hairnet

What's the point in having drops with hoods if you're going to gut the hoods, as some of you suggest? You would think it is best to have your brakes accessible from various hand positions rather than from just the tops

cc700

i was under the impression he was riding brakeless.

i was also under the impression that during a climb, if you are at max exertion, you want the most leverage from the drops.

i guess this is under the assumption that your bike and cockpit are fit properly you won't have any reduction in breathing capacity in the drops. if you're hunched over too much in the drops and your diaphram is constricted, you probably should change up your fit if not stem and bars.

CallMeIshamael

I do run a brake, but it's mounted on the top as opposed to where hoods would be placed, and I only use it when I'm sitting upright and not in the drops anyway, not because I can't reach it from the drops, but because that's simply how I prefer.

And, you may be right with the whole breathing and cockpit fit and all of that, but I simply prefer to reach out for leverage as opposed to down into drops.

oneeyedhobbit

I mean I'm sure its mostly preference. Just most I've talked to/read about suggested that the brake hoods where for climbing/comfortable cruising, and the drops were for getting aero on level ground and descents.

I ride through downtown Minneapolis to work everyday and its flat and a lot of stop and go, and I ride in the drops because its comfy, so to each their own.

scruggle

You can either get these: https://www.canecreek.com/component-o...ct=ergo-stoker or get used to drop levers and use them with your brake. How much time do you spend on the tops anyway?

You can spend $40 and get exactly what you are looking for, you can spend $25 and get some Tektro ergo levers, or you can waste $10 doing something utterly ridiculous - putting MTB bar-ends on your drops.

Dustintendo

there ya go

adriano 

ive never heard of it.

TheBikeRollsOn 

TheBikeRollsOn 

Both the right hood lever and the cross lever activate that font brake, giving you the option of braking from multiple positions. Plus you use the hoods for general riding or climbing.

CallMeIshamael

The people on this forum were much more supportive of invention back in '06: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ht=antler+bars

Just something I found in the course of my usual forum lurking, further inspiring me to not give up hope for my idea before I succumb to my eventual fate of hoods.

It's not whether it's a good idea, or better than hoods, it's the challenge of can it be done, be comfortable, and look nice enough to gain ssfg's approval?
Weekend challenge accepted.

Kayce

3ttt makes a bar specifically for this problem in mass start track events. The UCI regulates that in mass start events every rider must ride drop bars. For long distance races(points race) having another hand position, and the ability to ride in a more aero position is quite helpful so they created a bar to solve the problem. It looks pretty much like if you would add drops to your old style pursuit horns then flattened out the non-useful parts.


3ttt sphinx

stryper

It's not really both at the same time, it's more in the middle of them.
The original idea was to try and make both at once. I bent those bar ends (taken off a trashed mb) open wider so I could grind up the drops, but I stopped halfway for some reason.
I rode around for a while with the drop still there, but eventually I realized I didn't use the drop anymore, and I just cut it off.
Then after a while longer I cut off like an inch of the bar ends to make em a bit more compact.

I've been riding on these bars for close to 2 years now. They are a bit heavy with those cheapo steal bar ends, and eventually when I have some spare cash i'll get a local machine shop to roll/bend me some bars out of aluminum.

CallMeIshamael

Those sphinx bars look crazyyy. Cost more than my bike though.

Stryper: was it hard to find bar ends that fit your drops? I'm thinking I'll have the bar ends more forward and upwards than inward and forward such as yours. Do you have any pictures from before you cut the drops off with the bar ends mounted?

stryper

The bar ends didn't fit my drops. not the same size diameter. I literally took them off a pos mountain bike that we had in a pile in the back yard for scrap and parts bikes. I just took a monkey wrench and bent the opening of the bar ends, scratched them up the drops with a lot of twisting and turning, and when I got them where they are now, I bent the clasps on the bar ends closed as much as i could, had to buy 2 new bolts form the hardware store for like 50¢ that were a bit longer, and grade 8 with a zinc coating so it wouldn't rust or break while I was climbing with my weight forward like that.

I don't have any pics of them on before I cut the drops. it looked pretty goofy to be honest. The bar ends were sorta long like you can see in the first pic, and with their angle coming off the drops like that, I didn't exactly get compliments

As posted in the link above, this guy managed to pull it off pretty well


Be creative with it. if you can afford to mess around a bit, do it. Cut a few inches of drop off some other drop bars so there is just enough of a slight curve, miter them best you can with a hack saw, and try using carbon fiber tow I think it's called (the loose strands of it, like yarn) and of course epoxy to wrap the bars together. Or you could use hemp fiber like they do on bamboo bikes. either way. Or you could always have a local welder attach the pieces for like $10. Creative is always more fun, and most the time more fulfilling in the end cause you did something unique and custom

CallMeIshamael

Haha you've well inspired me. I can probably get my hands on some welding supplies and it'd be way nicer than shoving bar ends up the drops. I'd just have to find out how to get some nice wood pieces to epoxy over them when I'm done.

I'll resurrect this thread when I've tried my hand at it and post some pics.

ianjk

Curved bar with clamp made for straight bar. Will exert extra pressure on/cause fatigue the metal and possibly lead to failure (at the worst possible moment).

stryper

Bar and bar ends are going to be designed to take extremely large amounts of pressure without breaking. They can probably withstand the force of a 300lb man with low coordination set up on a straight bar, I bet they can withstand the force of 200lb man with some cycling ability set up on a curved bar just fine.

CallMeIshamael

Good thing I'm only 120.

ianjk

Alu bars are know to fail when scratched, I wouldn't trust my life to this ghetto setup.

Also, my buddy had a road drop fail and was laid up in bed with a busted hip at the age of like 23 for a long arse time... After seeing that, I'm extra cautious.

CallMeIshamael

I wish I had seen physics lessons 1-127, but you bring up a good point.

I'm not really planning on using bar ends anymore. I'm probably going to weld something to the existing drops as opposed to attempt to clamp it on. Plus, it would be just an additional hand position, I really wouldn't be putting all my weight on it. Thanks for the concern though, you have a very logical approach to this.

ianjk

I take it you have a tig welder handy and several years training and first hand experience working with alloys? Assuming your handlebars are alu...

CallMeIshamael

My neighbor actually is employed as a welder and has helped me out before.
When I said I would weld it, it was meant as: " I'll have someone else weld it for me". Just as when someone pays to get their car fixed, they say "I fixed my air conditioning" as opposed to "I paid someone X amount of dollars to fix my air conditioning".
Apologies for the confusion.

adriano 

i laugh.

Squirrelli

So...what's wrong with hoods?

hairnet

reinventing the wheel is too much fun