Moving from 26.0 bars to 31.8 - will shifters fit?

dubbs2009

Hi, I am considering moving a bike with standard 26.0 bars to oversized 31.8 bars

Tis a road bike with Ultegra 6500 STI Shifters.

Will this be an easy job? Or will the shifters not fit the new wider bar diameter?

Any thoughts? / insight?

napoleond

In a word, yes.

diamonddog

Shouldn't be a problem.

imposter2.0

The only bit of the bar that is 31.8 is the centre where the stem clamps to it. The rest of the bar is the usual size...

dubbs2009

Great - thanks guys!

Next question - how hard is wrapping bar tape???

diamonddog

Just take your time, look on YouTube for tips.

dubbs2009

Thanks guys - Will watch some vids and have a go!

mac-cos

One thing that might be a slight snag is if your new 31.8 bars are wider than the previous bars then shifter/ brake lines might be a little short. If they route around the head tube eg lhs bar to rhs of head tube etc then running them down the same side of frame can give that little bit of extra length to play with ie lhs bar down lhs of head tube etc etc . Remember to check the cables at full turn both ways and at full rear suspension compression (if it's a fs)

farrina

dubbs2009 wrote:

Great - thanks guys!

Next question - how hard is wrapping bar tape???

Straight forward - make sure you start from the bottom so that the overlap of the ribbon on tops is going the right way.

If you do it the other way over time your hands tend to push the tape down.

Regards

Alan

dubbs2009

Thanks all! Gonna have a go this weekend!

keef66

I find wrapping bars very therapeutic. Make sure your shifters are in just the right place first. A couple of test rides might be needed to confirm before wrapping. Also secure the cable outers with insulating tape at several points to keep them in position. Just take your time with the tape and try to get the sticky strip onto the bars rather than the previous bit of tape. Some like the Fizik Microtex you can stretch pretty tightly, others like Cinelli cork you have to treat a bit more carefully, but either way, try to keep the tension fairly even. I find getting the bar end plugs in neatly to be the hardest bit of the whole exercise.

dubbs2009

I can confirm - I also enjoyed wrapping my first set of bars last night - very happy with the results also - went with Ritchey Pro cork tape - looks ace! They also have a clever self tapering plug which works very well...