What style shifters and grips do you have now? I put that same handle bar on my Trek Hybrid and I had 2 issues to deal with.
1) I had to play around with the mounting positions for the shifters (MTB) to get them where I was confortable with them.
2) I wrapped the bar with tape like a road bike. Did not use grips.
1) I had to play around with the mounting positions for the shifters (MTB) to get them where I was confortable with them.
2) I wrapped the bar with tape like a road bike. Did not use grips.
02-23-07 | 11:53 AM
#5
Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 30,225
Likes: 649
From: St Peters, Missouri
Bikes: Catrike 559 I own some others but they don't get ridden very much.
On a 1 to 5 scale, that's about a 3. Simply swapping the handlebar is the easy part. The trick is exchanging the brake levers and shifters.
If you're lucky you may be able to swap the levers over to the new bar without having to disconnect the cables, but that will require you to find a way to hold the new bar close to the old one while you do it. If you disconnect the cables at the derailleurs and brake calipers it'll be easier to make the swap, but then you'll have to retune everything afterward when you reconnect the cables. Then there's the cable length issue. If the old cables turn out to be too long in the new location, it'll look goofy. If they are too short, you can run into ussues like "ghost" shifting and unintended brakeing on tight corners.
If you're lucky you may be able to swap the levers over to the new bar without having to disconnect the cables, but that will require you to find a way to hold the new bar close to the old one while you do it. If you disconnect the cables at the derailleurs and brake calipers it'll be easier to make the swap, but then you'll have to retune everything afterward when you reconnect the cables. Then there's the cable length issue. If the old cables turn out to be too long in the new location, it'll look goofy. If they are too short, you can run into ussues like "ghost" shifting and unintended brakeing on tight corners.
