Squeeze

Thank you for sharing this information. I bet I'm not the only one who learned from this.

I've heard of 1" threadless but haven't seen it before. Recently I was looking at a '95 Trek 990 in my size on craigslist. Like yours, it had its original matching rigid fork (always highly desirable to me) and a stem that looked a lot like the one on your Stumpjumper. I figured someone had used a threaded-to-threadless converter and liked the "slammed" stem look. I would have wanted to put drop bars on it and would have had no idea what I was getting into. Fortunately for me, the seller was asking WAY too much for the bike, but it was fun to think about for a while.

ksryder

MTBs started using threadless and/or 1-1/8" head tubes way way way before they moved to road bikes. In the 90s it seems like it was the wild west as far as what spec you would find on any particular bike. On the same model years you might find a quill stem with an oddball diameter on one bike, but on a different make you'll find 1" threadless. It was wild.

due ruote 

https://www.rivbike.com/products/nit...ess-stem-16252

What are thoughts on using one of those with a shim?

t_e_r_r_y

drops will give you a bunch more hand positions, which is great for those longer rides. personally i run drops higher than i would flats on these bikes, like so that the drops are about where my hands would be height-wise on flats. this gives me a more comfortable up-right position when riding on the tops of the drops, or in the hoods, and i'm still comfortable when going into the drops

shipwreck

follow up on post 6414, some shots of a drop conversion in action. A freind wanted to do the new adventure cycling Arkansas high country loop. https://bikepacking.com/routes/arkan...orthwest-loop/
Since I don't own a real gravel bike, and did not want to ride 240 miles on a flat bar, took the Gary Fischer Marlin. Used my regular panniers. We did it in three days. I lived. The last day riding home was fifty miles of rain, which felt really good on the 150+ mosquito bites. Really, we counted when the swelling went down enough to see them. The other guys got about ten or so each.

1. DISTANCE

   242 Mi.
   
   (389 KM)

2. DAYS

   3-4

3. % UNPAVED

   51%

4. % SINGLETRACK

   0%

5. DIFFICULTY (1-10)

   4

6. % RIDEABLE (TIME)

   100%

7. TOTAL ASCENT

   18,920'
   
   (5,767 M)

8. HIGH POINT

   2,511'
   
   
   
   
   

NocoRider

FYI...

How to get a Road Front Derailleur to work on a Mountain Bike frame...

The 73 mm wide MTB bottom bracket shell prevents use of some road front derailleurs as they are designed a 68 mm road BB bracket shell. This problem is most common for folks trying to use brifters (STI, Ergo Shifters, Double Tap) which work best when used as a complete system including the front derailleur.

The fix I used for this issue was to use larger clamp for the FD and fashion a shim using pieces of old inner tubes to make a shim which would push the derailleur about 3mm farther to the right. It just took a bit of patience and some contact cement...

-OR- for those who want an engineered solution

Check out this Jtek Eccentric Shim:

Jtek Eccentric Shim for Front Derailleur

Disclaimer: I have no association with Jtek but I do think this product is useful for making drop bar mountain bikes.

RyanAK

Geez, this thread is fantastic! Love the creativity and practicality in these builds. Good on yas!

I’m in the beginnings of putting together my ‘97 MUSA Trek 820 from my college days as a drop bar all-rounder. My 4yo son wanted to paint it so I stripped everything off, stripped the frame, and Spencer and I gave it a pretty good rattle-can paint job. Slowly going back together, and it’s been really special to do this with Spence. Hope when it’s done it rides half as good as some of your builds look!

rustystrings61 

Older 24-in wheel Trek 800 built up with MicroNEW 3x7 brifters for my 12 year old son.

RyanAK

Very cool, Rusty! Little man will have a blast!

Working on sorting out the cockpit on the 820. These are Soma Portolas, and they’re a new shape for me. Fiddling with lever position... and the little doodads where the cable housing meets the levers seems an odd size. Housing is loose in the nipple but a housing end seems too big to fit right. Thinking about cable routing too. Both shifter cables run the bottom tube. Rear brake on the top tube. Advice on setting things up appreciated!

Still deciding on what to run for a rack / basket / bag up front. I have Carradice Barley and Pendle saddlebags that I considered hanging from the bars, but with the non-aero levers and the really tall stem, not sure this will work. Leaning towards a rack with either a basket and bag or a rando bag. Thoughts? Anyone have a canti-mount front rack they’re not using?

Bikes are fun, eh?

t_e_r_r_y

awesome bike! it reminds me a lot of the direction i'm going with my univega. very similar. what kind of gearing are you going to run? are you using bar end shifters? if so, you could have the housing exit the bar tape a few wraps in and just loop down to your downtube, that's how i set up my specialized and it works great. seems like a typical solution.

not sure what to tell you on the rack/bag situation, i'll be running a rack on mine for sure. i kind of have my eyes on the blackburn bootlegger rack at the moment, i like a wide rack.

bikes are super fun

RyanAK

Going to stay with the original Shimano Altus 3x7 for now. Well... Altus except for the Alivio RD. Everything is in good shape now that it’s all been removed and cleaned/maintenance done. Shimano 8sp bar-ends. I originally thought to have the housing exit the bar tape from the drops after a few wraps, but wonder about clearing whatever rack/basket/bag I run. A basket or big-ish bag may get in the way of the big loops running forward and turning back to the downtube. But maybe not...

hmmm....

Sp1990

Has anyone on here done the opposite of this, a roadbike to a mtb?

Pompiere

I think that is what's going on with the gravel bike conversions. Everyone is asking "how big a tire will fit in my old road bike frame".

wrk101

+10 Tire width will get you. 1980s rigid frame MTBs are plentiful, at reasonable to low pricing. And they tend to have more reasonable top tube length. Later MTBs got really long top tubes, making them more of a challenge to convert to drops and get them to fit.

To get cantilever brakes on a road bike, you are talking touring bike, and touring bikes tend to be at the higher end price wise. I've got Fat Franks on one of my conversions, those tires are 2.35 inches wide which is approximately 60mm wide. I haven't seen a road bike that can handle anything close to that.

I have used my Prologue racing bike with 25mm tires on packed gravel trails. Just have to keep your awareness up. Obviously not ideal or anything I would recommend. Had I lost control and wiped out, I would be kicking myself for sure.

misctrader

Lemond1985

No kidding. So off-road funnybiking is a thing these days, is it?

Sp1990

Old roadbikes are always being given to me or on the curb but I dont have a need for another roadbike. Now a gravel grinder or old mtb i definitely have a need for.

Cycle Tourist

Oh yes definitely. I thought I'd built a tough touring bike with a hybrid conversation, (fenders and all), until I saw these awesome bikes!

TenGrainBread 

Finished this drop bar conversion on a 1999 Schwinn Homegrown hardtail (made in Portland, Oregon).

Fork: Shimano Pro XCR
Wheels: XTR M950 hubs with Bontrager Valiant rims, SimWorks Homage 26x1.95 tires, Paul skewers
Headset: White Industries
Stem: Paul
Bars: Crust 53cm wide drop bars (made by Nitto)
Levers: Cane Creek V levers
Brakes: XTR M950 V brakes
Seat collar: Phil Wood
Seatpost: Dean titanium
Saddle: Schwinn Stinger ti rail
Drivetrain: 11sp XT 11-42 cassette, 11sp XTR rear derailleur, Profile Racing tubular chromoly crank with 40t chainring
Pedals: Crank Bros Stamp 7 platforms

10eroftheyear

apparently I need 10 posts to reply with pics. First off, I love this thread, its the only reason I joined this forum.

10eroftheyear

Secondly, I found an old '89 Fisher (pre "Gary" Fisher) Advance on Craigslist in great shape, so I thought it would be perfect for a steel frame drop conversion.

10eroftheyear

While waiting for parts, for the Fisher, I decided to do a drop bar test run on an old Fuji Nevada frame that I that I had laying around.

10eroftheyear

So last night, I pull out the Fuji frame (It had been rattle sprayed flat black) and started getting to work

10eroftheyear

I decided single speed would be the best option at this point, as the Fisher is going to b a 1x7 conversion. I had a 38 tooth SS chainring (unused) laying around and attached it to a set of old school RaceFace Forged cranks that came off my old GT.

eom 

Welcome.

Don't be that specific. Look around you will find lots of things to interest you and waste your time and money.

I did.