Converting a 90's MTB into a retro drop bar bike

[Gravity Aided]

Interesting project, but I can't help thinking it would actually be much easier and cheaper just to source a drop bar bike to begin with if that is what you really want. Tinkering about and mixing & matching parts is fine if you have a supply of donor bits/bikes kicking around but if you have to start buying stuff piecemeal then it is quickly going to cease to be a low-budget DIY build alternative to just sourcing a complete bike of the desired genre.

Price a Surly Long Haul Trucker in 26". The Trek 950, a lighter frame that is lugged, not welded, cost me 35 US dollars used. It will need eventual refinishing, when I get around to it, but first I want to get a few miles on it. No matter what, even a new bicycle is going to need some changes among components to suit your riding style, and this, for me, is the cheapest route to custom.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Price a Surly Long Haul Trucker in 26". The Trek 950, a lighter frame that is lugged, not welded, cost me 35 US dollars used. It will need eventual refinishing, when I get around to it, but first I want to get a few miles on it. No matter what, even a new bicycle is going to need some changes among components to suit your riding style, and this, for me, is the cheapest route to custom.

I know of someone who bought a Surly LHT frame in a Pawnshop for Aus$35. Lucky stinker.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Oh, and I forgot:

This way we get to choose the colour.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Look. Braze-ons...

Most available brain capacity for the last few week has been taken up working out how to get the now cleaned frame, someone capable of welding and the Romanian braze-ons in the same place at the same time. There is such a person where I work, but getting the frame to him required some rather complex logistics arrangement involving Eldest Son, the commuter bike, several buses and a couple of trams.

After that it was a matter of saying what I wanted and not jumping through the door every five minutes to see if he’d finished.



By the time the bike was ready to come back I’d concluded that this sort of thing is what Xtracycles are for, so on my next Saturday shift -doing lighting and some stage management for an English speaking Panto group- I cycled down into the city and loaded up for the return.



I cheated for some of the way and took the tram on the worst of the hill.

Judging by the looks from other passengers people transporting freshly welded bicycle frames on a longtail are not a regular sight in suburban Stuttgart.

 

[Gravity Aided]

I have to lower the handlebars as they are too upright, but this is how the Trek 950 is coming along. Soon to have racks and fenders. This frame will accept 26", 27.5", and 700c wheels. Salsa Wood Chipper bars(almost a mustache bar) full Deore group except for some SLX brake levers and hoods. Kenda 26"100p.s.i. tires, WTB saddle. Just stuff I had laying around, or was on the old Raleigh Technium City I had made into a tourer. Stem is adjustable, until I get fit figured out. Too upright right now.

 

[12boy]

I have converted many mtn bikes to something else although my favorites are chromo double butted 80s bikes with level top tubes. Those bad boys usually had cantis so setting drops or moustache bars took no more than switching brakes and bars. Stem shifters are heavier and less elegant than downtubes, but since usually I was rehabbing them for a giveaway the stem shifters were generally easier for a new rider. As you know so well, Andy, tinkering, solving problems and discussing all this with a friend or family member is damn near as much fun as riding. A few years ago I visited the Smithsonian aerospace wing and was delighted to see a Wright brothers bicycle and it looked so much like my surly steamroller....I too like that retro look.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Bars are more sane now.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Just heard from the paint wholesalers: they've dispatched our order of rattle cans...

I've noticed some older steel touring bikes have a contrasting colour on the lower forks and chain stays. Was this a trend at some time or is there some practical reason I can't think of?

 

[Gravity Aided]

Just heard from the paint wholesalers: they've dispatched our order of rattle cans...

I've noticed some older steel touring bikes have a contrasting colour on the lower forks and chain stays. Was this a trend at some time or is there some practical reason I can't think of?

Can't say as I've seen that, maybe a more durable paint for areas most likely to be hit by gravel/rocks/oil? I prefer fenders.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Bars now a bit more sane, From a few weeks ago,
area by this sycamore tree now covered in snow and ice.
Still needs bar tape, fenders, front rack, and lighting system.

 

[Gravity Aided]

A few years ago I visited the Smithsonian aerospace wing and was delighted to see a Wright brothers bicycle and it looked so much like my surly steamroller....I too like that retro look.

The Wrights invented their own coaster brake, the concept of a more sealed hub, and left hand threading for the non drive side pedal.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

John Tomac anyone????
In the 90's

 

[Andy in Germany]

Despite the quiet thread, we have been working on the touring bike. For the last couple of weeks we've dealt with the most important question of all: what colour should it be?

Unusually for us, we’d decided on red when we first dreamed the project up, without spending hours cogitating about it. This was fine until we actually went to get some paint and realised how many shades of red were available.

We got it down to two shades, and to test it dug up my spare set of bicycle forks* to try them out.

It’s going to be the darker red closest to the camera.

Now there will be a race to paint the rest of the bike before one of us has another bright idea or changes our mind….

*Everyone has a spare set of bicycle forks, don’t they?

 

[Nigelnightmare]

The bike will need a respray anyway: we're agreed that we're not riding a bike that colour.

We looked at Bar end mounts but they were coniderably more expensive than this method. That said, if we find we both like drops it may be that I convert ny commuter using Bar ends.

I recognise the adaptor you linked to, ut that is about 0.4mm too small from memory. For a carpenter 0.4mm is just a quick whack with a hammer and you're sorted, but my metalworking friends tell me it's more of an issue with metal.

I'd not only file the clamp slightly but also fit a longer bolt.
That way it's adjustable so you can find the best position for the levers.

Win/win, in my opinion.

 

[KneesUp]

John Tomac anyone????
In the 90's

View attachment 448611

Of course I remember - I have John Tomac by Cinelli bars on my (1989) drop bar MTB :-)