Sixty Fiver

Those Dia Compe hangars are worth the price of admission as they are very well made and righteously stiff which really helps improve braking.

striknein

I had considered a stem-mounted cable hanger, but I saw your conversion a few pages back with the cable run through the stem and must have ignored the cross levers. I guess I'll have to stop by the co-op tomorrow and see what they have lying around.

After my bar-end shifter pods arrive on Monday, I should be ready to finish sewing it all up. Looking forward to that first ride!

mainstreetexile 

I've found that the headset-mounted cable stops work best for most scenarios. The sunlite ones aren't the flashiest but they are cheap, especially if you already have an order going in with Niagara cycles since they're only $1.68. I picked up a handful of them last time I did a niagara cycles order:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AO5KXS/





Edit: should've read the rest of the posts, looks like some other people beat me to it! Regardless, +1 for those, and there's the link.

wrk101

+10 Found it finally, $1.68 at Niagara.

As usual, navigating the Niagara site is a major PITA.

https://www.niagaracycle.com/product_...ducts_id=12341


+1 I tend to fill out orders at Niagara with small parts like these cable hangers, seat post clamp bolts, chain ring bolts, loose ball bearings, etc. (free shipping for $100+)

Aemmer

If style and vintage matters, find yourself an old WTB:

frantik

^ pretty ******

Aemmer

Thanks,
I love that bike.

These are pretty cool also and can be found with a little effort. Old Diacompe stamped Ritchey:



No offense to the hanger posted up above but it looks like a $1.98 hanger. With limited space in the garage wouldn't you want something era correct and pretty?

The details make the outfit.

Yo Spiff

I seem to be leaning toward V-brakes for my conversions, they work better with the levers I like than cantis do.


'92 Schwinn Crosscut by Yo Spiff, on Flickr

neo_pop_71

Hey T.,

We would love to have some vintage WTB stuff but you keep buying it all up!!!

Oh and by the way... now that you're done building up the bike, I'd like to have my Ritchey back please, thanks!

-D-

Aemmer

Ha,
i am just a pawn in the WTB game.

I do on the other hand have a new Ritchey project coming in the mail. Something a little more to the likes of this forum.

And that old blue bike is still at the top of my list for favorite to ride.

seely

I haven't found anything I like as much as the through-the-stem setups myself. When routing with drop bars, I usually wrap the brake housing along the back of the bar, and then have it taped up to near the clamp with the housing coming out almost on top of the bar, then up and down into the stem. It creates a nice, smooth bend on my bike.

neo_pop_71

Seely, you and I think alike, that is exactly how I routed the Odyssey braided housing on my Soma Sparrow bars (pictured on the previous page). That has been the best set up on a few different bars but definitely on dirt drop bars.

neo_pop_71

I'd like to see that build... "old blue" is about as tasty as a dirt drop bike could possibly be in my opinion. It's pretty hard to beat a fillet brazed Ritchey frame all decked out in vintage WTB dirt drop components!!! I'd like to see you top "old blue" and somehow or someway I believe you probably have the parts stash to pull it off!

Taxi Rob

I don't even know what it is, but it's got Tourney derailleurs, SL-BS64 shifters, Tektro levers, Ritchey headset, 203mm XT rotor, CX75 caliper, Nexus dynohub, Brooks Flyer, Kenda Kross tires, and a Dimension 700c cross fork

frantik

interesting build up of an old school MTB with new parts... that frame's got the chainstay brakes which puts it solidly in the late 80s..

Taxi Rob

Looking back through this thread, I came across a photo of an Ibis Avion that shares many details. This came sans decals of any kind, so I've been building blind. Current weight without u-lock: 34.5 lbs. I think most of it is in the wheels and fork. I'm going with a bigger crankset for the street, and wired lighting. Ultimately gonna powdercoat it army green, as the chrome down low is getting pretty sketchy.

Chris_in_Miami

^^ The chrome mystery bike looks a bit like a friend's Ross Mt. Whitney, but the seatstay treatment make yours look like a higher level of quality.

frantik

^ that front caliper looks scary thin

Sidney Porter

Finished this last night. My 9 year old son has been asking for a road bike for about 1.5 years(since he was 7.5). I watched craigslist for about 6 months with no luck. Decided to do a rigid mtb conversion. I found this ($20) about a year ago and switched out the knobby tires ($40) he road it for about a year as a flat bar. Spent an additional $2 at the co-op for the friction thumb shifter, everything else was out of the parts box. it is a 1x6, 24 inch tires, 12 inch frame. Schwinn Thrasher.

Bikedued

What that bike needs is a three piece BB conversion, and an alloy crank. Awesome work though!,,,,BD

neo_pop_71

I agree with BD, super simple install (no special tools needed) and a standard English thread bottom bracket (new or your co-op maybe). I bet you have a spare square taper crank in your parts stash

https://www.treefortbikes.com/product...n-to-Euro.html

-and-

https://www.treefortbikes.com/cat/0/7...222347288___90

The cool thing about Tree Fort is they'll price match any online price. Good luck!

-D-

Sidney Porter

I may do that. That is cheap.

jdefran

Is there a preferred/desired geometry of a vintage mountain bike when doing these conversions? So far it seems 'not so slack' angles is one element. Fitting a bike by top tube is another. Honestly, for me, I feel like I have to build the bike to see how it handles to understand the geometry.

striknein

Depends on your use case. I wanted a little more trail because I plan to ride with the front end loaded, and the shorter stem compensates for the more sluggish steering. Others might prefer more aggressive geometry for bombing paths or singletrack.

You'll never really know for sure how a bike's going to ride until it's built, but ST/HT angles can give some clues about ride characteristics.

seely

It seems most of the builds here lean toward the more slack end of the spectrum. I like the long wheelbase and slack angles for stability. Its good for light off road touring and riding loaded (the bike, and me).