jcb3

Did a double conversion on my 1989 Nishiki Cascade. Drop bar conversion and 650B conversion.

Dream came to me riding some dirt roads up the coast last fall, wouldn't larger wheels and drops work better, so....

I installed a Soma Portola bar with Technomic stem and squeezed in 650b wheels (Shimano MT-60 hubs and budget Zax19 rims) and some 27.2x2 Thunder Burts. Needed new calipers and the Tektro CR720s did the trick.

Took her out up Blackstar Canyon today, worked well. Much more comfortable with the multiple hand positions climbing and the drops worked well on the downhill.

nishiki conversion.jpg

Abe_Froman

Hey couple questions for you guys...I've got a Trek 850 I might dona drop bar conversion on...but am a bit confused about quill stem/handlebar sizing. Are mtb bars typically same diameter as road? My Trek definitely has a larger quill than a couple road quill stems sitting in my bin...

LesterOfPuppets

You can get road bars in 25.4, 26.0, 26.4, 31.8 and 35mm clamp diameters. 26.0 was the most popular clamp diameter in the 80s and 90s roadie quill stem era.

As far as MTB quills go, you had 1" and 1-1/8" (these are actually the OD of the steerer tube, but that's the way the stems are listed.) As for bar clamp diameter, older MTB bars would be 25.4. Newer ones usually 31.8, with 35.0 also available.

3alarmer

...go Cinelli or go home.

3alarmer

...hey Abe, if function rather than aesthetics is important to you , just look around for one of those welded tubular steel quill stems in the appropriate length. We got a tonne of them going through the bike co-op here when I worked there, and they are much more amenable to accepting a range of bar sizes.

You can probly still buy them new some place like Amazon, and they were never real expensive, because they're fugly.

NocoRider

If you haven't purchased bars I'd first suggest checking to the steerer/headset diameter - 1" or 1-1/8" and use this to guide your bar choice. The 1" stem was used on road and early mountain bikes and continues to be used on modern high end steel road bikes (Rivbike, many others). The road stems can be found with many bar clamp diameters but 25.4 and 26.0 are the most common (26.4 is pretty much unique to Cinelli). The 1-1/8" quill stem is unique to mountain bikes and is difficult to find with anything but a 25.4mm bar clamp. Put another way, if you have a 1-1/8" fork/headset, then you'll have a much greater selection of stems if you go with a 25.4mm bar diameter.

If shopping for new quill stems, Sunlite and Origin8 have several lower priced options. Sunlite even has a 1-1/8" stem which looks very "road like". Nitto continues to make fine quill stems but these are several times as much as the Sunlite and Origin8. As previously pointed out, there are lots of inexpensive used steel quill stems available at bicycle co-op's and other used parts stores. Aside from being fugly, the wide bar clamp found on most of these will make it challenging to get the curves of a road bar through the clamp. Stems with a 2 or 4 bolt faceplate make bar installation easy.

One last option if you already have a set of bars which you really-really want to use... A quill to threadless adapter will allow one to go with any bar clamp diameter. That is so long as you don't have 26.4mm Cinelli bars!

Good luck,
Greg

ratfink76

Been wanting to do one of these for a long time! Finished routing the derailers this morning. Still have to make some adjustments and get the first ride under my belt..

1980's Fuji Sunfire before/after. Now running what I had laying around the shop for Shimano STI. New generic white bar tape and new Jagwire white cables.

20170603_235550748_iOS by Andrew Cunningham, on Flickr

20170707_153059451_iOS by Andrew Cunningham, on Flickr

superstring

Time to update your Photobucket account!

ratfink76

I just went and read up on it - the free accounts no longer have 3rd party hosting ability... SUCKS... changed to Flickr and fixed the above post!

flying_rhino

The money pit is finally done!

beicster 

Is that an old Switchblade fork? I lusted after one of those briefly.

flying_rhino

Yep. It was one of the few build pieces that I thought I had stashed away, that I actually did have (I guess those mental lapses happen as you get old).

beicster 

Very nice. I saw one on a bike at my first mountain bike race in 1992. Loved it but soon Rockshox replaced them in my heart.

cchambers1983

I rescued my dad's old 1993 Raleigh rigid MTB. He had upgraded and was fixing to toss this one. I'm not sure if a 93 model is included in this forum's definition of vintage or classic but I'll go ahead an just accept the repercussions if so. The bars and rear rack aren't in final position, only thrown on for a few pics. I'm still not sure of the style of shifters I want to use, any ideas????

There are 2 goals with this bike, The first is to have a commuter/touring/gravel style of bike that will save the wear and tear on my Chameleon. The second is to do this build as cheap as possible. I currently have $72 in her.

Original bike:
1993 Raleigh MT-200
Shimano Altus
3 x 7 Drivetrain
26"x 2.2" Knobbies

Things I have changed:
26" x 1.5" Chao Yang semi-slicks
Salsa Poco drops
Quill stem adapter
Ritchey WCS 100 x 6 degree stem
Rear Rack off a mid 90's Gary Fisher

Remainder:
Figure out what style/brand of shifters to use
Brakes and brake levers


Let me know what you think.

Pompiere

There are several threads discussing the definition of classic or vintage, but if someone was tossing it out, I would say it is old enough.

You will need brake levers that are compatible with V brakes, as they have a different pull than typical road bike levers. Bar end shifters would be easiest to set up and can be found in 7 speed or friction.

TenGrainBread 

Love the bike. I think you're going to want a shorter stem. The one with the drops is longer and lower than the one with the flat bar, which means it will be very stretched out. Usually you try to go the opposite way with a drop bar conversion.

NocoRider

+1 for what Pompiere suggested...

A couple more "creative" ideas I've see on this thread...

1. Some folks have found old steel clamps which can be modified to fit on the wider diameter road bars so they keep their original equipment thumb shifters.

2. Others have found old stem shifter mounts and have used these with vintage downtube shifters.

3. Brifters can be used with a Travelagent for the v-brakes, or replace the v-brakes with canti's.

lasauge 

I've posted this bike here before, but I'm posting it again because I've just got it back from the powdercoater (the finish was pretty rough when I purchased it from a forum member, and some hard use this past winter didn't do the finish any favors) and finished a few little tweaks to make it perfect. Frame is an '88 Trek 870, a one year model with the unusual combination of U-brakes and DT shifter bosses.

tiredhands 

And a fastback seatstay! Superbe build. Looks like that's another year where Trek utilized the same frame for a 26" and a 700c application - same frame as the 520 with a different fork and u-brake brazeons.

superstring

Very nice! I like the colour.

cchambers1983

I tried a 50 mm stem with no rise that I had and it felt extremely compact. I've really only ever mountain biked so maybe it should feel that way. Just felt uncomfortable.

KonAaron Snake 

There's just nothing quite as cool as deer head.

arcocelli

Finished this up on Friday and took it out for a test ride yesterday. Rides great! Needs some tweaking here and there but definitely my new favorite bike. :-)

19884353_10212007873084843_3541093948182457535_n.jpg

cs1

Very nice build and that's an excellent fender line. IMO the DT shifter bosses makes it.

Lazyass

I don't know if these have been mentioned in a 228 page thread, but what do yall think about Origin 8 drop bar ends? I'm getting a new MTB and may get some of these and some road tires for it.