armstrong101

Hi folks

So I'm putting together an STI-on-80s steel bike. Modern handlebar bends are designed to take into account the larger size of brifters vs old-school brakes, as well as the more common on-the-hoods position vs in the past, just on the bar.

I have a nice vintage 80s Bianchi-etched handlebar that matches the make of my bike. It has an old school large "c" bend. I'm trying to decide if I should get a modern bar with a modern curve, or just work with my old school bar and Ultegra shifters. What do you guys do?

catgita

Modern brifters and bars are designed to work together, but I hate modern bends and love my brifters. What I did was shim the brifters to angle the levers outward to gain travel. Second I used brakes that need less cable pull. I can't speak to the cable pull of vintage brakes.
Visually brifters look bulky on a slender steel bike, but still better than ergo bends.

rgver

I've done both, my Viscount I used the original and very deep drop bar with seven speed RSX brifters, although they are mounted a little low in the pic they work well, enough pull for the brakes that I have had set up as the original center pulls, weinmann side pulls on the pictured 27" wheels and as Tektro long reach dual pivots on the 700c wheelset it is currently running.

On my recently completed Gitane I used 9spd Ultegra on modern bars, again work well, more comfortable to ride than the Viscount but as stated the brifters are mounted too low on the bars on the viscount, even then not enough for me to change the bars, or even move the shifters until the next bar tape is due.

my Trek seems to be a happy medium, the stock bars are much more curved than a modern ergo but came stock with brifters

For the Bianchi I would at least try to mount them on original bars and see how you like it.

The Viscount


The Gitane


the Trek

wrk101

+10 They work better on modern bars, but they will fit on vintage bars.

big chainring 

I've seen this noted frequently and is simply not true. Riding in the hoods has been popular since I started riding, some 45 years ago.

RobbieTunes

It really depends on whether you ride hoods/tops or drops.

A bar is a bar. Some just seem to be designed for drop bar riding, some for tops/hoods.

I've never gotten Belleri's to look good with STI's, but Ergos looked fine.

I ride the drops, so for a while, I was fooled into thinking modern compact drops were something new.
They're just older drops with the middle cut out.

Of course, just when you get used to a 90mm Cinelli stem and 66-42's, the world goes and changes on you.

mstateglfr 

Sure hoods have been used as a hand position for years(decades), but the comfort is much greater now, and I suspect that is a major reason for why hood riding is more prevalent now. Plus, without suicide/turkey levers on 75% of bikes, riding on the top probably isn't nearly as popular as it used to be.

repechage

On Ergo levers, Cinelli model 63's or 66 work reasonably well. I would not use 64's or 65's.
I cannot comment on Shimano or SRAM.