jskita

The bike looks great. Those thumb shifters look very comfortable. Might be looking for those for my next project bike!

Manu431

The thumb shifter work indeed very well.

Of course, the place for the hand in some levers combination is limited near the stem.
But in 95% of the situation it is okay.
and the levers on the top was a request from my wife (never had a drop bar before)

It is about the only alternative to the levers+ Paul's mount I have found for a 24.6 mm bar (except of course some second hand parts I don't have).
The ratio price/function is excellent.

For the more common 31 mm bar , it doesn't work.

thumpism 

Found this Marin at the curb last week and decided I need a racy rigid MTB and am using the conversion parts I was going to use on my Cimarron, and I'll do that bike later. No hurry on either one.

thumpism 

Followup. Got it into preliminary shakedown configuration with some wider pedals and barcons (SunTour front and Shimano rear for later indexing). The rack braze-ons on the seat stays were packed with mud that had to be picked out and then the threads chased. One quick ride down the block and back shows stuff working. The original Marin Lite tires show no cracking but they do growl on our new asphalt. I still need some barrel adjusters for the front and rear hangers and need to sand or replace the brake pads. It'll be fun to see how useful this thing is but I'm already not riding my other bikes so adding another to the mix won't help things. Yes, the cables will be shortened and capped.

fliplap

Laced up a cheapy $35 Shimano dynamo hub wheel and ran wiring for lights front and back. Front light is a Trelock with a stand light and an on-off switch that I picked up as a take off for $7. Currently using a vintage tail light, but have one with a stand light on the way.



Other changes include an XT M732 rear derailleur I had in the parts bin and a new made-from-scraps mudflap after the old made-from-scraps one that matched the front went missing in transit last week. Oh well, the new one is more fun anyway.

OTS 

That is one serious looking commuter !
Nicely done.

Manu431

Nice job.

This is such projects that inspired me at the very beginning for diving in my own project.

such bikes are so convenient to use.

jlaw

Very sharp.

IMO this is the kind of practical, affordable, around-town bike - set-up in this manner: big tires, fenders, basket, etc. - that should be one of the offerings of every bike shop. More people would ride more often if they owned a bike like this.

alrightythen55

Why does everyone keep their stems so high when you convert to drop bars? Is it a geometry thing?

amillhench

Because you have to raise the stem and drop bars to create a similar position to a road bike. On most mountain bikes seat tubes are much shorter, top tubes are much longer and head tubes are also shorter.

So if I ride a 56cm road bike, a mountain bike with a 56cm top tube is generally going to have a seat tube measurement somewhere around 50cm and much more seatpost exposed. If I kept the stem low and used drop bars, the drops would be virtually useless (too low) and the hoods would probably be too far of a reach.

Thats my experience.

thumpism 

Or, you could just be an old fart who can't bend over far or easily.

That's my case.

jlaw

Been riding the drops for 30 years and still no problems reaching them - thinking about lowering my stem for a more aero position though....

thook

lol....wow!!

might be kinda hard reaching those shifters you go any lower, though....bahaha

J.Higgins 

That looks good. There was some guy here on the New England CL asking $5k for his Trimble.

Cl904

Does this count? 1984 trek 890. Nice part was it has a stop on the downtube that made downtube shifters usable.

10eroftheyear

J.Higgins 

Nice bike. Pre-Trek Fishers are always a sweet bike.

10eroftheyear

Thanks, this was a fun project and it's a really utilitarian build. I'm loving it.

Miele Man

Do you find that the bike has shimmy at speed with that rear bag so far back of the axle?

Cheers

himespau 

Wow, that top tube is massive for that seat tube length. Or maybe it's just perspective. I don't think my mtb to drop bar conversion had that much difference.

HTupolev

Pretty normal for early MTBs. The Repack klunkerz were basically modified beach cruisers, and beach cruisers tend to have lots of backsweep on the bars which effectively "shortens" the top tube. Even after mountain bikes entered mass production, it took a while for the geometry to change.

Similarly, here's a profile view of my '84 Stumpjumper:



Although the top tube is huge, much of it is behind the bottom bracket; the actual stack and reach of the frame isn't too far off a road geometry for me. So by slamming the saddle forward on a zero-offset seatpost, I was able to do a road-ish fit without things getting very weird.

himespau 

OK, I've only put drop bars on a late 80's Schwinn (many, many years ago) and an early 90's Mongoose (back when they were still a bike store brand), so maybe that was after geometries started changing a little bit (or maybe those were so long ago my memory is foggy).

HTupolev

1990 was NORBA era, MTB geometry got more road-like during that time. Since then, MTBs have moved back to very slack front ends, but the chainstays have remained short.

himespau 

Ah, that could be, my Schwinn Woodlands was a 1989 and the Mongoose was probably a 92 or 93 at the latest. They worked ok for what they were and were a decent gateway drug.

blart

It has been a while since I've posted but this 1987 Street Stomper - it has gone through several changes. Here she is with Compass - now Rene Herse - Rat Trap Pass tyres:



I believe the next iteration will include moustache bars and a front basket.