I want to put THIS handlebar on my hardtail trek 3500.

Does anyone have experience with these bars? Are they confortable? Will that require me to change cables and housings?

I just got a set of those for my new bike.



I'm very pleased with them. If the bike you are speaking of has flat bars, you shouldn't have any problem switching over.

For more views,check out my Karate Monkey thread.

oh, what a beautiful bike you go there, and that handlebar rocks. It looks great. One more question though: Do you feel like its necessary to get bar tape for it? If so, what kind will be good? Cork or just regular.

Thanks!

I do think bar tape will be helpful, I just haven't got that far yet. As far as cork or regular, I suppose it's up to you, but I prefer the "self adhesive" type to keep it from sliding around.

Dead Extra:

I'm a trekking bar, single grip shifter dude too. Any thought as to a grip for the side with the grip shifter? Obviously (by the pic) you haven't done anything yet (neither have i) but the grip shifter is very unergonomic like that for me, and I wonder if I'll be able to even it out with bartape, or just use my half grip from before, only snipping off the end.

I put those on my Trek 830 and I think they are great! I was thinking of putting bar tape on them also. they are a little slippery without. if you have flat bars already, you can easily transfer the shifters and hand grips to these bars.

Ponds:

FWIW here's a picture of another of my bikes with a revo-shifter. Pretty much the same thing. Sounds like you've already thought it out, but here's how it looks with a grip.

I ordered the handlebar today alongwith red-white bar tape, cant wait to see how this color combination will look. My bike is red/black/white.

The whole reason I wanted to change to this handlebar was so I can relieve myself of some palm numbness, I hate the grips I have, so I am definitely not transferring grips from my flat bar to the new one.

I had them on my rockhopper which aside from riding off-road I also ride on-road. For road riding they are very comfortable with all the hand positions and allowed for more aerodynamic positions compared to the riser bars that came with the bike. However, the trekking bars aren't good for off-roading so I decided to put the riser bars back on the bike. I give up a bit in terms of aerodynamics when I ride the roads, but I don't feel like switching handlebars when I go from road riding to off-road riding.

I'm going to hold on to the trekking bars though as I'm planning on getting a Specialized Sirrus around Christmas time or early next year and will put them on that bike.

I put the Nashbar Trek bar on my mtb commuter. I like them. They are small diameter for my very large hands. I have been using a pair of wet kitchen towels to cushion the grip on the commute. One day I will find the right grip material to wrap the bars. I fear that nothing will permanently stay on in the heat, rain, humidity stress of South Florida summertime. 22 mile round trip plus 8.5 hours in the sun and obliterating downpours

These bars work for me. I think they were originally meant for touring bikes as an alternative to drop bars. They are great for the commuter.

Ever since I saw Dead Extra's Karate Monkey pics I've been thinking about putting these bars on my hartail trek as well. After noticing the price I think I'll give it a shot, if I don't like em I'm not out that much. I'm just wondering if you guys think these will work ok with trigger shifter/brake combo deals (I can't remember the real name atm) that came on my trek?

Bizurke: I think that the trigger shifter/brake will fit just fine, I have a similar setup with a Trek 3500 and I dont see any reason why they would not work.

Does your bike have threadless or threaded headset? Mine has threaded. One thing that concerns me though is whether the handlebars will reduce the distance from the rider, thereby altering the riding pose. If they do, I may have to get a longer stem, but then my stem seems to be welded to the headset, so then I will have to change to a threadless headset, that will accomodate longer stem. Also in that case, I will have to raise the handlebar using some sort of raiser on the stem. Any ideas?

It has a threaded headset.

I too am worried about the distance and riding pose. But as I said before if I don't like the way it feels it's not like I'll be out a whole bunch of money. I'm sure I can find a usefull application for the bars in the long run. My only concern was my brake/shifters working out ok. I can't afford the sweet shimano Nexus Inter-8 rear hub and grip shifter that Dead Extra is rockin'.. Oh my how I wish I could give that bad boy a try.

I have these bars on my commuter bike as well. I put simply cork tape on the bars, and they work great. I like that fact that I have multiple hand postitions on the bars, as well as excellent grip when hammering up the steep inclines. Get them, you'll love them... and at this price, you can't go wrong with his bar.

Question regarding these. I have a Specialized Sirrus '05 with stock straight handle bars. I'm considering these for more hand positions on longer rides. I don't really know much about mechanics yet. The bike has Shimano brake/shift assembly, the type with seperate levers to shift up and down (rapidfire I think they're called?). Anyway, would there be any issue mounting those on this bar?

Further, to mount them I'm guessing this is what you would need to do... Release the bolts holding the top of the stem together to release the current bar and release the bolts on the bottom of the shifter assembly to release those. Then place the new bars in place and replace the bolts. Is that correct? Any assistantance would be appriciated. Also, anything else to consider when changing out the handlebars, i.e. bar diameter or anything a problem?

you will have no problem mounting the rapidfire shifters. This is what I have on my bars. Replacing the bar is pretty simple, as you stated. The shifters should slide off once you loosen the bolt which holds them to the bar.

I have these bars on my Novara Safari. I love them, have moved them into all sorts of different positions to get the comfort fit and now I'm super happy! My bars came with simple black foam grips that is decent but have already been torn up a bit in less than 6 weeks. I found some gel grip tape at my LBS and some gel pads that you can put under the tape to increase the comfort (might be ideal for the guy with the big hands looking to increase the diameter of the bars). The problem was the LBS wanter $35 for the tape + gel pads. I saw them online at Nashbar for less than $10 for the tape and I think $7 for the gel pads witha 10% off coupon that would be much cheaper, even with the shipping. I also have the grip shifters that came with the bike, thinking of switching to the rapid-fire shifters as I like them better. I don't think you can go wrong with these bars, with all the options. Have fun and be safe!