Neko drop bar/ridged fork conversion
07-27-18, 04:31 PM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 199
Mentioned: 7 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 42 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 7 Times
in
3 Posts
Neko drop bar/ridged fork conversion
I’ve been shopping new bikes. I’ve only had my Neko for a year but it’s just not right for me anymore. I’ve been shopping gravel, most of the lower price point ones have mechanical disk brakes and I can’t stand the feel of them compared to my Neko’s hydraulic. It has occurred to me I may be spending a bundle of money simply to get drop bars and a rigid suspension fork when I like almost everything else about the bike.
What do you think? Is it worth converting over buying. I know the frame geometry is different but I also know some of you have converted your dual sport to drop bars. The two bikes I’m looking at now are the Checkpoint 4 and the Giant GX1. Even selling my Neko I’m looking at $1000 or more. I’m not very mechanically inclined with the bike, although I’m trying to learn. I’m willing go the YouTube route but I’d probably be paying someone to do a lot of the work.
What components would you recommend? What kind of fork should I look for? Could I do the fork first and the drops later if I wanted to break it out? Any other information you’d care to give me would be appreciated.
What do you think? Is it worth converting over buying. I know the frame geometry is different but I also know some of you have converted your dual sport to drop bars. The two bikes I’m looking at now are the Checkpoint 4 and the Giant GX1. Even selling my Neko I’m looking at $1000 or more. I’m not very mechanically inclined with the bike, although I’m trying to learn. I’m willing go the YouTube route but I’d probably be paying someone to do a lot of the work.
What components would you recommend? What kind of fork should I look for? Could I do the fork first and the drops later if I wanted to break it out? Any other information you’d care to give me would be appreciated.
07-27-18, 05:08 PM
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Northern Shenandoah Valley
Posts: 4,138
Bikes: More bikes than riders
Mentioned: 36 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1443 Post(s)
Liked 759 Times
in
568 Posts
I think your hydraulic drop bar options are more limited. There certainly do exist hydraulic drop bar brifters (brake/shifters), but yes, they will be very spendy. I think mechanical disc brakes are often favored with "gravel" or "adventure" bikes because of their perceived reliability. You can replace a cable out in the field a lot easier than fixing a hydraulic line issue. I don't have enough long distance touring experience to know whether this should be a significant point, but I do join you in really enjoying hydraulic brakes. I'm shopping MTBs, and I will convert anything I buy to hydraulic if it isn't already (I'm not going whole hog on this thing, just stepping into it, so I'm often finding cable discs). I'm sure premium cable discs work and feel better than cheap ones, but I don't think either really compare to hydraulic in terms of feel and power and modulation.
07-27-18, 05:15 PM
#3
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 199
Mentioned: 7 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 42 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 7 Times
in
3 Posts
I think your hydraulic drop bar options are more limited. There certainly do exist hydraulic drop bar brifters (brake/shifters), but yes, they will be very spendy. I think mechanical disc brakes are often favored with "gravel" or "adventure" bikes because of their perceived reliability. You can replace a cable out in the field a lot easier than fixing a hydraulic line issue. I don't have enough long distance touring experience to know whether this should be a significant point, but I do join you in really enjoying hydraulic brakes. I'm shopping MTBs, and I will convert anything I buy to hydraulic if it isn't already (I'm not going whole hog on this thing, just stepping into it, so I'm often finding cable discs). I'm sure premium cable discs work and feel better than cheap ones, but I don't think either really compare to hydraulic in terms of feel and power and modulation.
07-27-18, 08:17 PM
#4
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: /dev/null
Posts: 675
Bikes: Soma Double Cross Disc (2017), red Hardrock FS (circa 1996)
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 217 Post(s)
Liked 155 Times
in
102 Posts
What do you think? Is it worth converting over buying. I know the frame geometry is different but I also know some of you have converted your dual sport to drop bars. The two bikes I’m looking at now are the Checkpoint 4 and the Giant GX1. Even selling my Neko I’m looking at $1000 or more. I’m not very mechanically inclined with the bike, although I’m trying to learn. I’m willing go the YouTube route but I’d probably be paying someone to do a lot of the work.
You can find entry level gravel bikes for <1000$, but those will not be 10 speed nor will they have hydraulic brakes.
As hokiefyd said, hydraulic brifters are not cheap. AFAIK, Shimano makes them in 10 or 11 speed only. Your Neko probably is not 10 speed, and that means swapping the whole drivetrain: cassette, chain, FD, RD. You might be able to keep the crankset. Add labor cost to this...
