Road Bike Handlebar Modification Mtb Hand Position With Brakes

Add a mountain bike style hand position to my road bike drop style handlebars:
Parts mostly from Performance Bike:  Clamp on bar ends (graphite/straight); inline brake levers; grips; brake cable set:. longer bolts; hose clamp; wire connector/: zip ties; electrical tape

1.  Unwrap the tape from the handlebars
2.  Loosen and remove the standard brake/shifter.
3.  With a screwdriver, expand the bar end clamp so that it can slide on to the handle bar.
4.  Decide what position you want the bar end to be in.  They can go on two ways because the bar ends are left and right.  I elected to position so the bolt was on the low side.
5  Slide the bar ends over the drop bar tube.  you may need to use a screw driver inserted into the bolt hole to expand the clamps wider.
6.  Position and tighten with a bolt about 1/2 inch longer than the original bar end bolt.  It will take some strength to get the threads to line up.
7.  Slide the grjips onto the bar ends.  it helps if you lube the inside of the grips and teh bar ends with some spit.  I cut about 3/4 of an inch from the inside of the grips.
8.  Attach the clamp-on in-line brake levers over the grips.  I found that I needed to use one of the spacers supplied with the in-line levers so they would be nice and tight.
9.  Install the new brake cables.  The important thing here is the improvised cable casing stop.  I used a wire connector and attached to the normal brake caliper hardware and sistered in the new wire with the old.  Please becareful here.  These are your brakes and you need to make sure they are all still working and adjusted properly and that the improvised stops do not pull out and that they let the new cables freely move.
10.  Use zip ties to attached the rear cable to the bike fram so the cable is not just floping around.
11. Re-attach the original brake/shifter levers.
12.  Re-wrap the handlebars.  use electrical tape to secure the grip tape.

Make sure all the bolts for the bar ends, brake levers, hsee clamps and especially the brake cable connection to the brake caliipares are tight.
Test it out with some hard pulls on the new brake levers and the old to make sure your connections can handle the pressure and not pull out.

Comments

[hideousbikes]

Horrible solution to a problem that's already been solved. Save up, spend the extra few bucks and do it properly and most importantly reliably.

[MichaelC789]

this is exactly what i am looking to do on my touring bike!!! do the bar ends feel secure on the handlebars? i'm worried that they might be weakened by stretching the opening with a screwdriver? are you still happy with this set up, no problems with bar ends/screws snapping? thank you!!!

[rustygray]

Brilliant. Just simply brilliant. I have added bar ends to mountain bikes, Trikkes, and scooters, Never thought to add to my drop bars. Thank you.

[mth3672]

And hopefully save you some arm pain

[rustygray]

In fact I was looking to change out the bars on an old 80's Raleigh Road bike that I am converting to a hybrid. The bike has those old school up and down brakes. Solution. Swap sides, so the brake levers stick out, add bar ends, hybrid tires and done.

You have saved me money.

[keirinman]

very coll. what bar ends did you use?

thank you very much

[mth3672]

Bar ends are from performance bike.

[Yard Sale Dale]

Check on Niagaracycle.com or your LBS. There are intermediary Cyclocross brake levers that interrupt the lines on the stock brakes. You could possibly use these with the same function, and they would be mfgrd. already for the purpose, eliminating the need for 2 cables to each brake.

[mth3672]

Thanks,

It does look weird, but it works for me and takes a lot of pressure off my wrists to be in the straight, wide position.

[Yard Sale Dale]

Which levers are you using? Those might work like I am describing.

[mth3672]

http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/Product_10052_10551_1032725_-1_1534003_20000_400198

[Yard Sale Dale]

When I was a kid, I had some weird bar ends, called Newks, that had both road drops, and mtn bike bar ends. They went on a sawed-off flat mtn bar. They worked great but were weird looking. Your idea looks great!

[Yard Sale Dale]

That's great. You can get narrow width road bars cheap at niagaracycle. I have used mtn bike shifters and brifters on road bars before on several bikes. You have to threadlock the screw at the clamps loosest position (open the clamps as much as you can), then use a drill press or drill in a vice to grind out the clamps about 1.5mm all around. You will still be able to use the component on a standard mtn bar again, with spacers made from coke cans or food cans. Works great for cyclocross!

I like your idea and will pass it on! Try grinding out the clamps for your bar ends. Bar ends usually have THICK clamps for strength, so you have a lot of room to work with.

[zazenergy]

Cool handlebar mod!