I bought some trekking/butterfly/multi bars online last week. Yesterday they arrived. These bars are favoured on the continent and by touring cyclists. I bought them because they offer lots of hand positions and will make my commute more comfortable. Last night I fitted them. It was a simple procedure. I unclamped the old hybrid bar, took off the grips, loosened the brakes and then slid them off.
Configuring the new bar was a little problematic. First of all which way round does it go? This was solved by a quick search on google. I collected a variety of trekking bar photos and compared them. Once I had the bar clamped into place the correct way round I was not sure what angle to place them at and whether I should lower the stem or not. This problem was more or less solved by the fact that the brake cables would foul the stem when I tried to lower the angle of the bar. So I positioned it so that that brakes and gear levers were at an acceptable angle. I then got on the bike and positioned my hands to make some minor adjustments before tightening the bolts on the bar clamp and the brakes.
This morning I took my customised steed onto the road. The bar itself is not great quality. I think it must be steel as it flexes in use but is light as a feather. The front end feels a lot more twitchy now. I don’t know whether it was my imagination(or a tailwind) but I seemed to ride much faster :-).
The bar is very comfortable. When resting on the back bar the position is more upright than the old hybrid bars and when I want to get a little more aerodynamic I can reach for the front bars. Care must be taken as the brakes aren’t easily to hand in this position ;-). Powering up hills is made easier by placing the hands on the sides where the bar acts like normal bar ends. In this position this bar REALLY flexes which was a little off putting, although the steel is probably soaking up some of the road vibration. All in all I’m glad I’ve switched but in hindsight some aluminium 6061 bars would have been preferable.