Bianchigirll 

Hello Mike, that is a great looking Trek, it looks like it saw little service. It would make a nice light tourer but it might not be cheap to do it. I would opt for a pair of Nitto B-115 bars (my current favorite) Tektro brake levers and barends. That is the least complicated way to do.

Here is a thread full of some great ideas and great looking MTBs turned drop bar commuters/tourers. https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ar+conversions

Wanderer

Youse guys are afraid to post this in the Hybrid section, for fear you will be found out! LOL

due ruote 

I have a Multitrack errand bike. It's a great rider but pretty long in the top tube - be careful with your stem and bar selection. I ultimately went with Porteur bars on mine. This is (mostly) how I have it configured currently, although I now run a single ring (44) with a 13-24 6 speed freewheel.

Previously with drops as a fixed gear; couldn't get it right, at least not with these bars and stem:

Before that as a single speed with arc bars. Really fun this way. I almost sold it and I'm glad I didn't.

Doohickie

Worked for me (except for the handlebars... don't know what they are)

calstar 

Nice bike top506(and all the other bikes here, keep posting), I'm wondering what shift levers you're using. How about the bars and stem?

thanks, Brian

DavidW56

Here is my 1992 Schwinn Crosscut. I was delighted to discover this bike handles very well in the snow. I bought this used for $40 two or three summers ago, in the condition you see here, but only started riding it last year when my road bikes all had flats. Now I love it.



The bike trailer is a Kidarooz that I got at a church rummage sale for just $25. It is a quality trailer with no defects. I use it for hauling groceries, and in the spring, potted plants and flats for my wife's garden.

DavidW56

And here is my son's CrissCross. He uses this to get around his college town. He has customized it since this picture was taken -- new pedals, fenders, lights, rack.

randyjawa 

I was lucky enough to stumble across a few Hybrids over the years, including this Bianchi Volpe...



...and my favorite, a Gary Fisher "Hybrid" which I ride at my summer cottage these days. The Fisher is a really nice bike and tons of fun to ride on country roads or paved surfaces, alike...

fiataccompli

this would be my most recent entry to the category. I have a few others...one is a rather interesting Specialized Crossroads CX model that appears to have been maybe a higher end bike (nicer components than the average hybrid & gearing a bit more oriented to speed...for an entry level cyclocross racer maybe?)

mikehall

I know it is probably wishful thinking, but is there any value in the SRAM GripShift 2 components? If there is, I don't imagine it'd be much, but I'd take nearly anything since my wife doesn't foresee there being a budget for bar end shifters and the other components I'd like to get!

devinfan

Nice pics, Randy! I've gotta say, that Gary Fisher is awesome looking. Love the matching stem!

top506

Shimano DT shifters mounted on Kelly Take-Offs.
The bars have been changed several times since that picture.

Top

Greggster

I've tried adjusting to the modern hybrid bike, but I don't like jarring aluminum frames and the locked-down nature of threadless headsets. Without shocks, aluminum frames are scary off-road. I prefer a buttery ride, so I've gone back to steel. I've outfitted a few '90's cross bikes with different parts to accommodate a 6'2" rider. My latest is a '91 Bianchi cross bike with the unfortunate name, Boardwalk. It's my current favorite, having a 23" frame, whereas most are limited to 22". This one got a new seat, seatpost, stem, bars, shifters, cables, tires, and pedals. A lot of the stuff was used, and inexpensive. I don't get worked up over primo components. The main thing is to get the grips up to seat hight to afford a moderate lean. The white paint on this one offered a new theme to riff.

Paramount1973 

I built this late '80s Novara X-R up from a frame that was in danger of being scrapped. It has a CR-18 wheelset, 8-speed Ultegra bar end shifters and 4ZA short reach, short drop handlebars with Tektro drop bar levers and cyclocross interruptor levers. I currently have 38mm Vittoria Hyper RFX tires on it. It can handle just about anything.

Novara X-R, drop bar conversion with 8-speed Ultegra bar end shifters. by galoot_loves_tools, on Flickr

Greggster

I learned about Specialized Crossroads on these forums and turned to CL to find them. Within 6 months, I had three of them, of different vintage, from the early to late 90's. Too bad the largest size is limited to 22", but I make-do with riser handlebars. Each is different animal depending on the tires I install. The Kenda Hybrid Nimbus and Hybrid Knobby are excellent and inexpensive. These bikes have a light, buttery ride, handle a variety of terrain, and are cheap to boot. Later, I found a Miyata TripleCross with a slightly taller frame and Bontrager H2 tires. I added tall seat and quill stems, sprung seat, riser handlebars, and bam!

Tuberoast

My 91 750, a great all around bike.

Bikedued

I have noticed a few older steel hybrids popping up lately on CL. The weird thing is that they're priced higher than the steel road bikes. One was $650 IIRC? I am halfway looking for one, but I refuse to spend that kind of cash. Guess I need to start hitting the flea markets again,. I have an 08 Schwinn SS I have been meaning to build back up, but it requires at least 32's at 80 psi to provide a comfortable ride. Full aluminum, fork and all. It was my single speed for a while.,,,,BD

jstar1000

I have a small size 18 inch Specialized Cross Roads that I picked up for my wife for $70 the previous owner put some really dorky high rise bars on it, I had some really fat tires I bought that ended up being to big for the bike I originally bought them for but they fit fine on this rig and the bike ended up being awesome and fun for me to ride. The smaller size frame makes it handle really well off road and it fits perfect with the dorky bars. It had suntour bits on it and the original shifters (trigger) only fit a straight bar the way they were designed so I bought a NOS set of Suntour Thumbies that are perfect for it. Here are some photos of it.


I also have this 92 Miyata Triple Cross that I took all the original stuff off of and put all DX components on it except the shifters which I didn't like so I put some basic new trigger shifters on for now. I built the wheels for it and used DX NOS hubs to boot and put XT V-brakes on it that I had in green. Its a really sweet ride. I also but the bars and stem on it as the original stuff was not very good, the bars were actually steel. I also put the seat post and seat along with the rear rack on it with dyno lighting as I have a dyno hub for it too. Great little rig.


Then I picked up another Triple Cross for my son to use as a campus bike at college and he has since learned the love of bike riding. He says all the time how much he loves riding the bike and how glad he is that I built it up for him.

Talk about catch and release program, I have none of the bikes in my signature any longer lol.

mstateglfr 

Earlier this fall, I converted a 93 Univega ViaActiva into a dirt drop bar gravel bike.
After some adjustments to the stem and saddle(the frame is too small), it fits great now and I got totaled it on half a dozen rides between 6 and 30mi.
It's more utilitarian than beautiful, like most early 90s hybrids, but it was also relatively cheap to convert into what I wanted and is a blast to ride.

Pompiere

I have a 1992 Performance Parabola that straddles the line between touring bike and hybrid. It has the braze on mounts that you would expect for a touring bike, but the geometry of a hybrid. Even some of the components, like the bars and front derailleur are labeled "Hybrid". The side pull brakes, instead of cantilevers, are the only oddity that must have been done for cost savings. I tried narrower tires, but the ride is better on 32-35mm. I also swapped to a Bio-pace crank, since I wanted the 175mm arms, and I wanted to see how the Bio-pace worked. I put fenders on to use it as my foul weather bike for the winter.

thumpism 

I got into these when they first came out. I was a Peugeot rep and got one of their first as a sample. Sold it to a tall friend and when I quit repping got myself a used Trek 720 to ride to school. I really liked that bike but it was short! I mean wheelbase; I could wheelie that thing without trying, and on an normal bike I can't wheelie to save my life. Anyway, that bike was stolen from school.

While still repping I'd bought an early Trek 510 (Ishiwata touring) frame and decided to use it in place of the stolen 720. Sandblasted the blue paint off, had a local framebuilder do a mess of braze-ons (cable guides and stops, bottle bosses, lowrider and rack bosses) and I rattlecanned it with Krylon Titanium (got have some TI on your ride) from Lowe's. Built it up with assorted stuff and it works fine. Unfortunately, there's only room for a 30C tire on it, so tire choice is limited.

AngryFrankie

Here's a bike I built up specifically for exploring in the city, including the many patches of trails that link up different neighborhoods. I've always thought it was interesting how nice some of the earlier hybrids were, when they were really just a reaction to trying to pull in buyers that weren't sure they wanted a mountain bike. They were really the first 29ers, some of them.
Lucked across this 750, which I let my newer 730 go to make room for. Built with some nice XT stuff off of an old mtb thrift store find.

simmonsgc

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I see plenty. That's a cool build, man. As they say, "If the pedals cost more than the bike, you know you're doing it right."

SAXON 28

Hi

Not Hybrids but VINTAGE.

Nice to see some still enjoy and use the OLDER Bikes, I have two restored MTBs, one Nisiki Arial and one Alpine Star. working on a GIANT from 1979.

Both have elevated stays and from the 80s, had to replace many components but luckily a good second hand market for Bio Pace rings and old XT and XTR components in the UK.

Had to Fit Rock shocks as getting old and bikes used every week in forest conditions so muddy and full of tree routes, One place I normally stop is full of what I call the Posers of the bike world, they have spent thousands on frames and gear, cant use it and have not got a clue how to fix it.
Guess you get them in the US as well.

Just got back from a night ride and covered in S--t so off to clean the bike. have fun as the older Bikes turn eyes and I believe will last a lot longer than some of this new stuff on the market, the Carbon Fiber Cannondale in my garage with a cracked in the frame is proof in my eyes.

SAXON 28

adventurepdx

I'm really digging the resurrection of this thread. Some nice bikes posted recently.

Don't know if I posted this before, but my submission to the vintage hybrids. I had a 1992 Bridgestone XO-3 that I owned for a bit over a year. The XO-3 was the lowest on the XO totem pole for that year, and had 700C wheels vs the 26" the others did. I did a bunch of changes to it, and then sold it maybe too soon. (I was trying to thin the stable for my upcoming custom bike.) I used it as my daily driver, and did a bit of touring on it too.