Building a clunker for commuting: drop bars or straight?

[Andy in Germany]

I'm building a 'clunker' bike for commuting to college in Stuttgart, Germany, because although I have been riding a lovely Raleigh/Xtracycle conversion for about 16 years, I don't want to leave it attached to a railing all day in central Stuttgart.

I have an old, no-name mountain bike with 21 speeds that works reasonably well for most things but the route will involve a down hill section of 12-14% for just under a mile on a narrow residential road with a tram line running along it. At the moment I'm running the 'clunker' with V-brakes and Canti levers, but they are a bit too soggy for this section, especially on early mornings with sleepy drivers, so it needs a bit of work.

Question 1:
I know the simplest solution is to swap the canti levers for V-brake levers: I've done that for my main bike, but that involves swapping shifters, which isn't easy on a 21 speed bike any more because I can't get the rest of the parts. How would you go about a minimal conversion, just to give me the better braking?

Question 2:
Part of me rebels at the idea of having a 'clunker' to ride every day, and in Stuttgart, bikes are less likely to be stolen than other places. Besides, my bike will be next to much smarter bikes, so as long as I lock it well, the only thing I need to ensure is that my bike is unusual/home made enough to make it hard to resell.

I've long wanted to have a classic styled touring bike with drop handlebars, but as I am about the size and shape of Frodo the Hobbit, a 700cc bike is too big. On the other hand, putting drops on a mountain bike frame could give me an unusual bike (drops are rare in this part of Germany except on lightweight racing bikes) thus making it less stealable, and also give me the classic-looking bike I've wanted since I was a teenager.

Drop bars are new to me, so how could I go about this (especially as a penurious student?) Are there relatively inexpensive V-compatible levers for drop bars that have integrated gear shifters? What about V-brake compatible drop brakes without shifters? I have some bottom bar shifters with brackets to attach to the MTB frame.

 

[the snail]

I think the simplest/cheapest options would be to fit cantilever brakes, or fit travel agents. If you want drop bars, then you could use non sti brake levers + friction shifters, or maybe get 8sp sti shifters to work by altering the cable attachment. Probably easier to buy a cheap road bike though.

 

[mjr]

Surely you can still get V+3x7 rapidfire brake +shifters, or simple V levers and 3x7 thumb shifters? I'll go take a look...

 

[KneesUp]

I have an early 90s MTB frame with drops on it. The main problem you will have is getting enough height in the bars. Mine is a 1" steerer so I have an ahead adaptor/extender and a steeply angled stem. My bars also don't have enough reach (I bought them cheap because I wanted the interrupter brake levers) so choose carefully. It's not a real problem, it just feels like I'm very squashed when I do use the drops - so I tend to ride on the hoods or the tops.

As for gears, I have Shimano (don't know the model) bar ends - 8 speed indexed on one side and friction on the other (which means you can trim it easily as you ride) They're easy to use, albeit not as immediately accessible as combined brake lever/shifters, but on the other hand they are almost indestructible. I think you can still get them new, but they turn up on eBay often enough.

I use catilevers with Tektro levers, although in hindsight I would perhaps have used V brakes with the V brake version of my levers as I have never been truly happy what the cantis are set up properly.

 

[Gravity Aided]

You might fit bar ends, or butterfly or trekking bars. I converted a mountain bike to drops for commuting and expedition touring, and it's a much better bicycle than when it was a flat bar bicycle, but I had to search around for a frame with the right dimensiond and cantilever brakes. I already had some long pull brakes. Otherwise, you'll have to fit travel agents. But I created a very versatile bicycle, capable of many duties involving many road and non-road surfaces.

 

[alicat]

Mini V-brakes work with canti levers, I understand. Could you swap your V-brakes for mini-V brakes and see if they are sharp enough then?

You can get touring bikes with 26" or 650c wheels.

 

[steveindenmark]

Andy, you dont need a 'klunker. To stop it getting nicked, it just needs to look like a rat bike, but all the mechanics need to work perfectly. I made one in Reading. A total surface rust bucket with an old Brooks saddle. A sit up and beg bike, not a nickable road bike. It ran like a Dream but looked crap.

Failing that you can paint it hideous pink. Show your feminine site. It will be a babe magnet as well as being undesireable to thieves.

 

[cyberknight]

I have an early 90s MTB frame with drops on it. The main problem you will have is getting enough height in the bars. Mine is a 1" steerer so I have an ahead adaptor/extender and a steeply angled stem. My bars also don't have enough reach (I bought them cheap because I wanted the interrupter brake levers) so choose carefully. It's not a real problem, it just feels like I'm very squashed when I do use the drops - so I tend to ride on the hoods or the tops.

As for gears, I have Shimano (don't know the model) bar ends - 8 speed indexed on one side and friction on the other (which means you can trim it easily as you ride) They're easy to use, albeit not as immediately accessible as combined brake lever/shifters, but on the other hand they are almost indestructible. I think you can still get them new, but they turn up on eBay often enough.

I use catilevers with Tektro levers, although in hindsight I would perhaps have used V brakes with the V brake version of my levers as I have never been truly happy what the cantis are set up properly.

How hard is it to change gears with bar end shifters? im used to sti units and have a couple of hills that i need to downshift to an easier gear halfway up and i prefer to ride hills standing up.I ask because i wanted to do a drop bar mtb conversion and seems that the mtb and front mech cable pull mean bar end shifters wouldbe the easiest option to avoid brake compatibility issues .

 

[KneesUp]

I don't find the bar end shifters a problem really - but then I've never owned a bike with STIs - I have had all of twist grip Sturmey Archer, down tube non indexed, down tube indexed, trigger shifters and the bar ends - and the bar ends are as easy as any of those - which I guess means they are perfectly useable, but perhaps not quite as easy as I imagine STIs to be.

The left hand one (front) is non-indexed but even on my triple it's easy - push it all the way down for smallest ring, pull it all the way up for biggest ring, and I've learned how far to move it for the middle ring: I don't even think about it. Obviously the other side is indexed, and if I adjusted it, it'd be great

You just get used to them - I've never really thought about using any of the gear changing methods I've used. As with anything apart from STIs though, you can't change with your hands on the hoods, so if you climb out of the saddle you will probably have to slacken off the pace a bit to change. But then I climb seated too. I'm more efficient you know

 

[mjr]

You're only imagining STIs to be easier, @KneesUp. I moved someone's bike with STIs yesterday. When I squeezed the front brake lever, the bloody thing squirmed sideways and moved the derailleur unbidden!

 

[sidevalve]

Just a little curious about your trouble with the brakes. I can remember the old chrome rimmed monsters back in the sixties and since then I've had no real probs [and Co Durham has LOTS of hills]. If you can't stop then something is wrong or you are hitting the hill at top speed and pedalling like a banshee all the way down. TBH I suspect you either have a cable prob [spongy] or a brake block prob

 

[KneesUp]

I can stop, I just can't lock it up like I remember doing on my road bike as a younger adult. But then that was a lighter bike with thinner tyres, no commuting luggage and a few less kg of me on it! I've changed the blocks to some replaceable cartridge ones from Decathon mainly to get the holder. The actual pads seem better than the Tektro one's that came with the cantilever though (I think they are CR520s - better than the barely adjustable plastic Dia Compe one's that we're on it) You may be right about the cable otters come to think about it. They were from a 'complete cable set' from Asda iirc.

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

Re the shifters, when I was (much) younger I converted a Raleigh Mustang MTB to a drop bar, for a camping touring trip. I was on a saturday / school holidays job of £1/hr in a bike shop (so at least in addition to the abysmal wage I got discounted bike parts) so you can imagine I didn't have money to throw around, so I had to invent and innovate

I mounted some old-school thumbshifters (Mountain LX IIRC) next to, and inboard of some standard (Emmelle branded I think) aero road brake levers - so that the tip of the lever ended up somewhere about where the trigger is on Tourney STI's nowadays, and I found I got used to it quite well.

It was a beast but it lugged the lions share of the tent & camping equipment up and over Rosedale Chimney, Grosmont and other 1:3 hills around the Whitby / NYM area

 

[shouldbeinbed]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00I0UKCTG/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have a clunky Trek 800 that had lived in a shed for a decade before I got it. I've rebuilt it from my bits box for grim weather riding. These brifters are one of a very few new indulgences its had as the old ones were shot to bits. They're fine and do what I want them to.

There's plenty of 3x7 shifters out there too for a quick google or Amazon search but for £15 these do it all.

Personally for urban commute riding I prefer flat bars for the sit up and beg visibility I have to both see and be seen.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Apologies- I haven't got the hang of notifications and I didn't realise that I'd had replies. Many thanks for the thoughts...

Firstly, I understand the idea of an MTB frame being too small for drops, however, I'm not the tallest person so I think my upper body would be too short for a normal road bike.

I ditched 'problem solvers' because I couldn't see what they were doing and I was fine, but the hill Ill ride down daily from April is too ferocious and I want a bit more stopping power

@steveindenmark: Agreed. This is a 'Q bike', like the 'Q ships of the British Navy in WW2': it looks a bit ugly and the parts are old enough not to be worth nicking, but it works perfectly well, except for slightly soggy brakes...

I've decided the budget can't take a full rebuild so I'll just upgrade the shifters and brake levers from 'ancient' to slightly old' so I get the extra power of V-Brakes. as a compensation for not getting the drops I wanted, I'm turning a set of bar ends on a woodworking lathe. It's possibly a bit poncey but I'm enjoying myself and it diesn't hurt anyone. I'm taking the coward's route back up the hill (on a tram) so I can take the extra weight...