Trekking/Touring bars

tarpaullynn

Hi, have recently bought a Dawes Kara Kum through a cycle to work scheme and it has, I believe the term is 'butterfly bars' fitted.

Does anyone else use these or do you use traditional flat bars or the road bike type of handlebar?

Haven't used my bike to much since I bought it but the bars feel comfortable though the grips which are sponge feel a little thin for my big hands.

Is it worth persevering with the bars or will I be better off changing to flat bars and comfortable grips?

amaferanga

You could try bar taping over the foam grips or removing the foam and bar taping.

I've toured a lot with butterfly bars and like them, but I recently swapped for some On One Mary bars.

http://www.on-one.co.uk/index.php?modul ... sition=5:5

wheeledwidewebb

I have similar bars on my Koga (ITM trekking bars to be precise but they are very similar) and find them very good on the whole.

I like the fact that there are many hand positions available, however the downsides are that they are probably slightly heavier than standard bars and it can be a challenge fitting things like handlebar bags or GPS systems.

andymiller

It's got to be a Marmite thing. Plenty of people use them. It's a matter of working out what works for you. I have flat bars but I'm dithering over changing to On One Mary bars.

TorugartTim

My wife and I have used them for about 6 years now. I like them and wouldn't go back to straights or drops. My main gripes are you need some sort of extender to your click-fix to get most bar bags to fit and the foam grips gets tatty quite quickly.

tarpaullynn

TorugartTim wrote:

My wife and I have used them for about 6 years now. I like them and wouldn't go back to straights or drops. My main gripes are you need some sort of extender to your click-fix to get most bar bags to fit and the foam grips gets tatty quite quickly.

I presume your grips haven't lasted the 6 yrs so you have changed them once or twice, do you think bar tape could be used when the foam needs replaced or would you recommend just sticking with replacement foam grips?

wheeledwidewebb

I see no reason why you couldn't just use bar tape if you wanted. The only issue might be if there are any tight bends on the bar then you might not get a very nice finish.

TorugartTim

I haven't tried, but I don't think bar tape would be any better. The problem is that the sides of the butterflies stick out quite a lot and are therefore the foam wears through quite quickly when you prop the bike up against walls etc. I'm not sure tape would cope with the curves as well as the foam. It's not particularly difficult to replace the foam (as long as you use water of washing up liquid), but it can get a bit tatty on a long tour.

culverwood

As others have said it is a very personal thing. I get on well with mine for touring but my wife never did and changed back to flats with bar end straight away.

She had the bar bag with the extenders necessary and I found that so much weght that far forward made the bike difficult to handle when not riding. You had to hold it by the bars with both hands so could not walk with two bikes at once.