I'm looking to modify an old steel mtb for touring and am wondering what my options are for handlebars. I'm used to flatbars with thumb shifters and though my original intent was to have dropbars I absolutely loathe bar end shifters. What kind of bars will accommodate thumb shifters? What are some creative ways to avoid bar end shifters?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

A trekking AKA butterfly bar will offer more hand positions and let you reuse your current controls.
Or put some drop bar ends on your flat bar.
Either keep all controls where they are, or add a pair of drop bar brake levers appropriate for your brakes. Some shimming may be required.
Do note that a shorter stem is often needed with drop bars to keep the reach about the same.
Full system rebuilds are possible, but may require more substitutions.

All MTB bars are the same.

22.2 mm.

What kind of bike are you working with?

Why not turn your bar ends into thumb shifters? They are the same outside the mounts.

If your conversion will accommodate a drop bar (your top tube isn't too long), you are not restricted to bar end shifters. You can always go with one of these shifter combos from Genevalle that look like brifters with a thumb shifter combo Shifters | Product Categories | Gevenalle

That said, I have probably the same amount of hand positions on a trekking bar as I do a drop...just lack the getting out of the wind level with the way my trekking bars have to be mounted.

Old bike would probably fit old stem shifters just fine.

I'd go with brifters if I had the cash.

My wife was given my mom's bike. An old Schwinn Crosscut with trekking bars. The first ride we went on, her hands went numb and her wrists and shoulders ached. I put a straight bar with Ergon GP-3 ends on. We rode 30 miles last weekend. Some numbness, but an order of magnitude better. Everyone's different, and no doubt some have had the opposite experience (straight bars hurt, trekking bars are great), but I think that the trekking bar's hand placement (close to the centerline of the bike, rather than wide) is problematic (less space to breath, less leverage for steering).

But if you want to change from straight bars to something curvy, why not drops with brifters?

"Modify an old steel mtb for touring".

1. What do your headset and stem look like?
2. What kind of budget do you have for this project?

There's lots of choices but the cost can run up pretty fast on a project like this.

Converting a bike to riser bars is a nice thing. I like a 25.4mm, 70mm, 50 degree sweep myself. I've also been buying NOS Suntour thumb shifters on ebay for the past couple years. You can generally get a set for around $35. They work very well with 2X6 or 3x7 drivetrains. You can also get a simple set of Sunrace friction shifters for peanuts that are the bomb. Rock on dude!

There is also twist shifters, or also called grip shifters. https://www.sram.com/sram/mountain/p...twist-shifters
https://www.sram.com/sram/mountain/p...twist-shifters

I got into reading about Microshift last night, and think I might try a set of their brake shifters. A 3x7 set starts at $60.

Trekking/Butterfly bars are too.. It's 7/8"

They're only about $25 .. all the levers will move to them without changing the cables .

If you are going drop bars...integrated shifters. Check ebay for the appropriate speed

OTOH, if you put straight bars on a bike with trekking bars, new, longer cables may be needed. At last for the front brake. That's what I found.

LoriRose, Howdy;

There is a good discussion going on in the Classic & Vintage forum;
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...sions-204.html
You may find something helpful there ... You could also go to the first pg. and read all of it too ...

hank