A subject of trekking bar installation came up on another thread. I went and provided my experience on installation, but I figured that it might be useful to have its own thread.

Parts used for the transformation:
- Trekking Bar: Nashbar Trekking Bar (it's currently out of stock)
- Stem: RavX Tempo Hi-Rider Stem 90mm, 25.4mm
- Grips: Ergon GP-1 size Large
- Tape: Cinelli cork tape
- Profile Design Threadless Size Converter (1 - 1/8-Inc)

Here's a photo of the trekking bar installed that was posted.


From the above photo, there were questions as to how the cables were routed, and how the Ergon grips were installed. So here is a brief information that I provided.

Here's a pic from the front so you can see the cable routing on my trekking bar setup. It's a bit difficult to see the routing due to the front bag mount, but the shifter cables are routed above the stem, and brake cables are under the stem. I haven't trimmed the cable housing yet especially the front brake cable as I am in the process of moving things around between frames, and there is a possibility that the trekking bar will be moved to another frame.


I think the biggest thing to figure out on the trekking bar initially is to figure out which side will go up. You want the part that holds the grips/brake levers/shifters to be about an inch lower than the front part so that the curved part has a gentle rise. After playing around with the height, my handlebar portion is level with where the stem holds the trekking bar. You can see in the first photo below.


I had to cut/trim the Ergon GP1 (sz. L) about 0.75 inch due to the bend of the trekking bar and have enough space to install both the brake levers and shifters. I thought about just wrapping the bar and not use the Ergon grips. Even thought about just installing a rubber grip, but Ergon grips makes it so comfortable and it is well worth it in my opinion. I normally don't use Ergon grips on my mountain bikes, but on a trekking bar, it is just awesome. I would highly recommend it.


There will be other ways of setting it up, but I wanted to provide my experiences and the setup that worked for me. Hope this helps others who are planning to try trekking bar.