Outfitting a drop-bar ebike for recreational use

[fexixav]

For the top picture, absolutely not. The brake levers and bars are stock for 1973, the bars are shaped differently, the levers are mounted halfway down the bars, not as high as on the top picture, and I have stage III osteoarthritis in both hands... but I could never have gotten enough leverage to apply the brakes from the top hand position, even in 1973.

The brake extension levers in the lower picture, yeah, that would be workable. But the top of the bars is no longer really high enough. I do get what you're saying about leverage.


In my normal riding position on this bike, either in 1974 or today, my hands are nowhere near either the shifters or the brakes. If I think I *might* have to brake, I have one hand on the drops, the other on the top, so I can go either way depending on what happens. And this is for riding in intense city traffic, with people and cars flying at me from every possible direction. Just the ride I grew up on and what I'm used to.


This is the part that worries me, yeah. For hard cornering, I would always be on the drops anyway, of course-- that's second nature-- but I have no idea how it would handle. Also, I keep asking myself for wolfcut, "Would the leverage and handling really be worse with extenders than replacing the bars with something straighter and some rise to it?" I think the answer, unfortunately, is yes.

And crap, I'm hijacking this thread! Just what I didn't want to do!

Hello. I'm in the process of turning a retro Norco 12-speed road bike into an e-bike. I'm looking for some opinions on drop bar throttles. What's available and what works for you?

 

[jabberwocky]

Hello. I'm in the process of turning a retro Norco 12-speed road bike into an e-bike. I'm looking for some opinions on drop bar throttles. What's available and what works for you?

Really unusual to run a throttle on a drop bar, even a conversion, for reasons gone into in this thread. If you must, I think your only real option is a thumb throttle put somewhere on the drops in a way that your index finger or thumb can get it, but its probably not going to be convenient to use while riding on the hoods. You could search for how people mount dropper post levers on drop bar setups for some ideas, since a thumb throttle is gonna kinda be like one of those, but you'll probably have to experiment. May be able to mount it on the front of the drop (below the brifters) in a way that a finger could get on it while on the hoods?

From a safety perspective you're going to want to make sure that A) its in a location that also gives you access to the brakes, and B) its not in a location that it gets accidentally hit.

 

[jabberwocky]

A followup thought is to put the throttle on the flats near the stem, and add inline cyclocross levers so you have brakes while on the flats. You could put it on the flats without the levers, I guess, but I would not personally want to have a throttle in a place where I need to move my hands to get to the brakes.

Purists are going to be aghast at cross levers on a retro road bike, but if you're converting one to an ebike with a throttle you're already blowing their brains up so may as well just lean into it.

 

[JRA]

Get a piece of 25.4 handlebar and drill a through hole near the end big enough for a zip tie. Zip tie it to the flat side of the hood on the brake lever. Attach the throttle. Operate with your thumb. Helps to have the cruise control feature hooked up in the controller if available to set to desired watt output but with the right kind of throttle it can also be set by resting it against the brake hood. Have done this on all the drop bar bikes I have converted now, 3, and it works great.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Purists are going to be aghast at cross levers on a retro road bike, but if you're converting one to an ebike with a throttle you're already blowing their brains up so may as well just lean into it.

Anything that leaves purists aghast has at least that going for it.

Every pursuit has its purists. The ones I encountered as an adult LEGO builder were as fanatical as any. I made mostly gizmos that move in some way. Modify a part or use a non-LEGO part to get the motion right when no official part would do, and out would come the wagging fingers and disdainful scowls. Icing on the cake.