Trekking bars vs drop bars
 

Posting here because I have a feeling I'll get more of the feedback I'm looking for. Not wanting to turn this into a theoretical debate between the two, either. I have enough preconceptions of my own.

I want to limit this to people who have actually used both types of bars.

I am asking myself the same question. I have enjoyed trekking bars in the past I am not convinced that drop bars are vastly superior to trekking bars. Trekking bars have more positions.

I might try some on my Cross Check...(which would make it more hybrid like). Although, I think mustache might make more sense. They are very similar in many ways.

Is there a question here?

Trekking bars are cool with all their hand positions, but it's hard to get a stretch, get aero, and they are usually heavy suckers. If you can lay your forearms down on trekking bars like they were aero bars, that helps some. I think the hand different positions aren't as useful as the rotating stretch you get going from tops to hoods to drops on drop bars.


Did I mention trekking bars are heavy?

Is this starting from scratch or are you wanting to retrofit some pre-existing bike. What you are swapping from would be the deciding factor. Switching from straight bars to butterfly would just be a question of fitting the shifters/brakes on somehow. I did this for my wife and while it wasn't exactly the way I wanted it--pretty tight fit for the cables--it did work. If you are swapping straight bars for drops then shifter/brakes will need to be changed out. That could get pricey.
If you are starting from scratch on a new build and will need to buy all the components anyway. . .
The drop bars will give you more aero positioning assuming you like, and spend time, riding in the drops. On the hoods it's probably near the same position (aerodynamically) as stretched out on the butterfly bars. (Depending on how close to level you mount the butterfly bars.)
The butterfly bars will give you more variety in hand positions. On drop bars, riding on the hoods or in the drops, your wrist is in essentially the same position. I guess you could ride with your hands on the 'cross bar'.

On drop bars, I've been known to ride with my hands on the tops, the ramps, the hoods, the hooks, and the drops. That's 5 positions with different wrist angles.

Personally, I don't like either of them.
I'm all for base bar with aerobar.

My experience with drop bars is only from way back in the '70s, when tape was cotton cloth, shifters were friction, brakes were side-pull, and brakes had no hoods.

My trekking bar experience is recent, with the latest in tape tech, though I still went with two layers, with the first layer being old innertubes, and the second being el-cheapo cork tape.

Given these biases, it's probably not a surprise that I personally like trekking bars more than drops. But I can say that my XLC trekking bar is way better than the riser bar it replaced, and I didn't have to change my cables, shifters, and brakes as well, which I would have had to do if I went with drop bars. If I had a modern road bike with modern tape tech and brake hoods for an ersatz bullhorn grip position, I'd probably like drops just fine, after it's tuned to a more upright position for my bad back/neck area that makes seeing where I'm going in a low position somewhat painful for me.

If we are talking about replacing the handlebars on a hybrid/MTB than I would absolutely recommend trekking bars above drops... I might have a lightly used Police Cannondale by the end of the week and I will do just that.

Other than seeking feedback from people who have actually used both types of set-ups?

Since it would take such a re-working of shifting/braking components, I think you might have quite a time finding someone who has used those particular bar options on the same bike. I have used both but on completely different bikes. A hybrid with butterfly bars is vastly different than roadie with drops. Maybe posting in the touring forum might be in order as well.

Might help if you included more info about your particular application.

My wife just donated my old drop bar bike (a low end 70s bike boom road bike). I always rather liked the drop bar on it. I was riding it still this summer. With drops nice to get out of a headwind somewhat. And as an out of shape guy in his 60s I found them comfy still. Drop bars balanced my weight on the bike well.

Another benefit was the four positions I used on them. I've never been a long distance tourer (20 miles a day is about as much as I ride, and it's often less than half that) but I don't have strong arms, much core strength, and I have an heavy upper body now, so I like to mix up my hand positions.

I replaced it this summer with a touring bike that came with a trekking bar, seeking comfort when riding mostly. I now have about 250 miles on it, and I'm so far finding the comfort I sought. Of course the new bike has fat tires and relaxed angles which also contribute to that comfort. There are five useful positions on the trekking bars. maybe a sixth if I was brave enough to lay my forearms down on them like aero bars.

I still don't know that the trekking bars themselves are more comfortable than drop bars, but they seem at least comparable.

However, since this is the hybrid sub-forum, tonight I've just swapped a set of trekking bars for the straight bar on my Trek 7.2FX. Frankly I hated the straight bar on the 7.2FX. Too straight, even just a little sweep back would have helped my wrists. And no real position options either. Changing out the grips to Ergon grips with the little bar ends helped a little, but the bar ends were way spread out, and they helped only a little on the wrist discomfort.

The swap to the trekking bar took less than 15 minutes. You take the brakes and trigger shifters off and move them right over. My Trek has an adjustable angle stem, but I didn't adjust it yet. For a further experiment, I tried this set of trekking bars with more of a vertical orientation than the closer to horizontal level of the set up on my touring bike. This makes the inner, braking position more of a drop out of the wind and makes the top front position like an upright comfort bike riser bar. I didn't have much time so I took it out with the bar bare and without any tape or grips for a 9 mile round trip.

Even without grips, a definite comfort improvement. I'll play around more with the angle of the bar and maybe the stem too as I figure out how this works on this bike. On the ride out there was a modest headwind, so down in the lower position for most of it. Was maybe just a tad short top tube and stem wise--not way off, but something I might tweak. On the way back there's a block-long hill, so I tried standing and grabbing the top 3/4 position for good leverage (like standing while grabbing the hoods of a drop bar setup). Works great.

Speaking in the context of the hybrid forum, this is a very easy and inexpensive conversion (the bars I got were the Nashbar model, less than $20). Others have already talked about the costs and number of parts you'd need to swap out for a drop bar conversion on hybrid. Comfort and efficiency-wise it a big pickup over a straight bar. I didn't find the Nashbar bar particularly heavy. I'm sure I gained a few grams, so I only half filled my water bottle to compensate (grin).

Trekking bars will take all the control levers off your straight/riser Bar Hybrid.

both are 7/8" tube [22.2mm] off the center that being 1" [25.4mm]

my bikes with Rohloff hubs both have trekking bars, [Koga WTR, BiFri PLlama]
the R'off grip shifter is made for That diameter.

I have some drop bar bikes too, derailleur drive train on those. [Bar end shifters]

Much prefer trekking bars on the Hybrid . I don't have to change brakes and hardware , they offer more positions I can use , and allow me the use of my existing grip shifters . On my Touring bike , a Schwinn Passage , I still use randonneur bars . But for upright bike configurations , I prefer trekking bars .

I've used both and both have their good points. The trekking bars have more positions and seem to have a better climbing grip. Both have ways to create numbness in my fingers on long trips. What I recently tried on a new build are Rivendell's new Bosco Bars. They were developed to provide more positions than the trekking bar and seem to. They are the most comfortable bars I have ever used. I put them on my Hillborne which is essentially a high end hybrid and, after taking a weeklong tour on my touring bike, I intend to replace the drops on that with them also.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=264069
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=264070

Marc

I came looking for a site like this because I wasn't sure I was getting a straight answer from bike shops. This looks like a relevant discussion. I'm getting a little older and would prefer a less extreme, more upright riding position than the drop bars on my old Giant hybrid. I'd like to get some straight bars like I see on modern hybrids. I'm not sure if that would be just the bars or a new stem or what. All the shops say is, "Nope, can't be done, doesn't exist, not possible." Is it possible? Where would one get the necessary hardware if so? Yep, maybe I could raise the stem, flip the drops around backwards if I moved the brakes but that doesn't seem optimal.

Your instincts are serving you well, Spacetiger . Flipped bars seem rather dangerous. You will need new brake handles , probably a new stem, and maybe different shifters . But this is a small price to pay for modifications that will keep you riding . You might also like a wider saddle for the more upright position you'll have on the bike . Or you might look around for a used hybrid . Perhaps the best source for parts would be an old hybrid or mountain bike .

It can be done, but when all is said and done, it'll probably turn out to be cheaper to buy a good condition high quality used hybrid from craigslist.

I've used both but only trekking bars recently. I hadn't used drops or ridden a bike in a couple of decades. I hated the flat bars that came on my Fuji Absolute, wished it had drops really. I tried trekking bars and they were much better but never seemed right to me for some reason. Then I tried the Jones Loop H Bar (aluminum) and that works very well for me. I'm not sure if I would like drops even better. The price of doing the conversion (new bar, brifters, brakes) dissuades me from running the experiment. If you take your hybrid off road much the control you get from the Jones bar is as good as from any MTB bar. I think it is definitely a great choice in that case and I do a little bit of that which is another reason I probably won't try drops on my Fuji, unless I were to get an off road bike too.

Ken

This gets back to my thoughts on the OP's question. It sounds like the times he has chimed in since his opening post he wants to know if anyone has used both trekking/butterfly AND drops on the SAME BIKE. (As I said in an earlier post, using those two options on different bikes would be useless as an experiment since differences between bike geometry would invalidate any differentiation in riding experience provided by the bars.)

If you are saying that you have road style drop bars presently on your Giant then it would require quite a bit of part swapping to switch to flat or trekking bars.
If part swapping were not an issue then trekking bars would be a good option in your situation. You can mount them more vertical than horizontal so that the upper side would give you a much more upright position. That is one of the advantages to them in my opinion--you can mount them more parallel to the ground and get a stretched out aero position, or mount them vertically to get a taller, relaxed position.