Butterfly bars

[mattsccm]

I am considering swapping the drops on my roughstuff bike to butterflys, mainly so that I can run some decent hydraulic disc brakes. And I fancy a change. Trawling the web for setups has come up with virtually all of them set with the open ends at the rear and the clamped area forward. This is fine on my wifes plod round the tracks occasionally bike but would give a very short position for me and less room to stretch than my drops. Do people use them the other way round, ie brakes and gears on the open ( and less solid ) ends and in front of the clamped sections.

[fatboy]

I've only ever seem them as you describe. To swap from drops to "straight" bars would probably require a longer stem to put the normal position in the right place for you. I like the idea of them but can't work out how to retro fit them onto any of my bikes.

[KevinH]

There is a variation to butterfly bars often called "comfort" or "trekking" bars, that are the other way around to butterfly bars and more importantly have straight bits near the clamp for mounting controls.
e.g.
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/humpert-comf ... prod28189/

I have these on one of my bikes;
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/humpert-ahs- ... prod24411/

I've been very please with them and being able to remove the bar ends, makes putting on the controls a doddle.

[Stonepark]

Another option is a flat bar with Ergon GP5(GC3) bar ends which is what I have just set up for my Cube Touring if your wanting a wider platform for your palm to rest on.

[mattsccm]

I want to put the levers etc at the ends, not near the clamps. The stretch of my drops is fine.

[welshwoodsman]

why hydraulic? i've got cable avid bb7 brakes on both my bikes and they're awesome. both have drop bars.

[mattsccm]

Because I have several sets of hydro brakes and I am thinking of setting the bike up for a trip with plenty of off road stuff. The whole things runs Campag with a limited gear range but I can lift the entire transmission of a mtb to give me a nice range and very little work.

[georgew]

This Link given already provides the perfect solution. The ends are removable allowing easy fitting of Brake levers and gears and the ends can also be rotated for that perfect position.
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/humpert-ahs- ... prod24411/

I trim a short section off the open ends as this allows the fitting of a myrricycle mirror.

[memnoch]

I did a similar thing a few months back but it was more difficult than it looked. In the end I required new shifters, levers, bar, stem, front mech and cables


I've fitted Shimano XT shifters and levers and it was rather tricky to get the them around the corners and even then there were soo many bends in the bar that they nearly always ended sticking out at random angles if fitted on the front near the clamp.

If fitting at the rear (open section) check how large the body of the lever is and how far the cable sticks out as I couldn't fit mine in without hitting the stem.

Well worth all the difficulties though, Is soo comfortable and easy to move around, though I have gone for a very upright position. I've chucked a image below to show what i mean.





Good luck
Ralph

[largeallan]

Oh, I do like the look of that set up..have often considered these myself.

[mattsccm]

Buy more bars! The missus will have my****.
Maybe if I sell the butterflys, the Midges, the selections of flats and riders, all the drops from 1920 to last week and the old Scott AT4s.