I went into Evansย in Reading yesterday evening after work and had a good chat with one of the staff about changing handlebars. They conveniently had a Ridgeback Panorama on display so we could chat while referring to the bike. He said there would be no problem changing from the drops to a straight or butterfly bars although I wasn’t able to see any of the latter as they were not in stock. The total cost of changing the bars he put around ยฃ100 although by putting the brakes and shifters that are currently on the Ridgeback bars on E-
Bay could recoup most of the cost…
Have a look / read of this blog post about a guy who is using butterfly bars.
The Modolo Yuma Traveller Multi Position Hybrid Bars he refers to are available here. The technical description is as follows;
560mm centre to centre, weight 390g. The YUMA shape, born in 1992 at Modolo, has had a sensational success in the Northern European market. Yuma offers a perfect protection for the hands, absorbs vibration from the road surface and with its 3 grip positions, it allows the rider to change their riding position – a great relief for trekking riders. 25.4mm (1″) clamp diameter in centre, 22.2mm (7/8″) grip and control area.
Here is one of many forums discussing the pros and cons of butterfly bars.
The man in the pictures prefers butterflies…
Categories: Cycling
I’m a little late here; but for other people considering it; the best thing to do is looking at Flat bar rigid hybrid; something like the Ridgeback Tensor. All the fittings are 22mm MTB, so all you need is to spend ยฃ10-ยฃ40 on a butterfly bar and ยฃ3 to ยฃ30 on tape.
If your hell bent on swapping em, My advice is to hang onto the bits for a month or so till you are happy with this change. It is bloody expensive to put tiagra 27 speed shifters back onto a bike…. circa ยฃ200 just for the shifters….. Check the front derrelliur is compatable with the new controlls and I would seek A.W’s advice on the frame size relative to the new bars..
Most of all don’t dismiss any advice just because it is not what you want to hear.
All the best, Jim
The front derailleur was mentioned by the guy in Evans yesterday; a mountain-bike style shifter is available (as a “stock item”) that is made specifically for the job