Scott AT-3 Handlebars

These are mountainbike/hybrid bars with built-in bar ends. They weigh less than the handlebars alone on the typical mountain bike or hybrid, and they give lots of hand positions.

The ends sweep forward in a nearly 180 degree curve, and the whole curved area is usable to vary the pressure points on your hands. These are much better than staight bars with bolt-on bar ends.

If you want to equip a hybrid or mtb for touring, this is a cheap and very effective upgrade, and works with the existing brake and shift levers...except: these do not work with un-modified twist-grip shifters: they won't fit around the bends. By a fairly simple modification ot the shifter, however they can be made to fit. See below..

Although you can use any normal mountain-bike handlebar grips on these bars, they provide a smoother transition between gripping areas if you tape them, as with drop-type "road" handlebars.

As with drop handlebars, my favorite covering is Cinelli cork tape. Unlike drop bars, I start taping from the center of the bars and work my way out to the ends.

I create a thicker area in the primary grip zone by laying two thicknesses of tape along the part of the bar that the hand rests on. I use one piece a bit longer than the other, and displace them slightly in the vertical direction. I also increase the thickness in this area by overlapping the tape very tightly along the straight section of the bar, gradually spreading out the winding so that there is very little overlap along the curved sections.

I lay a strip of old-style cloth handlebar tape along the outside of the bent area to provide better "traction" so that the cork tape won't slip out of position, here where it is spread thin.

I leave a section of the ends of the bars bare of tape, providing a good place to mount lighting equipment and other accessories.

Using GripShift shifters with Scott bars To get GripShift shifters onto a curved handlebar, you need to take the unit apart, and cut a flexible flap into the inner sleeve. To make the flap, start by drilling two holes near the thick end of the sleeve, to prevent the generation of cracks at the end of the cuts that make the flap. It is helpful to secure the grip to the end of a handlebar, so that the part you will be drilling/cutting hangs past the end of the bar.

Once the holes have been drilled, the slits may be made with a utility knife. You won'd be able to cut all the way through at one pass; start by just scribing a line along the barrel, then keep running the blade along the groove, deepening it with each pass, until the blade fits through.

The flexible flap bends out of the way as you slide the inner unit around the bends in the handlebar. The flap should be located near the part of the unit that winds up at the bottom when the shifter is in use, but not in line with the cable attachment.

To get GripShift shifters onto a curved handlebar, you need to take the unit apart, and cut a flexible flap into the inner sleeve.

To make the flap, start by drilling two holes near the thick end of the sleeve, to prevent the generation of cracks at the end of the cuts that make the flap.

It is helpful to secure the grip to the end of a handlebar, so that the part you will be drilling/cutting hangs past the end of the bar.

Once the holes have been drilled, the slits may be made with a utility knife. You won'd be able to cut all the way through at one pass; start by just scribing a line along the barrel, then keep running the blade along the groove, deepening it with each pass, until the blade fits through.

The flexible flap bends out of the way as you slide the inner unit around the bends in the handlebar. The flap should be located near the part of the unit that winds up at the bottom when the shifter is in use, but not in line with the cable attachment.

Taping Scott handlebars

Using GripShift shifters with Scott bars

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