# Cowhorn bars & shifters



## FlippingHades (May 19, 2004)

Greetings all,

I've been commuting to work on a cross bike with drop handlebars for a while now, and I'm seriously considering putting bullhorn bars on instead. I've found that I hardly ever ride down in the drops. 

I commute through the middle of San Francisco, and it's important to be a little more upright and agile -- I've found that I spend maybe 90% of my ride on the brake hoods, switching to the flat part of the bars on flat sections where traffic is light. In fact, I think the only time I've gone down to the drops was in a big headwind the other day, otherwise the brake hoods just feel like the safest position for the traffic I ride in. All of which makes the bullhorn bars seem like a natural -- they'd provide for more hand positions "up top", and possibly better leverage on the brake levers should I really need to come to a sudden stop. 

My question is what to do with the shifters. I've got bar-end shifters -- has anyone ever used them on the ends of bullhorn bars? It seems to me like it might look a little goofy but should work OK. I'll be putting the brake levers mounted upside-down and backwards so the mount doesn't interfere with the grip on the up-curved section of the bars. I'm just slightly worried about the long reach to the shifters. So, has anyone ever done this? I've pretty much only seen bullhorn bars on fixies, but I'm not ready to give up my gears yet  (San Francisco hills!)

Thanks!


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## The Walrus (Apr 2, 2000)

*It's not a bad way to go...*

...but if you're riding a 'cross bike, presumably you're running cantis, so why not go to your LBS and get some cheap MTB levers. I recently picked up a used Jake the Snake frame/fork and made a commuter/fun bike out of it; I used a Scott AT-2 handlebar with LX brake levers and Suntour thumbshifters, and it's great.


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## FlippingHades (May 19, 2004)

Thanks for the reply -- I might end up doing that (you're right, I do have canti brakes). Mostly I'm trying to keep road-style brake levers because I prefer to be able to brake in that position, without moving to the flat to brake. 

On my ride to the office this morning after posting, I was actually wondering if anyone makes mounts to mount downtube shifters on the stem. I seem to have a memory of seeing a bike with that kind of shifter on the stem before, but it might just be my imagination. 

Thumb shifters would be acceptable too, I'm just looking for really cheap options, in case it turns out I hate it  With the $10 bar from Chuck's bikes it's a cheap experiment.


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## The Walrus (Apr 2, 2000)

*About the shifters...*

If you're willing to spend the money, Paul Components makes Thumbies, which are brackets that mount on the bar and allow you to convert your barcons into thumbshifters. They ain't cheap--$55--but I don't regret getting a set. (For what it's worth, Paul even made a limited run with a 26.0 clamp for road bars, which is what I got. A bunch of us over on the 'cross board did this a while back. _9-sp thumbshifters!_ I love 'em!)

As for the downtube shifters, Kelly makes gizmos called Take Offs, that let you mount DT shifters on the bar near the brake levers; you can supposedly operate the shifters either from the hoods or the drops. I think they're something like $30 a set, ridiculously cheap.

The photo was taken during the installation of the Thumbies; it looks kind of busy what with the top-mount brake levers, but it all works fine.


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## FlippingHades (May 19, 2004)

Cool, many thanks for the pointers! That's very helpful. I think I'll go ahead with mounting the barcons on the end of the bullhorn bars, and if I like the setup after a couple of days of riding I'll probably get the thumbies. I only use about 4 of my 14 gears anyway


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