Flat vs. Bullhorn
 

Just joined this forum and hoping you can give me some advice. I have an 8-10 yr old Jamis Coda Comp, a decent "flat bar road bike," they call it. I love the bike but my hands kill me on anything more than a 10-15 mile ride. I know this isn't necessarily a bike meant for very long distances, but I do 30-40 miles at times, and just want more comfortable options for my hands. I'm thinking about bullhorn bars to give me more grip options. I do some city riding, but mostly in the suburbs/open roads. I don't want drop downs, and I'm thinking I can keep basically the same setup for shifters and brakes as I have now with the bullhorn, so would be an easy switch.

Can anyone offer thoughts? Does this make sense? And what I would need to consider if I want to keep it simple (not move the brake levers to the ends, etc.)? Thanks very much.

There is a reason most roadies use drop handlebars. More positions, more faster, more better.

Do people ride the bullhorns with road parts or MTB parts, or both?

Another option would be butterfly trekking bars which I think are often outfitted with MTB parts.

I have flattened aero bars on one of my bikes and really like the flat contour for gripping the bars. You can get the bullhorns with flat grips.

to find the most comfortable handlebar option for you, you'll need to try a good number of them and give each a few thousand miles. not cheap or practicable for most, so most never find the most comfortable handlebar.

i've used drops, flat, and bullhorns, giving each a good chance at satisfying me. i've settled on flat bars, but don't necessarily recommend them one way or another. and i suppose it could just be that i ride singlespeed and do a lot of climbing. who knows? good luck. :thumb:

I actually feel a tiny bit embarrassed to say this, but I built that up years ago as my first road specific bike... Purchased my flat bar road bike and didn't like the lack of choices for grip, so I put on bull horns. First I had to bend open the shifter clamps to fit them around the bend of the bar and then I used bar tape to go from the shift/brake out to the end of the horns. It was a pretty ugly bike. I didn't ride it very long before I spoke to a LBS by my campus which made the change to a drop bar for me (another customer wanted the opposite, so I just paid 50% labor of the job). I immediately realized why drop bars are so good and laughed at myself for every trying to avoid them.

Oh, one other thought.
Have you tried the Ergon Grips with flat bars on your bike. I haven't tried them, but they looked very nice.

ERGON BIKE ERGONOMICS

OP, Ergon grips with bar ends make a great improvement in comfort. They give you more hand positions. They make the bar end in multiple lengths, so you have some options.

I think most bullhorns are designed for road bar diameters, so your flat bar components may require some.... fergerstication to install.

Another option may be different flat bars. You can get a great many different rise and run angles, and my most comfortable flat bar was flat in one plane, 3° sweep in the other, and it was far more comfortable than the original riser bars.

Huh?

Cobbing; jury rigging; Rube Goldberging

just put bar ends on your current bars

Thanks everyone, very helpful. Should have mentioned I do have some cheap Nashbar bar ends on there, but still not nearly enough overall comfort. The Ergon grips seem like they could do the trick and wouldn't require a whole new setup like drops or bullhorns. Gonna take a closer look at these...maybe ones with the longer bar ends...