[psuambassador]

Can anyone tell me, do I need a tubing cutter or pipe cutter to cut down my drop down bars into bull horn bars? Thanks.

 

[Mel Erickson]

Yes

Assuming they're aluminum bars a tubing/pipe cutter should work and so will a fine toothed hack saw. With the tubing cutter make sure to start the first revolution square so it doesn't end up walking up the tube in a spiral. But why cut down a perfectly good pair of bars when these http://www.chucksbikes.com/store/ are only $12.50?

 

[psuambassador]

Yeah, I've been eyeing those up on chucksbikes, but this is a third bike that I'm buying just for tri training on rail trails so I want to keep everything budget. The bike is only costing 150 and i bought aero bars for it already, so I don't want to add another 12.50 plus shipping onto that. Otherwise, yeah, that would be a good way to go. Thanks for the advice.

 

[danl1]

Yeah, I've been eyeing those up on chucksbikes, but this is a third bike that I'm buying just for tri training on rail trails so I want to keep everything budget. The bike is only costing 150 and i bought aero bars for it already, so I don't want to add another 12.50 plus shipping onto that. Otherwise, yeah, that would be a good way to go. Thanks for the advice.

If it's a trainer/beater, why bother with the cutdown at all? Cutdowns aren't great - they don't have the straight flat section that a proper bullhorn does. Leaving them as drop bars, you get this position from the hoods. If you still feel the need to cut, you might be happier leaving them upright on the bike, and cutting off the bottom of the drops. Just an alternative to think about.

 

[Mel Erickson]

The key to cutting down a regular pair of bars and using them as bullhorns is to flip the bar upside down after cutting them. They still aren't as good as regular bullhorns (the flat area tends to be shorter) but you get the upturn at the end of the bars that enables you to use the flats.

 

[danl1]

The key to cutting down a regular pair of bars and using them as bullhorns is to flip the bar upside down after cutting them. They still aren't as good as regular bullhorns (the flat area tends to be shorter) but you get the upturn at the end of the bars that enables you to use the flats.

Right, but IMO it's not a great solution. As you've noted there's not a lot of flat area as compared to proper bullhorns. And in my experience, the angles end up not working great for the reach to the brakes, as compared to the real thing. They tend to end up with either too far a reach, or too far back, especially considering the limited flat space for the palms. Leaving them upright can correct for both shortcomings, whether they are cut or not. If using STI's, a flipped cutoff is really funky.

If you are buying bullhorn brake levers and using downtube or barend gear levers, the cutoffs work better, but that seems to go against the quick and cheap that this bike seems aimed for.

 

[psuambassador]

Yeah, I don't really care about the flat area though. The point of this bike is to roll out hot and be in aero almost the full time. Really the only reason I'm going to cut it down is to add some spunk to the bike and so the brakes are in somewhat the same position as they would be on my tri bike. I will rarely need the brakes or flats of the bar b/c the trail is almost flat, maybe a 1% grade or so, so no big climbing and no need to be on the brakes for extended amounts of time.

I'm going to turn the bar upside down and cut it. My buddy is going to lend me a pair of pipe cutters, so all should be good.