Brakes on moustaches

ajoten

I note that all examples I see of mountain bikes with semi-drop moustachey handlebars use road-style brake levers/shifters. Is there something ergonomical that means your hands or fingers can't reach the trigger shifters/levers the bike came with?

And preempting talk of clamp diameter, are http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nitto-RM016-Alloy-Moustache-Handlebars-Silver-25-4mm-/130815128190 not the same diameter as standard mtb bars?

rockmonkeysc

A couple friends use these on rigid single 29er speed bikes. They have a mild drop with a fairly extreme back sweep.
They are good for pure xc mile munching but hopeless for any technical riding.

ajoten

And what shifters do they use?

ajoten

And if road rather than trigger, why?

cooldad

25.4mm is 'standard' mountain bike size. Not really used any more on new bikes, common on retros.

Modern is 31.8mm, or 'oversized'.

RMSC's friends won't be using shifters - he said single speed.

nicklouse

ajoten wrote:

And if road rather than trigger, why?

it depends on the bars used.

the diameters used for MTB and road are different. Here I am talking about the control area.

stem clamp areas are coming to a common standard after a lot of different clamping "standards"

The Rookie

Road bars (mostly) have 25.4mm diameter in the controls area while MTB are 22.2mm, there have also been oddities in the clamping area.

ajoten

So it's only the diameter of the tubing at the ends that stops you using trigger shifters? As these http://roadbikehandlebars.blog.com/nitt ... 54cm-crmo/ and these http://store.velo-orange.com/index.php/ ... lebar.html appear to fit the bill.

Edit: And these http://www.somafab.com/archives/product ... -handlebar

The Rookie

Depends, it doesn't say what the end diameter is on those bars!

But yes get 22.2 and you can fit regular MTB stuff, the trigger shifters have to go at a slightly strange angle as your hand is at a different angle on the bars, but it all works. Apparently Shimano brake levers work OK on those (lever vertically below bars) not sure about other brands as the reservoir may not feed the cylinder properly.

ajoten

The Rookie wrote:

Depends, it doesn't say what the end diameter is on those bars!

They all do, don't they? I was going off the following - am I reading the wrong measurement?

Nitto "22.2mm grip diameter"
VO "22.2mm (MTB-size) bars accept MTB brake levers and clamp-on shifters"
Soma "22.2mm grip area"

The Rookie

The ebay link doesnt.......sorry, maybe not clear enough!

ajoten

Aha! But that was ages ago ;-)

You are right, but as my understanding has increased via this thread I'd forgotten about that one.