Dstreelm

For the past month I've been on a quest to convert my flat bar mountain bike into a bullhorn commuter. I still have plans to swap the knobby tires for thin street rubber and possibly add a rack.

Today I finally got my handlebars the way I want them. It started with a bullhorn bar from Crow Cycle Co. This bar is 22.2 mm diameter so it can accept mountain bike components. I used a pair of Shimano rapid fire shifters and my old MTB brake levers. The result was functional but not exactly ideal:



I decided that I needed proper aero road levers. As I have V-brakes, I decided on the Tektro RL520. I used Jagwire flexible noodles to handle the tight bend at the end of the bullhorn bar, I learned about this from BF member Chris_W and it worked perfectly! Finally, I used white Jagwire and white SRAM bar tape to set it all off. Let me know what you think!

dabac

That's really neat, and pretty close to something I've been thinking about. Do you get enough stroke from the brakes before the levers bottomíng out against the bar?

Dstreelm

Yes, there is enough stroke on the levers, they stop about an inch from the bottom of the bar. I was worried about this, that why I mounted them so far at the end up on the angle of the bar, to try and get the most pull I could. Also, I didn't know it when I bought them but these levers have a sliding pin in them that adjusts where they sit at rest. As a last resort, I considered taking a dremel to the plastic housing, If I had taken a little off of the top of the casing where it rests on the bar, I could have changed the angle of the levers, but luckily I didn't need to do this.

mzeffex 

I would put cantilever brakes on there - they work with road pull levers. Otherwise, looks great.

dabac

But that's when hooked up, right? I'm considering fitting a pair of Campy Ergos to a bullhorn and I'm really worried about getting enough throw.

a77impala

I like it!
I used TT bars on my 85 Trek 870 with TT levers, have a V brake on the rear and side pull road brake on front. I put a 700x35 tire on the front, I
love the way it handles and the leverage I get with the bars.

Dstreelm

Yeah, they will hit the bar if theres no brake wire hooked up, and when I connect and adjusted mine, I set it up so that the brake pads a pretty close to the rim at rest, so I dont have to pull very far for them to engage.

Thanks! I've been on 2 rides so far with this setup (and I'm on my out of the door for my 3rd) and I love the brake levers, They are right where they should be for strong, confident braking

DMF 

Cool look! I add extensions to my old hybrid flat bar to get much the same shape, but of course it looked like a kludge, and I couldn't mount the levers out there. You've done it right.

BCRider

From a purely aesthetic standpoint I find that the aero levers don't look as svelte as TT levers but there's no doubting that this setup would be as effective.

I'm guessing that the hooks on the front of the rubber hoods give you a nice spot to wrap your fingers around for a "pull" when riding uphill. I know that with my own bullhorn setup a light grip but with my fingers wrapped around the front of the lever bases in such a manner provides me a nice support without cramping up my hands for a strong burst or for going up a hill.

a77impala

My 85 Trek 870 when it had 700c tires front and rear. It now has a 26 on the rear with V brake and a 700x35 front
with road brake.

matthewvl

OP, I've been looking at the exact same bars. Did you ever see if the mtb brakes would fit around the curve. My thinking is to position my mtb rapidfire brakes and shifters (which are combined) the same way I already have them on my current flat bar setup. Basically on the straight portion of the bar. Is the bar wide enough on the straight portion to do this to handle two shifters and leave enough room for my hands to use generally? My thinking is that I would probably ride on the flat portion mostly and use the horns for climbing and getting into a more aero position when needed.

cs1

Very nice set up. Did you ever consider mini-V brakes? You can still use Campy, Shimano or SRAM shifters.

Dumper

Hi,
Could you please make the pictures visible.
Thank you,
Istvan

Wileyone 

Calling photobucket.

This thread is 8 years old.

HillRider

A while back Photobucket changed from a free hosting site to a relatively expensive hosting site and most former users won't pay the fees. If the OP is still around and wants to repost the pictures he will have to find a different host.

canklecat

I can see the photos. Install a browser extension/add-on to Chrome or Firefox to bypass Photobucket's attempt to block photos. Just Google "photobucket extension" or "photobucket embed" and choose one of the handful of new extensions that fix the problem.