Changing from drop bars to flat, What components to use
 

Hello,

I want to change from drop bars on my Specialized Sectuer to flat bars. The components on it now are Shimano 105's and it is a 10 speed in back by 2 speed in front. What components could I use on the flat bars that would be compatible? I would like them to be high quality.


Thanks a bunch
Dennis

I will be the first in advising you not to do this you will gain basicaly nothing and spend a lot of money basicaly downgrading your bike. For getting a slightly wider more upright bar postion I suggest you seriously consider changing to wider bars with a flatter curve maybe even mustahce and maybe different stem either shorter or longer more or less upright to get a more ideal upright riding postion.

You will need new shifters and new brake levers since brifters made for drop bars have the wrong size clamps. Also, you will probably need "flat bar road bike" shifters as MTB front shifters aren't compatible with a road front derailleur although, with a double crank, an MTB front shifter may be workable.

You will also probably need a new stem unless your new and old bars have the same clamp diameter.

Yeah, if you find drop bars you like, you will have all the extra hand positions drops provide and not have to spend a bunch of $$$ rigging new shifters and whatnot.

You can look through this list of Shimano "Flat Handle Bar Components" to get model numbers to find prices for what you will need.

I did that with my old Trek road bike... as I get older and stiffer I found I seldom used the drops and thought straight/flat bars would be more comfortable.

I found my neck liked the more upright attitude, but my hands and arms were very uncomfortable. I NEVER had hand or arm pain riding on drop bars, but I sure did on straight bars, especially after an hour or so. Bar ends helped somewhat, but are an extra expense.

Trekking bars look interesting and I would encourage you to look into those.

So... think twice before you drop a lot of cash on the conversion. I would probably not do it if I had it to do over again.

But to answer your question... I bought some Shimano combo brake-lever/shifters on Amazon for ~$15, bars were $25ish at the LBS, and grips and bar-ends. It all adds up. My bike is 3x7 and the older Shimano MTB stuff works fine.

Hope this helps!

Shimano tiagra flat-bar shifters and brakes will work fine for this conversion or you can use any other brake levers (for cantilevers, v-brake levers aren't compatible with road brakes) if you're looking to save a few bucks tektro makes some nice basic cantilever or bmx levers that might be cheaper than the tiagra brake levers. Any LBS in the world should be able to get the tiagra shifters for a similar price to the one I linked. Check your stem's clamp size and bar size before you order parts (an LBS can help you with this too) Unfortunately they don't make shimano flat-bar road stuff in black.

How about getting some moustache bars and using all of the components you already have?

I know this is not what you ask for but look at the" woodchipper" handlebars by Salsa

You can use what you already have

Just another option

If you decide to follow through with this project, and end up with an extra set of dropbars for which you have no use, I'd be happy to take them from you. :)

This is incorrect. Mountain "trigger" shifters and "flat-bar" shifters are 100% interchangeable. In fact, there's two bikes in my garage right now, one with "mountain" shifters and one with "flat-bar" shifters and otherwise identical setups. They work exactly the same.

The difference between (Shimano) "road" and "mountain/flat-bar" shifters is that the "mountain" shifters pull more cable. This makes it tough for them to work properly with "road" derailleurs on triples. The OP may be able to get mountain shifters to work with his current front derailleur, but the best solution is to use a "flat-bar" front derailleur, like a Shimano FD-R440 or FD-R770. These are set up to work with the long cable pull but the cage is designed to work with larger "road" chainrings.

I did this for my wife and it wasn't a big deal. Like most said, you will need new a flat handlebar, shifters, brake levers (unless they are an integral part of the shifters) and a new front derailleur; as mentioned the Shimano flat bar components are designed to do this and can usually be identified by an "R" in the model number. Here is a link to my blog that shows what I did..http://onespeedbiker.blogspot.com/20...onversion.html

Jeff, I thinking your a little behind the times. "Mountain "trigger" shifters and "flat-bar" shifters are 100% interchangeable" was true until Shimano came up with 10 speed Dyna-sys system and they are not interchangeable with the right 10 speed flat bar shifters (however I believe the front/left shifter is still the same). Further when you said "The difference between (Shimano) "road" and "mountain/flat-bar" shifters is that the "mountain" shifters pull more cable," I'm sure you meant the "front" mountain shifters pulls more cable, as the (8/9speed) rear is respectively the same (something you alluded to afterwards). It should also be noted that while the mountain and flatbar front derailleurs have the same pull, the mountain is not designed for the larger "big" chainring of a road crank, which is why Shimano recommends the flatbar which has the same pull as a mountain derailleur but has a cage designed for the larger road crank (big) chaninring.

Uh, that's pretty much what I said. Shimano road and MTB (9-speed and earlier) REAR derailleurs use exactly the same cable pull and both road and MTB shifters work with either. It's the front derailleurs and shifters that differ and are incompatible with triple cranks but a double crank can probably be made to work with either. I'm not familiar with "flat bar" front derailleurs but I see how they would work with MTB front shifters.

I'm not the OP but thanks all . Info I gathered here will be put to good use.

Cheers

Shimano and Campagnolo both have a 'Fitness Bike' group, essentially what your goal is ..

a road bike with straight handlebars .. Gregs, 5th post

you may need to seek out a European seller to find the straight bar shifter
to use with road bike derailleurs.

Rats foiled again , need triple FD for flat bar
I see the FD-R440&770 are for double front. Do I have option for a triple FD?

SHIMANO FD-R443 is apparently for flat bar triples. I imagine there's an fd-r773 out there as well.

FD-R443 works better when the top two chainrings are about 10 teeth apart, as in 42-52. The newer FD-R453 is set up for a wider spread, such as a 39-53.

And thanks to Hilly and OneSpeed for thwacking me upside the head with Dynasys. Sheesh.

FWIW: here's the two bikes I mentioned earlier. Both have FD-R443 front derailleurs and 9-speed rears. My bike has the "flat-bar" shifters while my wife's has Deore LX.

http://home.comcast.net/~jeff_wills/jeff-grr/index.htm
http://home.comcast.net/~jeff_wills/diane-grr/index.htm

The 453 is rated to 50 tooth max with 20 tooth range this comes from shimano .
I'm trying to buy / locate the proper FD for my Ultrgra triple 9 sp 2004 vintage ( flat bar conversion ) & I'm running a 10 sp chain
At this time I need to count my big ring . I know my small is 30 . My shifters are xt 9 speed 2002 vintage

I can tell you when I converted an Ultegra 9 speed bike with 52/42/32 crank, to a flatbar setup, I replaced a Ultegra triple front derailleur with a FD-R443 front derailleur and it worked (indexed) perfectly..here is the cut and paste from the Shimano website.http://www.shimano.com/publish/conte...andlebar.html#

9-Speed Flat Handlebar front derailleurs are specifically designed to run between the SL-R440-9 Rapidfire shift levers and Shimano 9-Speed road cranksets. Model FD-R440 is for double chainring systems. For triple chainring systems, use model FD-R443 (for 52T big ring) or model FD-R453 (for 50T big ring).

Here's something to try. Get a flat bar and mount the road shifters that you already have. You might need to shim them to get them to snug down. If your shifters have reach adjustment that will improve the odds of it working.

I have mounted road levers on an MTB compatible bar and they snugged down nicely, the bars were not flat bars though.

Thanks , I'll check that FD model number I have , along with ALL My rings ( tooth count)
then start shopping . I hope the XT FD I have is the right one

Cheers & I apologize for jacking the thread but I figure its all relevant to the original post

Many thanks for everyone that posted. It's given me a lot to think about. I have to do some studying to understand all the information. Good thing I am not in a hurry.

Dennis