Hi everyone,
Swapping out the standard Thorn bars on my Mercury. I have the KOGA Satori Denham Bars and I am looking for some advice. The new bars are wider and swept back, quite markedly so. My questions are:
Will I need new brake and Rohloff cables?
Would it be best to fit the Ergon GPC1 Rohloff specific grip?
I was hoping to make a straight swap but I’m thinking now that I may need to use longer cables. What do you think? I have bought a new riser stem to fit the wider bar already. Just need to crack on with the job.
I raised the North Road Bars on my bike considerably when I fitted the n'lock security system and the electric assist. I raise the handlebars far enough to be able to turn the the grips down towards the road surfaces so that my forearms and wrists are in the position of maximum immunity from stress, that is, straight. (A writer is a manual labourer -- he operates a keyboard -- subject to all the prices of bad kinetics that come to factory workers in the process of their specialisation.) The Rohloff cables are oddly angled but haven't broken in a further six or seven thousand kilometres. I have spares but no intention of fitting them unnecessarily.
If you're doing this (among other reasons, of course) to sit more upright, you will also have to adjust the reach to the grips by moving the saddle forward, not forgetting that the new position may also require the saddle to be adjusted a fraction vertically.
That's a pretty pricey handlebar, especially considering that it's buck naked bare, with options that are themselves eyebrow-raising.
I were you, I'd be inclined to get the new control position down pat and settled before I worry about whether the Rohloff cables are comfortable. If they don't break, you have time for another ride and some stepwise fractional adjustments until you no longer notice that you have changed your handlebars, at which point you can change the cables if necessary. Take an 8mm socket and something to turn it with, or an open or ring spanner, 8mm size, with you in case you need to change the gears manually just in case a cable breaks. The nut you need to turn to change gears is revealed when you take the EXT box off the Rohloff on the non-drive side of your bike.
Good luck.
