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found a lovely Raleigh Randonneur yesterday, 1991 model totally original, and although its utterly lovely to ride i want to tweak a few things the main one being the bars which i find a little too narrow and not that comfortable on the hoods (compared to my road bike and cross bike).
does anyone know if there is such a thing as bars specifically for touring bikes and if so what advantages do they offer, or is it a case of going for similar width/bend as my roadie bars?
Butterfly bars are popular with touring types these day aren't they?
This sort of thing:
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Drop bars are available in different widths, 44cms/46cms are quite wide enough for road work.
I was told the bars should be roughly the same width as your shoulders and this has worked for me.
Bike bar you say!
nitto noodle bars are the finest touring bars you will find.
they are a wide dropped bar that rise up from the center. very comfy over long distance.
What ton said and avoid butterfly bars. truly horrible things ridden only by people who know no better. (I did around 2000 miles touring on a set - I now know better)
Butterfly bars are very popular with the "round the world" types so I guess they work out well for some folk.
I love my Salsa Woodchippers for touring - just set them to a height you can use whilst in the drops.
cheers guys. quite a leap in price when you go over 44 on the noodles.
I have a set of velo orange grand cru chris's rando handlebars that aren't being used if you fancy them? £25 plus a couple of quid for postage? They're about the widest ones they do but can measure if you like. Email in profile