Why build your bike?

Step 8 Handlebars

I found used handlebars, cut them from their original ram's horn shape into bull horns. To cut, mark one side where you want the cut. Keep in mind that you will need to wrap and put end plugs into the bars and stay perpendicular to curve of the bars when marking with a sharpie. Then take a hacksaw to the bars and file them down. After one end, make an even cut on the other by using a piece of string to measure the exactly distance from the cut to the base of the bars.
-Place the handlebars in the center of the stem (hiding the rough, machine-marked middle) and tighten.
-Wrap the handlebars with cork tape. Wrap slowly and tightly like a baseball bat or tennis racket continuing until they are hanging over. Then tuck the excess wrap into the end, put the plugs in tightly with a wooden mallet. Note: You may want to wait to wrap the bars in order to place brake levers (see brakes) or gear shifters (not done in this build).

Comments

[Oblongata]

A good solution to bar-wrapping (if you're a fixie-on-the-cheap type of builder or know you'll be experimenting with different handlebar setups) is to use strips of old inner tube. Its essentially free and commonly comes in everyone's favorite color: black. I cut a 26" x 2.1" tube in half and had more than enough for both sides of a pair of cut-off bars like these. Be sure to wash the powder off of the tube though or it'll slip around. Also be sure to stretch it a bit as you wrap so it stays put well, mine has never budged. I then topped off my classy wrap with carved-down wine cork end plugs. These work well because cut-off bars tend to have misshapen ends that don't fit standard plugs very well and the inner tube is very thick and hard to bend over inside the bar with room left over for a plug. I've heard some people that ride their bikes a lot (messengers and such) don't like it because it makes your hands smell, but I've never had any issues with it and rarely notice it at all.