Anyone used a sprung saddle or butterfly bars ?

[BADGER.BRAD]

I'm converting my ride to work 8 speed hybrid Revolution Courier to a more all round bike, light of road ( forest tracks canals, utility bike/ mountain bothy bike bit of touring) to try and free up my old MTB bike for more dedicated MTB use plus I'm a little bored of it as it is ! I've sourced all the bits for altering the drive train to 24 speed brought a rack but thought about changing to Butterfly bars (how much bar tape would I need?) rather than bar ends and maybe a sprung saddle any thoughts ?

Cheers all

 

[steveindenmark]

On my butterfly bars I dont have tape. I have foam. A bit like waterpipe insulation foam. The lbs supplies it.

 

[mjr]

I've sprung saddles on all except my road bike, but I might put a Brooks Flyer on that soon.

 

[mickle]

Butterfly bars are an abomination.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Butterfly bars are a godsend.

 

[Tail End Charlie]

My kickaround bike has butterfly bars. They give three hand positions and the furthest one away I hardly use, so flat bars and bar ends are just as good, although the front part is useful for mounting lights etc. They use no more tape than normal as I don't tape the front part. They make the bike look unusual (and perhaps less nickable?) and I like the personalizing side of that.

 

[roadrash]

butterfly bars on my raleigh twenty have foam instead of tape

 

[Psycolist]

Not a sprung saddle, but a sprung saddle post. TBH most are worse than useless, BUT, if you can afford to get a SUNTOUR NCX series seat post, using the quadrilateral tech, it will revolutionise your ride experience. It removes the vibration felt through the bike from the road, and in off road riding goes a long way to making a hard tail into a full susser. I ABSOLUTLEY SWEAR BY THEM. I suffer a lot of hip pain (long boring story) and without these posts, my riding days would have been over years ago. Its one of those things that you will either love or hate. But if you can afford to give one a try, I cant recommend them highly enough. If you don't like it, you will have no trouble selling it on on fleabay or similar and get as much as 75% of your money back.

 

[RichardB]

I have a Brooks B67 on my electric bike (upright position) and I love it. Very comfy indeed. The problem is that the bike also has a suspension seatpost which is far too soft even on its hardest setting, so the seatpost boings along (and squeaks like a mouse) without troubling the very sturdy springs on the saddle. I will be replacing the seatpost with a rigid one in the Spring, but you will have to prize the B67 out of my cold, dead hands. I love it, even if it looks like something out of Call the Midwife. I can't see much point in a sprung saddle on something more sporty, though.

 

[Nigeyy]

Bit late.... but I have butterfly bars. They're.... OK. I've found they are aren't any better or worse than other options -but then again I think you tend to get used to any setup.

Pros:
-many positions
-usually very suitable for mtb drivechain conversions as mtb controls can easily be moved over -you can even put STIs/Ergos on as well. Pretty much anything goes with these things
-usually very wide compared to other options so they are very suitable for when you stand on the pedals and have to swing the bike side to side
-a lot of bar space so attaching extra things can be very easy

Cons:
-you'll need a new stem/quill as the position won't be the same as your existing bar, and possibly new cables. It took me a couple of quills to get the right one, so effectively I wasted the money on one of the quills.
-just me, but I tend to find I don't use the top parts as much -I find either the lower parts are too close for me to use if I can use the top parts, and if I can use the lower parts, the top parts are too far away. Sort of negates the many postions advantage, but that could just be me.
-they tend to be wide (again, that can be an advantage as well as a disadvantage).

I have butterfly bars on my converted old 1990's mtb secondary tourer/commuter bike. I used this bike to tour the Yorkshire Dales on and was pretty happy with the setup. All in all, I'm happy with them, particularly since I wanted a change from just straight bars and this came out to be the cheapest option (I used the same gripshift drivechain and brake levers, just had to buy new cables, bar tape and a couple of quills and I was good to go). However, if you want to spend as little money as possible, I'd say bar ends are the way to go, a very cheap addition.

 

[threefingerjoe]

I've been riding on a Brooks B-67 on a rigid seat post for many years, and I love it. The B-67 works well on a straight-bar touring bike or a hybrid...in other words, for an "upright" riding position.

 

[steveindenmark]

The Op never returned.