road -> flat bar

[vqdriver]

i have a bike here that just isn't getting ridden. and to be completely honest, i just don't ride that much anymore in general anyway. as it stands, i have a road, 'gravel', hardtail, fs ebike, and fs bikes. regardless, i mostly just ride my wife's hybrid because i'm tooling around with my kids and it just happens to be leaning against the wall. no fancy clothing necessary. i just hop on and not feel silly if i'm only on it for 20 minutes at a time.

anyway, i'm thinking of rebuilding my 'gravel' bike as a flatbar hybrid thingy. it's a custom frame that just never ever saw its intended use. i did spec it with gobs of standover so i'm thinking it could work pretty well. only drawback i can see is that i'd be hesitant to leave it outside when i'm in a library with the kids or locked up to a rack somewhere.

the conversion is fairly easy to do, i may even be able to just swap the shifters and brakes for mtb version. a longer stem and i'm done. anyone done this and been happy with the result? or am i better off selling it and just riding my ht? seems like such a waste of a custom frame...

[oliver1850]

My question would be "why flat bar?". I converted a road frame to flat bar but never liked riding it due to limited hand positions. Most of my riding is done in street clothes, but it doesn't matter if I'm riding a road bike, MTB, or something in between. I'd set the gravel bike up to be more comfortable if that's an issue currently, but I wouldn't be in a hurry to convert to a flat bar.

[Octave]

One thing to consider is the fork rake - a lot of road/gravel bikes without much fork rake are going to get really sketchy, handling wise, when you switch to a flat bar.

That being said, I have my first custom road frame, built in 2011, which I converted to a city bike about 9 months ago and I'm super happy with that decision. I have a different road frame and this one was sitting aside not being used, so I rebuilt it with 1x11 groupset, Simworks Getaround bars, flat pedals, a Nitto rack strapped on to the ENVE fork and called it good. Without the fancy components and with the rack strapped on (which has an old cardboard avocado box as the "basket") it doesn't present much eye-candy for thieves. I live in a very bike-theft heavy city, so I never lock anything overnight, but I've gone to the cinema and the opera and dinners on it and not worried about leaving it locked up for a few hours.

I don't have any shots of it on this computer, but you can see a few detail shots on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BwPosBtlJt6/

[jr59]

It’s your bike, set it up however you wish. I feel sure that the builder would rather see the bike ridden and enjoyed.

Drop bars, flat bars, moustache bars, Jones bars, none matter to anyone but you. Ride it however you wish. As long as you are comfortable and enjoying it. It doesn’t matter at all.

My longest ride in the last couple of years has been about 15 miles, with a rest stop in the middle. So what. I enjoyed it and that to me is what is important. Trust me on this!

[grateful]

I am thinking of doing the same. Would you suggest adding offset to compensate for the straight bars?

One thing to consider is the fork rake - a lot of road/gravel bikes without much fork rake are going to get really sketchy, handling wise, when you switch to a flat bar.

That being said, I have my first custom road frame, built in 2011, which I converted to a city bike about 9 months ago and I'm super happy with that decision. I have a different road frame and this one was sitting aside not being used, so I rebuilt it with 1x11 groupset, Simworks Getaround bars, flat pedals, a Nitto rack strapped on to the ENVE fork and called it good. Without the fancy components and with the rack strapped on (which has an old cardboard avocado box as the "basket") it doesn't present much eye-candy for thieves. I live in a very bike-theft heavy city, so I never lock anything overnight, but I've gone to the cinema and the opera and dinners on it and not worried about leaving it locked up for a few hours.

I don't have any shots of it on this computer, but you can see a few detail shots on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BwPosBtlJt6/

[Octave]

I am thinking of doing the same. Would you suggest adding offset to compensate for the straight bars?
It really depends on your use and the frame angles to begin with. For me, I ended up going with a -6d stem to a 0-offset stem when I made the switch and the bike handles fine. I don't take it out for longer than 20km, casual riding (hence the flat panda pedals), and it never felt noodly. Even with an 8kg load up front, it rides like it was made to be set up that way. YMMV but a simple stem swap might be the ticket, since road racing frames tend to have an aggressive forward-leaning geo. If it's a cx/"gravel" bike to begin with, a more relaxed geo might be built into the frame to begin with, so you can probably just go ahead and swap the bars without problems.

[ToonaBP]

I did exactly what you are thinking and for the same reasons on my C-Dale Topstone gravel bike. Just something to hop on to ride the neighborhood and local MUT. The Jeff Jones bars give multiple hand positions and are especially nice to get leverage for climbing...

[oldpotatoe]

i have a bike here that just isn't getting ridden. and to be completely honest, i just don't ride that much anymore in general anyway. as it stands, i have a road, 'gravel', hardtail, fs ebike, and fs bikes. regardless, i mostly just ride my wife's hybrid because i'm tooling around with my kids and it just happens to be leaning against the wall. no fancy clothing necessary. i just hop on and not feel silly if i'm only on it for 20 minutes at a time.

anyway, i'm thinking of rebuilding my 'gravel' bike as a flatbar hybrid thingy. it's a custom frame that just never ever saw its intended use. i did spec it with gobs of standover so i'm thinking it could work pretty well. only drawback i can see is that i'd be hesitant to leave it outside when i'm in a library with the kids or locked up to a rack somewhere.

the conversion is fairly easy to do, i may even be able to just swap the shifters and brakes for mtb version. a longer stem and i'm done. anyone done this and been happy with the result? or am i better off selling it and just riding my ht? seems like such a waste of a custom frame...

A few years ago, being bored with my Moots Fixie frame(yup, they made me a fixie frame), I TOO converted it to a flatbar bike..just stem, handlebar(Soma Arc bars), some non linear brake levers..done and I fund that the handlebars, having only one position, really wrecked my wrists after a 1/2 hour or so..so...

If you are comfy with the handlebar shape, position, etc..sure, why not..makes a 'lonely' bike into a rider..

[jim d]

I went through this process on a bike I had kick'n around.
Started with a flat bar and had the same result as OP.
Went back to drop bars and a 10mm shorter stem.
The biggest/best change I made was swapping pedals.
I put decent flat pedals on and it made it my do everything bike.
Perfect bike to ride with family/kids or run downtown etc.
No kit or specific shoes needed...
Good luck with your project. Post some pics and updates.
Jim

[OtayBW]

For me, the flat bar just doesn't offer the variety of hand (and neck, and arm, and back) positions and dynamics. If you're just tooling around town, you might not need all that, but is riding on the tops of a drop bar all that different?
That said, it if works for you - why not?

[stien]

Duplicate post, what am I 80 years old?

[stien]

+1 to Jones bars over flat. They are so good. You can’t fathom it until you try them! Have them on my daily commuter and currently thinking of putting them on my cross bike.

I did exactly what you are thinking and for the same reasons on my C-Dale Topstone gravel bike. Just something to hop on to ride the neighborhood and local MUT. The Jeff Jones bars give multiple hand positions and are especially nice to get leverage for climbing...

Nice rig! You’re missing out on the extra hand position by having your levers halfway up the grip area. It’s made to have the levers all the way against the loop. I just added some bar tape to extend the ergon grip I had already.

[pinkshogun]

a swept back bar like this is very wrist friendly compared to a mtb type flat bar

https://www.rivbike.com/collections/handlebars/products/nitto-bosco-bar-cromo-dullbrite-55cm-x-25-4-16240

[NHAero]

I have the Nitto Albatross on my Big Dummy and love them for that bike. Takes road bar con shifters too.
For flat bars, Ergon grips make a big difference for me on wrist comfort on 2-3 hr rides.

[vqdriver]

can someone fill me in on why a flatbar on a hybrid is so much worse than on a mtb? i can mtb for a couple hours without issue.

[carpediemracing]

For a couple years I rode my mtb on the road in the winter. I also converted a lot of hybrids into slightly more aggressive hybrids for customers.

I'd move everything inboard as far as possible (grips, levers, shifters), cut the grips down to fit hands (most grips have a couple decent cut lines), and add bar ends. Then, once I tested everything and verified that the rider's hands fit on the grips, I'd cut down the bars.

Usually you'd need a longer stem.

The bar ends handle needing alternate hand positions as well as stretching out the rider. The grips are where you'd need to be to brake and shift.