Drop bars on a mountain bike?

[Dave W]

I don't ride my mountain bike much these days but when I do I get quite uncomfortable with dead hands, pins and needles and neck ache. No alternative hand positions.

Just wondered if anyone has done it on here? Several problems of course - rapidfire shifters, V brakes etc so it might not be particularly economical.

[oldmanonabike]

Butterfly handlebars will give you a choice of hand positions and your existing shifters/brakes should fit ok.
Cost about £15

[Brucey]

also worth getting a second opinion on you saddle position; a bad saddle position can throw too much weight onto the hands, and often lies at the root of upper body discomfort.

If (say) you have the saddle further forwards than you might otherwise, to make the reach shorter, for example, this is the wrong way round; you need a new stem.

Generally you need set the saddle height, saddle setback, then choose a stem length, then set the handlebar height, all in that order.

BTW if you do think about getting dropped bars on an MTB, it is often the case that getting a short enough reach is a problem; MTBs very often have longer top tubes than frames designed from the word go for drops.

cheers

[mark a.]

There are drop-bar MTBs, such as the Singular Gryphon, but IIRC they are better when the geometry is specifically designed for drops.

Assuming your riding position is good (as with Brucey's post) there are other options. Ergon grips might help your hands. I have a set of On-One Mary bars on one of my bikes, which are mild North Road style bars, which help with my wrist position. The Jones H bar is designed to have more hand positions. And while they're not fashionable, don't forget bar-ends grips.

[Ayesha]

Bar ends?

[bumper]

Look at midge bars with drop levers that'll pull V's or as already said, Mary bars.

I've got Mary bars and love them. They look weird in ano. blue, a bit 80's but they are comfy on long trips.

[531colin]

I don't ride my mountain bike much these days but when I do I get quite uncomfortable with dead hands, pins and needles and neck ache. No alternative hand positions.

Just wondered if anyone has done it on here? Several problems of course - rapidfire shifters, V brakes etc so it might not be particularly economical.

Lots of good advice above about drops, butterfly bars, bar ends, saddle position, etc.
I think the first question is "what sort of riding do you want to do on the mountain bike?"
If you already have eg. a tourer with drop bars, do you need a mountain bike with drop bars, or would it be more use with comfortable flat bars?
You might find that fitting bars that rise a bit, and sweep back towards you a bit cures the problem.
The price range is staggering....these are £6, its easy to spend ten times that! http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/humpert-lady-town-riser-handlebars-254-mm-clamp-prod27375/

[mattsccm]

Your Mtb will probably have a longer top tube than a roadbike.You may well be too stretched out with drops

[clandyfield]

I had an old MTB sitting forlorn in the garage........superseded by a new Ridgeback Panorama.
Riding it with "straights" was a nightmare for me as well.
I thought I'd make use of some spares that were sitting around to convert it to drops - best thing I ever did!

Here's the result:

I have to say that I almost prefer it to the Panorama now - although it defies all the rules, it has turned out to be a super bike in its new setup.

Items changed were: a new set of forks (Kona P2s) - the suspension ones didn't. A set of Tektro levers and bar end shifters married to Paul's Thumbies plus bars.
End result is that a 19.5" (50cm) framed MTB now exactly matches my 60cm Panorama in the cockpit department and rides just as well.

I'd say give a thought to this conversion to your bike as well and you may be pleasantly surprised.

Any more info required, just ask.

Andy
PS. I also tried Butterfly bars - total nightmare for me; hands always in wrong position for brakes and they're so w i d e!

[Brucey]

I have a similar 'Bitsa' under construction, only with disc brakes.

Presently, construction is 'stalled'.

The reason? I consider the end result to be most likely 'Aesthetically Challenged'.

I'm not sure there is enough matt black paint in the World for the Horror that I have in the making....

If I ever cheerfully ride it, it might be just so I don't have to look at it any more.....

cheers

[Joe.B]

The bike that I use as my general knock around on machine is a Trek 820 mountain bike, over the last few years as parts have failed it has gradually morphed into a drop-bar tourer inspired by the Thorn Sherpa.

Like other have already said I have found this set up to be superb. Now that I've got the position just right it is the most comfortable bike I've ever ridden.

One thing to be aware of though is the length of your top tube, when I first set this bike up with drop-bars I got a terrible neck ache when ever I rode it. After fitting a different stem and much fettering with the setup its now just perfect.

[Dave W]

The bike I'm tinkering with is a hideously ugly Whyte PRSt1. I think I'd need to change the stem for something shorter but looks don't bother me in the slightest.
My main concern is simply sourcing gear shifters and brake levers without breaking the bank. I rode for years with straight bars and often got dead hands on my daily commute. Just got back in from a spin on the tandem with its Midge bars which I'm beginning to really like. Who knows, I may start fiddling.

[tricerider]

How about something like this? Not drop bars I know, but almost!

I bought the machine used, with drop bars already fitted. Because I have Hemiplegia, I found it incredibly difficult to
operate the right side Shimano STI lever. Fortunately my problems were eventually solved by the fitting of Moustache bars.
Using these handlebars enabled me to rotate the STI levers to a position where the stiff fingers of my right hand could
reach them...I can now both brake and change gear fairly easily, something that was previously almost impossible.
As an added bonus, I've since discovered that Moustache bars allow the use of multiple hand positions.

[Redvee]

I had an old steel Kona frame & forks that I converted into an RTB as Avon Valley Cyclery called the bikes they sold. I ran with Sora 3x8 STIs, travel agents on the v-brakes before switching to mini v-brakes and as others have mentioned a shorter stem. I did have issues initiallyt with the front mech not indexing up but once I swapped to a MTB front mech the problem went.

[Brucey]

The bike I'm tinkering with is a hideously ugly Whyte PRSt1. I think I'd need to change the stem for something shorter but looks don't bother me in the slightest.
My main concern is simply sourcing gear shifters and brake levers without breaking the bank. I rode for years with straight bars and often got dead hands on my daily commute. Just got back in from a spin on the tandem with its Midge bars which I'm beginning to really like. Who knows, I may start fiddling.

the Whyte is so different looking, it is hard to say if it is really ugly or not.

I worry about leaving enough clearance below the stem for the top link on those....

I can't imagine what it'd be like with drops on. ...

re the shifters; a cheap way of doing this it to fit them onto an extra mount with 22.2mm dia. Something like a minoura space grip, or a brompton mounting. SJS do quite a few accessory mounts of various kinds, several of which will accept some pods or gripshifts.

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/accessory-fitting-brackets-dept785/

Brake levers are not too expensive £20 will be enough for a set of tektro levers with MTB 'V' /cable disc cable pull.

BTW if you get cheesed off with the Whyte, PM me; I've always quite fancied one myself.

cheers