Metieval

It's a good bike way ahead of its time.

Call it fitness, hybrid, gravel, etc... it all applies.

I just find thru axel disc brake and 700x50, and a weight diet all desirable traits. I'm still on the search.

campfire

I agree, it was ahead of its time. But these days it is getting further and further behind a modern bike. I'm on the fence whether to swap out the bars or simply upgrade to something 20 or 30 years younger.

As for tires, I'm running a 700x47c on the front of mine (Marathon Greenguard, measures an actual 47mm). Might fit a 50 on there. But the back just barely clears a (measured) 38. So it's only halfway there...

campfire

daywood put this in this Schwinn thread. Seems to show a 40 on the back of a Crosscut, but I'd be surprised if it's truly 40mm wide. 38mm is pretty snug in mine.

SkinGriz

700x2.35? Or are 650b or 26” good enough?

BTW, nice bike. How’d the paint job hold up?

Metieval

It is powdercoated with Prismatic powder. Tougher than tough.
I had on 700x38 pasela protite. I had also ran 700x40 x'plor MSO. I remember the rear being full but the front having more clearance.
To run 650b would gave been a hassle with brakes as I put hydraulic rim brakes on it magura hs11

On thinning my herd, I couldn't sell the bike. So I gave it to my nephew. Xt Saint shifter, xt rd. 11-36 casset. 44t wolftooth chainring on a 2x 6600 ultegra crank. with my old 2005 era mavic kysrium elite wheelset. The agreement was he couldnt ever sell it.

Now I'm down to 2 bikes my rlt9 rdo, and my Giant Trance advanced 29er. I'm generally on rough chunky gravel. I sold my 2015 himod scalpel. It was too to twitchy on the lose over hard descents for my liking.

I'm in a huge mental debate over 3 bikes at the moment to replace my xc scalpel. Niner sir 9, scalpel HT, or a kona unit x. The hudski looks ideal, but I don't want the aluminum frame. I love the geometry of the scalpel ht, but I would really like to ride the sir 9 853 steel.

The gravel I see, can't really call it gravel, is. CO, Alpine loop type stuff. Western AZ double track.

I figure the unit x is out for weight and the climbing, if I over night I'll just drop 700x50 tires on my rlt9 rdo.
The niner sir 9 is too much trail bike for long gravel rides.
But the scalpel ht, with a sid sl with lighter tires and low stack sit-in feel seems to hit the sweet spot for some un laden nasty gravel road, serious climbing, fast rough descending gravel rides. And then there is stuff like Long gravel rides at Crested Butte Co where the scalpel ht would shine. But so would my rlt9 rdo.

But the sir 9 853, mute feel seems ideal. I'm just worried its too much trail geo for longer gravel rides.

Choices suck... I just know I have an empty spot for 1 bike right now.

Being that the scalpel ht is 100mm fork. Converting it to rigid running a 2.35 29er ,would be an ideal flat bar gravel bike for some of the stuff I see. The biggest con of that carbon scalpel ht i see is the rebound on its compliance. It bucks bad!

fishboat

Recently built up Trek 7.5FX WSD hybrid..err..gravel bike..err..wide tire road bike..do-all, fast, wide-gearing go anywhere lightweight bicycle that fits my girlfriend without needing to spend $1000-$2000(she has roadbikes like this if required). One key to making it this work is a JTEK #7 device to compensate for the front derailleur pull from road shifters.


..and a second Trek 7.5FX WSD hybrid/gravel/road/bicycle for the vacation home

Metieval

Oh wow, FX makes a cool drop bar bike.

I really want to experiment with a surly corner bar now.

fishboat

Ya..they are nice bikes. Stock they come it at 21ish pounds, can handle wide tires, carbon fork in the 7.5FX and above, typically most are 3x up front, good component groups on 7.5 and up...and they fit my GF. The final Reach is similar to her well-fit road bike. This is the usual problem with drop bar conversions..whatever you're converting (hybrid, MTB..) often already has a long top tube and adding in drop bars just makes the (handlebar)Reach to the road-shifter hoods that much longer, often too long to be comfortable. Like many women, my GF fits one size bike due to her legs and another size bike due to her torso. The WSD FX series frame reach works for her.

A FX DB conversion, buying all required components(canti brakes, Koolstop pads, shifters, bars, cabling.....) new, including a JTEK #7 device to compensate for the front derailleur pull from road shifters, is around $250-$300. Looking for a great deal on an FX is key..used prices have gone up..but so has the cost of new bikes.

t2p

super job on the FX builds !

but we should expect no less from the infamous ‘fish boat’ !

Metieval

I was looking at bikes. Saw the marin dsx flat bar gravel bike.

And it is QR.

I get it its a budget bike.

The question is why do manufactures make hybrids and flat bar gravel bike budget bikes?

If they made them of higher quality, through axel and at least deore groupsets. And if they wasn't lead bricks.

I guess I'd blame manufactures for hybrids having a bad rap. They are very useful fun bikes, but they only come in turd flavor.

Jeff Neese

Here's my wife's version of that same exact bike. Her other bike happens to also be a Rockhopper, set up pretty much as originally intended with flat bars and fat tires. The rural area we live has mostly dirt/gravel roads, and rigid steel mountain bikes with big tires are perfect for 80% of our riding. The wide gearing also helps since it's somewhat hilly.

But I wanted to build her something for the MUP. She had just gotten back from a trip where everyone rented bikes for the paved path along the ocean, and they were single-speed, coaster-brake beach cruisers. She said she had a blast riding it. So I built her this. She's running on Pasela 26x1.5.



That's my Trek 750 with drop bars in the background. It was actually marketed as a hybrid back in the day. I'm running Schwalbe Little Big Ben tires.

It's always mostly about the tires. Multiple wheelsets make a bike SO much more versatile, and I have that with all my mountain bikes (all rigid steel). Road bikes not so much - I can't swap wheelsets between any of mine.

Inusuit

Is this the original "hybrid?" 1989 Specialized Rock Combo.

Jeff Neese

When I think of "Hybrid" I envision a road bike with 700c wheels, just with fatter tires and flat bars. That looks more like a factory-produced MTB with 26" wheels, and a drop bar conversion. It looks like they took a Rockhopper or Hard Rock frame and just used a tall, short stem needed for drop bars.

I've done a couple of MTBs with drop bars, and the fit never seemed quite right and I always went back to flat bars on those frames. Notice how the position of the handlebars looks like if they turn too far, the bar ends are going to hit the top tube, which is what I found on my attempts. I've used a thick layer of clear Gorilla tape to protect the top tube, but it looked dumb and the whole setup seemed awkward. There's a whole thread on MTB drop bar conversions, but to me it's just a bad fit.

My "hybrid" is a rigid MTB like that (Trek 970), retaining the flat bars but with skinnier tires. I also put skinnier tires on my Rockhopper and thus turned it into a hybrid, but that bike is on the trainer now.

DorkDisk

I have a bunch of vintage 26ers, and a fat large wheel is a different experience. I've been enjoying this 2013 Marin Muirwoods for 10 years now, currently with a triple and 48mm slicks. Its a bit heavy but very versatile and has modern disk brakes and modern geometry. My drop bar Trek 750 conversion is lighter and capable of faster speeds, but has much less tire clearance, so this bike fits a nice niche for me.

SkinGriz

I thought it was normal for a bike with drop bars to have the bars foul the frame if someone attempts to spin the bars around.
I’m not saying it needs to be so, just that it isn’t unusual.

LesterOfPuppets

Very common. On bikes with shifters and brakes, often the cables will keep the top tube safe from total annihilation from bar impacts.

For those that ride track bikes with no cables, top tube protectors are often used.


https://www.retro-gression.com/produ...tube-protector

Jeff Neese

Naturally it depends on stem length and height, and also specific drop-bar shape. On all four of my current road bikes, the top tube fits inside the bend, so worst case is that the top bar hits handlebar tape. I think that's been my experience all along for all my road bikes, once I adjusted handlebar height to fit me. What I found putting drop bars on a MTB is that the bar ends, which also include shifters, are always lined up to bang into the top bar. Just like the Specialized above.

Jeff Neese

It's not as bad as banging into the top bar, but I don't want anything banging into my cable housings either. Besides, aren't most cable housings on the top, the bottom, or inside the top tube?

This is what I used. It's pretty thick stuff and wrapping it around 4 or 5 times gives you a nice thick layer of protection. It really is crystal clear so from a distance it blends in. I also use this for chainstay protection and for cable rub. You can't even see it, except at the edges.

Crystal Clear Gorilla Tape

EDP

I have a Gravel bike. It's actually from Flatbike and is a folding full sized 38mm x 700c tire bike.

I love it, but think it'd be perfect with a light duty front shock. Sometimes I am on dirt trails with a few roots and rocks as well and it's a jarring ride even with a carbon front fork.

So essentially I'd like a light duty, slim tire mountain bike with road style handlebars.

Metieval

Go find a hardtail.
Put a surly corner bar on it (or clone of)
Install skinny tires. Done.

I rode a hardtail 29er with 700x40 x'plor MSO tires. At high PSI and being an aluminum frame, roots could get jarring.

With a steel frame and tubeless gravel tires, which are now available in 45c and 50c. Ren herse has a 2.2 / 55mm. It would be a great gravel, rough trail bike.

poiuyt

Coming from the "hybrid side" (at least technically), I'm more a proponent of calling "flat bar gravel bikes" "flat bar gravel bikes" rather than "hybrid", for a simple reason: hybrid is for me an historical term, that doesn't describe a "usage", and that covers a too wide range of bikes to be relevant (fitness, commuters, cross (European way of saying a light off-roader, different from cyclocross),...).

I in fact also call my "hybrid" a "flat bar gravel", because it shares much more "functionally" and usage with gravel bikes than other categories, so by saying that people understand directly. If I say have an hybrid, I usually have to explain that hybrids are historically road bikes with MTB features, and that my hybrid is in fact an hybrid between an hybrid and a MTB. A bike with a 46/30 crankset, 11/42 cassette, 40-45mm tires and gravel tires - I have "inner bar-ends" for an hand alternate position, but miss the "drop position". I'm using it in group rides with gravel bikes, it fits right in. A bit better on rougher off-road (wider flat bar, suspension, gearing), but a but not as good on road (mostly the body position, upper gearing is the same).

mstateglfr 

I dont call my gravel bike with a drop bar a 'drop bar gravel bike' when describing/referencing it. Not sure why anyone with a flat bar would say 'flat bar gravel bike' when describing/referencing their bike.

poiuyt

Drop bar is the default, no need to add it. Not saying that anyone with a flat bar would say "flat bar gravel bike". In my case, I say it because I'm using it as a gravel bike, equip it with gravel components (when relevant - using a MTB components instead of GRX allows a wider range, for example), search for gravel tracks when going into new regions, participate to gravel events/rides, so saying "flat bar gravel bike" is clear for every one about what I do with it, and the kind of components it has. I'd be using this bike on tarmac, I'd call it differently of course...

BMC_Kid 

I guess for me, when gravel bikes became the latest thing, they were predominantly road bikes with drop handlebar set up with fatter tires. Most at the beginning IIRC were road going cross bikes, generally with road groups, not mountain. My BMC CX01 was very similar to my SLT01 geometry wise in most dimensions with the exception of the BB height. I built it up with 10-speed SRAM Red to ride the gravel roads and single track winding around and through the local ranches. So, to differentiate mine from the majority I started calling it a flat bar gravel bike. When it came to my new home here in Bahrain, it became my hybrid, all around city-gravel bike.