Will a set of flat bars & ergon grips with the stubby bar ends work on a touring bike, or will I end up wishing I had more hand positions?
Any other options other than drops?

Butterfly bars ?

It’s all down to personal preference i’m afraid, no right or wrong answer just what works for you.
If it helps i have a Boardman Performance Hybrid with flat bars and bar ends. I don’t like/get on with drops and i rode the C2C in a day on the Boardman and had no issues with the bars/hand positions etc.

Very subjective I’d have thought.

These are great though, I toured on them:

IMO, if you can’t tour on drops, you are gay 😉

Drop-barred touring bikes seem to be a very UK-US thing. European manufacturers use flat bars. Some, more specialised, manufacturers use those “butterfly” bars. They give lots of positions, but at the potential loss of some speed due to poorer aerodynamics (not that most tourers are interested in speed).

Yes, it’ll work fine. If you’re not a fan of drops.

H bars are another sort to try.

I’m just looking for ideas folks. Never used drops before & have no real inclination to start now (Getting old, fat & have dicky back!)
Comfort is the main priority for this bike…those butterfly bars look interesting & lots of room for hanging bar bags on.

Worked for me for 1900 miles.

If you use the drop section then I’d go with drops otherwise I’d look at an alternative. Unfortunately it can be one of those try and try again things. I’d certainly look to create more than one hand position, there are plenty of bars:-

Big sweep like the Mary Bars, can be paired with barends inboard of the grips, gets you 3 good hand positions.

Jones H-Bars and Titec Copies I found a bit limited on versatility and the rearward section too short. However the Jones Loop Bar is great but expensive, a cheap alternate could be:-
http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/xtreme-pro-free-town-ii/aid:257352

Quite a few variations of Butterfly bars and then lots of North Road style or moustache bars. Or maybe go with some dirt drops set nice and high. I’ve even seen pics of bikes used for audax with aero extensions on.

One that might be quite nice if your bars have the space would be stubby barends inboard of the grips/controls, ergo style grips and outboard bar ends. Maybe on a low sweep flat bar.

The main thing for me is getting the controls where I like them, for me that’s more sideways on, ie Mary/Jones bars.

im building one myself at the mo with a flat bar/bar end combo as i fint it just right, another option could be horns with inbord levers and tri shifters in the ends.

dave’s shrewd purchasing skillz means these are £20 at PX 😉

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/HBCISPINTR/cinelli_spinaci_trekking_bar_extensions

Some weird and wonderful looking things on here, getting me thinking!

i use flats and ergon barends/grips on the tourer, seem ok, but i do wish mary bars were available in a 659+mm length.

It will be fine, I’ve toured lots(1000s of miles) with this set up and have been very happy. I normally just end up with my hands in the most comfortable position anyway, which is on the bar ends. I think with butterfly bars I would miss out on the most comfortable position which would be with your palms at the bottom of these bar ends:
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/sjsc-ergo-control-bar-end-grip-black-prod13134/

Oh aye – those Ergo bar ends are brilliant.

P1020309 by druidh_dubh, on Flickr

I quite like the look of those H-bars, I think that they’ll be easier on a recently broken wrist, but my concern would be whether I could fit a bar bag on them, anybody got any experience of this?

I used a flat bar and bar ends on my 4,000km “big tour”. It was fine, but I was envious of the other bikes in the campsite with ergo bar end grips

I just use cut down riser bars, no bar ends when touring (typically 1 – 2 weeks at a time). Flat bars and bar ends will be just fine.

Bumping this – I don’t suppose there are any bars that incorporate ergo type bar ends into their design? Looking for the lightest weight solution.

I’m going for the ergon gc3 myself later this week. Pricey, but I have the Gc2 on another bike & they are very good.

nikk – the problem with that design would be fitting grips…..

i went touring last year for a week with carnegies and ergos + those cane creek ergo bar ends.

i found my self wanting another hand position lower down and at 90 degrees to stretch my back and shoulders out when going along after a couple of long days on the bike

im used to touring with drops but i wanted to take my MTB.

have put salsa woodchippers on since

I (well strictly Mr LadyMTB has) put flat bars on two touring/racing bikes, initially because my hands are so small that I cannot operate any drop bar mounted brakes.

But I find them much more comfortable. I put Oury grips on for added comfort.

Never ran out of hand positions on my longest tour (500 miles)

Ready to Go by LadyAlex mtb, on Flickr

I use my MTB for touring and have some Tioga bar ends.

It works well for me riding about 70 miles per day.

Flat bar with Ergon GC2’s here. Work well, MUCH more comfortable than normal ‘thin’ bar ends.

Also, the locking ring is on the outboard side of GC2’s so you can trim the inboard side off to just the right width.

Could see the advantage of another set of ‘thin’ bar ends sticking up inboard of controls for really long hauls though.