guzziee

It's a 22" frame with a 32" stand over height. I can ride it fine at 5'9"

realestvin7

Not my cup of tea. Lol.

wrk101

Wheels alone are worth the price. Mongoose Pro Class rims. Go grab it. I picked up a set, spokes are a rusty mess, been thinking of rebuilding them.

That bike also came with some nice mid grade/upper grade Suntour parts, triple butted cromoly frame. Nice crankset too. DEAL.

The scoopers in your area are asleep on this one.

jhboyy7

This frustrates me because every one is advising me not to to do this but u t seemed to work for you guys so well

brockd15 

Wheels aren't included on that one.
I've pulled it up a few times in the last several days. If it was lugged and/or had a lugged fork I might pull the trigger.

wrk101

Yes, you are right, and it is missing some of the nice Suntour components too. Nice beartrap pedals (not sure if they are vintage or not), nice stem, nice chrome frame, nice stem. Everything else looks average.

A lot of the vintage MTBs were not lugged, even the nice ones. I am not sure why. My Univega Alpina Pro at the top of this discussion is TiG welded, my Cimmaron is a mix, and the chrome Ross I just posted is as well. I have an old Rocky Mountain that isn't lugged either. My only fully lugged vintage steel MTB is my Trek 950. I'm thinking MTB tubing back then was thicker, so lugs were not necessary?? I leave it to those that are more knowledgeable.

I need to pull out the set of Pro Comp wheels I have. They are pretty crazy, looks like a good winter wheel building exercise (spokes are trashed).

wrk101

Depends what you are looking for. If you want a weight weenie bike, a FAST bike, one for club rides, or racing, or whatever, these are not for you. But if you are looking for a bike that has touring capabilities, can be used as a commuter, college bike, trail/path rider, these can't be beat. I have ridden on the Hennepin towpath, near my inlaws. The towpath has not been maintained in a decade or more, so has some pretty rough areas, but its a nice ride. One time, I took the Trek 950, fine ride. Another time, I took the modern Trek 520. Did fine as well. From now on, its the Cimmaron (or its replacement).

If you believe like me in owning more than just one bike, then surely there is room for one of these drop bar conversions. The bike is so versatile, it can fill a lot of roles. The other thing I like is that 26 wheels are plentiful, super plentiful. Just picked up a wheelset for four freakin dollars, complete with tires, tubes, cassette. So its easy to have a spare set around, with totally different tires, so you can quickly change the personality of the bike.

frantik

i'm not sure why either.. perhaps because the original mtbs weren't lugged?

guzziee

I think I've had a couple of old stumpjumpers that were lugged, I just can't remember years for them.

Chris_in_Miami

Specialized also set up the Rockcombo in a similar fashion, but I think it came a bit later than your Stumpjumper, I wouldn't hesitate to grab one of those. That Nashbar bike had all the elements of a cheaply made lugged frame, no attention to detail whatsoever.

On the subject of chrome Ross MTBs, here's a Mt. Hood that a friend picked up at a flea market last year. Sadly, someone hacksawed off the rollercam bosses on the fork, but it still turns heads:

Yo Spiff

Who is "everyone"? Local riding buddies I would presume? My conversion has been getting nothing but positive comments from the folks I ride with. Many don't realize it used to be a mountain bike, but they recognize something is different about it. Not as lively as my road bikes, but very versatile, and if I could have just one do-everything bike, this would fit the need.

rodar y rodar

You lost me, Jhb. You want to put together a drop bar mtb, but somebdoy told you not to? Details?

Just speculation, but...
Maybe they lugged them before the angles started to go astray from road bikes, then the available lugs were no longer feasible to use? At least, not available in "modern" mtb angles while lugs were still the norm- I know mtb lugs did eventually come out on the market, but by that time I don`t think they still went on production bikes.

kc0yef 

Maybe you part it out on ebay ;-)

Chris Chicago

here is what dave moulton had to say re lugs on mtb.

"By the 1980s welding technology had advanced to where it could have been used to build lightweight frames. However, at the time customers, connoisseurs of the lugged frame would not accept it.

This changed during the “death” of the road bike in the early 1990s. Mountain bike manufactures could get away with the quicker and cheaper welding process, because the MTB was new and there were not the old standards, and traditions to break down. There was a whole new generation who grew up with welded BMX bikes."

cobrabyte

Lots of old MTB's were lugged. My 1983 Ross Force 1 is lugged, as well as my 1983 Lotus Pegasus. Early Stumpjumpers were lugged. Heck, a friend of mine has an early 80's low end Spalding MTB that has a lugged frame lol

RFC

This is my favorite thread. Now I want to build a drop bar street and path SS bomber. What would be your frame recommendations.?

taJai

Yeah, I have a Giant ATX frame and random parts that seems similar to the frame in the SS version posted a few pages back but I don't know where to start! I need one of these in my life though.

rodar y rodar

I`ve never had a lugged mtb . The KHS versions are the ones that call my attention the most- something about the colors, I think.

My Rockhopper project for this winter was comming along nicely until I hit a snag. I had already stripped it, scrubbed all the components, serviced all bearings, and was reasy to start reassembling in dropbar mode when I realized that my Short and Shallow bars have a 26mm clamp dia and I have no suitable stems on hand that I can pry open enough to thread the bars though. Took a trip to my local bike junkyard and they didn`t have anything tall enough in 26 either. I do have an adjustable "fit stem" that I built for 1 in steerer, 1 in bars, so will just have to make a new "boom to bar" clamp for it in 26 flavor. Tha will work out better anyway, because I planned to eventually make a custom sized stem for the project (as long as it it feels good when I ride it in drop mode). Might as well start with the fit stem.

I`ve only done 1 so far, so not much experience at guessing how different frames will work out, but I`d say first priority is to find a reasonale TT length for your body and position preferences, next would be to get that TT in as tall a bike as possible in order to keep stem and seatpost under one mile each (), third would be your special requirements depending on intended use- weight, CS length, braze ons, etc. That`s my take, anyway.

RFC

For the most part, I'm done accumulating road bikes and have more than I need, although I did pickup the Cannondale ST600 last week, which is totally sweet and now sports 38mm tires, but that's a sport/tour and not a road bike.

The MTB thing is interesting me now. And I have also been thinking about what I could do with a first generation steel hardtail with a suspension fork. Tonight, while riding to the gym, I say a guy on such a bike with skinny tires blasting down a hill, jumping curbs and moving from road to sidewalk with ease. Add drops and this could be fun. Also, I have seen a number of Stumpjumper candidates on CL. I may pursue this.

frantik

sounds like me, only you'd see me on fat tires

there are tons of good frames out there.. i recommend a frame with all crmo frame and fork at the minimum. imo the sweet spot was the late 80s/early 90s though you may have to deal with biopace and chainstay ubrakes. (could be a positive or negative depending on your opinion). chainstay ubrake is actually a sign of a good quality frame from that period

ThermionicScott 

I'm confused -- is this your bike, or one that's for sale in your area? If you can scoop it up for a good price, convert it!

Since you already have that sweet Cannondale with the fat tires, you may not gain much diversity by converting an MTB. Even though the bike gets faster and more responsive with drops, it'll never be as light and nimble as a true road bike. But they are tough and can go anywhere, and if you're fit you should be able to keep up on the club rides. (If you're not, it's a good workout!)

One thing to be aware of is the frame sizing -- because of their higher bottom brackets, MTBs tend to have short seat tubes for their overall size, or long top tubes relative to the seat tube, however you like to look at it. So, you'll probably want to get a frame that's a little smaller than your road bikes to get the same fit after converting. My 20.5" Diamondback and 23" Bianchi, for example:

frantik

MTB SMASH!!!!

I just took my drop bar conversion out and it made me think of a drop bar mtb crushing a bunch of crabon frames like a monster truck

rodar y rodar

^^Sounds like a job for Big Apples

wrk101

My MTB recommendation is always the same.

1. Look for a rigid frame model. Old suspension forks tend to crap out, a lot of them were cheap to begin with, not really needed for road riding anyway, add complexity and weight, etc.

2. Aim high. Around here, a basic vintage bike shop branded MTB might bring $125 (full mkt value, you can find them for less). Meanwhile, something close to or top of the line might bring $175 (again, you can find them for less). For this extra $50, you get a bike that originally sold for $800 plus, versus a bike that sold for $250. The higher end bike will have a MUCH better frame, better wheels, much better components, really, EVERYTHING is better! Its not about upgrading the cheaper model either. Realize, regardless of upgrades, if the bike has a mediocre frame, it stays mediocre!! Even if your plan is to go single speed, you can sell off the higher end components to subsidize your build. Buy right, and the components may pay for the entire deal! Can you say, free bike? Low end MTB components are basically worthless: co-op donation material.

3. Get one where the paint and finish is pristine. OK, my Cimmaron definitely had paint issues, but the price was right, really right.

4. On a really tight budget? Trade time and effort in looking for price. Look hard enough, and you will find a nice one for $50+/-. I rarely see old mtbs at garage sales for more than $25. Tight budget + minimal effort looking = end up with a POS. Your choice.

FWIW, our five family MTBs right now: two Trek 950s (next to the top of Trek's product line that year, one lugged, one TiG), Univega Alpina Pro (top of the line), Schwinn Cimmaron (top of the line), Ross Mt Hood (either top of the line, or second in line). Kind of a pattern here.

frantik

^ +1 to everything. it pays to be picky and get the best possible. ideally you should be looking for bikes that came with all Deore or event better all Deore XT. Some manufacturers used an extra nice frame for their XT model, others used the same frame for the Deore and XT models