Can Tiagra Brifters fitted to bullhorn bars?

[Neil Holland]

Am contemplating getting a new bike to replace a rather clunky Ridgeback Hybrid.

Recently borrowed a mate's Specialized Elite for a few rides and found the extra speed for the same input rather pleasant. Didn't mind the posture too much but found riding on the hoods a little hairy.

Wondering if I could combine an aerodynamic posture with the additional comfort of bullhorns and add say some Shimano Tiagra Brakes / Shifters to a bullhorn bar such as this Bontrager... http://bontrager.com/model/07901

Thanks in advance for the advice.

Best

Neil

[531colin]

Neil
Your link takes me to a thing called "race bullhorn" and the website says aero levers will fit- Tiagras included!

[freebooter]

I think by aero levers they mean this sort http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Shima ... 360038355/

I assume the op is talking about normal road Brifters like this

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/shi ... s-ec019429?

I have wondered about this as well. I currently have drops with Tiagra brifters and don't really like the drops. I have thought about swapping to butterfly bars and actually got a lot of the components to do so but am having second thoughts. I had flip and chop bullhorns on a commuting bike and liked them so did wonder whether putting similar on the touring bike would work.

One issue is that the brake cable comes out the top of the brifter to lie under the handlebar tape. On a bullhorn it would have to come out the front more like old style road levers but that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

I would be interested to hear if anyone has done it as I didn't come up with much when I googled and I would have thought it would be quite common. I think most of the bullhorn users are probably single speed types.

[Neil Holland]

I couldn't find anything either, Freebooter!

If it could be made to work then it could be the best of all worlds for me.

My one concern over the idea is that the brifter is generally fitted to the vertical part of the drop bars; in my potential application the bullhorn at that point would be c. 30° to the horizontal...

(Suspect you wouldn't be able to see the gear indicator adjacent to the hood but not essential for me, this one)

Thanks

Neil

[GrahamG]

Saw loads of bikes set up like this when in France recently - mostly more 'mature' riders so presumably to get the extra brake leverage (it was Provence so hilly!) but still having integrated gear shifters. Given how the gear change works, I'd imagine that shimano or sram are best suited for this setup.

[freebooter]

Thanks for that Graham, reassuring to know that it should work. Although the price of 2nd hand braifters I am tempted to sell mine and buy bar ends and seperate brake levers if I decide to go the bullhorn route. Increased braking power would be a big plus as road levers and cantis aren't a good mix when used from the hoods whereas bullhorns would give full strength braking like being on the drops.