App4that

I have a 95 Trek 820 I'm turning into a town bike. Already have the rear rack and comfort seat, would like to install higher handlebars, as in they trun up. There's enough cable to do so, do I have to worry about the shifters fitting?

bikingshearer 

In a word, yes. The diameters of drop bars and upright bars are not always the same and thus stuff that works on one doesn't always fit on the other. I'm talking here about the diameters where stuff attaches.

The clamp areas are also often not the same. The clamp area on older style drop bars are usually 26.0mm, although old Cinelli bars were 26.2mm for reasons known only to Cino Cinelli (edit: now that I think about it, I think it may actually be 26.4mm). In more recent years, a lot of drop bars have a clamp area diameter of 31 point something millimeters. Upright bars often are 25.4mm. You can shim a smaller diameter bar to work with a larger diameter stem - my drop-bar-to-upright-bar city bike conversion has a shimmed bar - but be absolutely 100% no-doubt-about-it certain your bar will tighten down enough with the shim in place. You do not want to have the bar slip the first time (or any time) you apply the front brake hard. At least not if you like your teeth.

App4that

Is the handlebar clamp diamiter the same as the handlebar diamiter?

Guess what I mean is, do you match them when buying bars?

Also, the womens 820 had upright bars, could the men's be swapped for the womens?

Korina

Check Velo-Orange; many of their handlebars come in multiple diameters.

App4that

Went with Ritchy Comp SC 30mm rizer bars. Have the listed spec clamp size. Bright orange grips to go with the blue frame, because go Broncos

Next step is the shifters. What do you look for when replacing shifters?

3speedslow

Shifters should match the gears.

App4that

Just the number of gears in the cassette and matches the handlebar, or the same type. Can you go from twist to lever?

Charliekeet

Sure, you can go from twist grip to lever/trigger type shifters.

App4that

Yes. Is that not what they came with?

mechanicmatt

New cables and housing, most of your stuff should transfer over fine. There is some wacky handle bar widths out there, but I could blindly say your alright going from your bars to upright as far as brake levers and shifters. The stem clamp and center handlebar diameter could vary though. So you may need a new stem to go with your bars but brake levers and shifters you'd likely be fine.

bikingshearer 

Apologies in advance if I am being too basic. I do not mean to be patronizing. It sounds from your posts as if this stuff is pretty new to you (as it once was for all of us) and I'm erring on the side of being too basic. Ignore this if I've misjudged your lever of experience.

The first variable is: do you currently have friction or indexed shifting? Try shifting your rear derailleur. if the shifter "clicks: and one click of the shifter = chain moves one cog, it's indexed. If there are no clicks or if one click only moves the rear derailleur a little bit (not enough to change cogs), it is friction. If you have friction shifting, your options for shifters is pretty wide; almost any friction shifters should work. Even if you have indexed shifting now, you can use almost any friction shifters and your shifting should be just fine.

If you have indexed (or "click") shifting, it gets more complicated. Your shifters have to be compatible with your brand of derailleurs, with the number of rear cogs and with the number of front cogs (chainwheels). My guess is you have Shimano derailleurs of some sort. That would mean you have to have Shimano or Shimano-compatible shifters. Fortunately, Shimano was and remains the proverbial 800 lb. gorilla of the bike component world, so they should be readily available on eBay or maybe Craigs List. If you have 8 speeds in the back now, you have to have an 8-speed rear shifter. Your shifter for the front derailleur has to be compatible with the number of chainwheels you have - for Shimano, front shifters for two chainwheels won't work right with three chainwheels and vice versa. Do not splurge on Shimano Dura Ace shifters (because they are pricey and (2) Dura Ace drivetrain stuff of that age generally was not compatible with anything ese Shimano made - they did this for reason known only to them.

Absolutely, within the parameters discussed above.

App4that

No worries, I know next to nothing about bicycle components. The bike is a 3x7. Definitely indexed, and yes Shinano. Acera X to be specific.

I also have cantilever brakes, which makes brake/shift combos almost out of the question from my brief exploration of online parts stores.

shifters on the bike just say GripShift. They work, just a little crunchy (forgive me, best I can explain) So when I install the bars tomorrow I’ll try and clean them, also make sure they’re properly lubed.

the frame is one size too small, but that works for me as I can stand with the bike underneath me. The seat hight is able to be fine within spec.

Original plan was to use this and buy something nicer later, honestly I love the bike. Has history. Also not like every bike you run into on trails. So new plan is to fix it up where it’s smart to. Thank you for the input, I appreciate it

icemilkcoffee 

A lot of people responded to this post thinking that the Trek 820 was a drop bar bike. The Trek 820 looks like this:


So to respond to your original question- as long as the cables are long enough, there is no problem swapping to a taller, more upright bar.

App4that

Before And after


Before

After