hokiefyd 

I guess you can call this a "conversion", though I'll be happier with it if I ever replace the fork. This is a $155 bike I bought on clearance on Walmart.com last summer. The bike is known to be a Diamondback Overdrive MTB, and it's thought that Diamondback had a bunch left over from something, so they painted them blue and called them Redline Zanders (Redline is a sister company to Diamondback). It came with a 3x8 drivetrain (with cassette freehub) and cheap Tektro mechanical disc brakes from the factory, and cheapo Chinese tires. The fork is a cheap Suntour XCT 80mm fork.

I bought this in a Medium size because my Roam (in Large) is just a hair too large for me. Also, this has more traditional MTB geometry with a somewhat long top tube, and I wanted to limit the reach. After riding it some, I invested in some upgrade parts. The tires are the first generation of Vittoria Mezcal tires with graphene, they work very well, and I paid 20 bucks each or something like that on clearance from Chain Reaction. The front derailleur is an Acera M3000 and the rear derailleur is an Alivio T4000, both purchased used locally for something like 20 bucks for the pair. The shifters are Acera M3000, bought on eBay for cheap (and they are legit, coming in genuine Shimano packaging). The brakes are Shimano M315 hydraulic brakes I bought for $40 on eBay. Plus other incidentals like a new 9-speed chain and 9-speed cassette, bar ends I pulled from my bin, grips, etc.

More recent adds are the SKS Velo 65 series mudguards, which I endorse without hesitation. I made a custom "stay" using a strap at the back of the rear rack instead of the included stays, which is much more secure, and a much cleaner look. It also deconflicts a few things down at the dropouts (not enough room for everything!). I added the flap to the bottom of the front guard -- it's a piece of cork engine gasket material from an auto parts store. Because this bike frame didn't have any forward rack mounts, I procured the only quick release clamp/rack mount combo I could find (Giant makes it). Because the fork offers only preload adjusters on each stanchion, and no lockout, I currently have dowel rods in the fork stanchions (inside the springs), converting it to a rigid fork. This works well and I'd like to eventually replace the fork with an actual (and lighter) rigid fork.

I'm all in for very little money on this thing, and it's become one of my favorite bikes to ride. On to the pics...

hokiefyd 

Oh -- I forgot the saddle. It's an SQLabs 604 "Active" saddle, for which I paid $27 on Amazon as an open box item (they're normally about $80). There is supposedly a scratch on the underside somewhere, but I can't find it. I've been pretty happy with this saddle. The step-down nose/step-up seat area really helps with pressure points when riding.

The rear cassette is an 11-34 and the crankset is a 22/32/42. I find this combo to be about perfect for my riding. The low ratio is lower than I really need, and the 42/11 high ratio is as tall as I need. I don't pedal the bike much faster than 25 mph anyway, and that's about what a good cadence is with 42/11, so it works out just fine.

hokiefyd 

It was in a slightly different configuration in this picture, but this was biking in to DC to see cherry blossoms last year. I had about eight bottles of water plus the picnic lunch for 8 in the trunk bag in this picture...it rode great.

AU Tiger

How hard was it to convert the brakes to hydraulic?

hokiefyd 

Short version: it's truly as easy as unbolting the old brakes and bolting the new ones on.

Long version: this bike came with integrated shifters and brake levers with the factory cable disc brakes. Converting to hydraulic, and ditching the brake levers, meant needing separate shifter pods as well. I wanted to upgrade to 9-speed anyway, so I was going to buy shifters in either case. Fortunately, the rear brake used full length cable housing (rather than cable stops with exposed cable), so I could run the hydraulic brake hose without any other modifications. You'll probably note that my rear hose is way too long (large loop up near the handlebar); I bought these brakes used from eBay, and I just haven't re-sized the rear hose yet. The front one is perfect, but I could take about three inches off the rear hose and tidy up the cockpit area. The front is a post mount on the fork and the rear is an IS mount with a 160mm rotor mount. Outside of the shifter pod change, I simply unbolted the factory Tektro calipers and bolted on the new-to-me Shimano hydraulic calipers.

AU Tiger

I'm guessing it would be more involved with drop bars, where the brake levers and shifters are more integrated than on flat bars?

hokiefyd 

It's definitely more involved, and more expensive, with drop bars, yes. Even basic drop bar brifters (brake levers with integrated shifters) are well into the hundreds of dollars new, and I think that cost goes up when hydraulics are involved. The master cylinder is up in the brifter itself and it makes it larger and more complex.

There is another option, though, and that's a cable/hydraulic hybrid system. Tektro/TRP makes one called HyRd. It uses a regular brifter with brake cable and housing down to the caliber, but the caliper has the hydraulics contained within. It's a physically larger caliper unit, but it basically acts as a brake lever and caliper combined, with the cable from your brake lever pulling the "brake lever" at the caliper. That makes conversion to hydraulic easy, though it's still not inexpensive.

AU Tiger

It's probably the kind of thing that if I ever decide to upgrade to hydraulic brakes, I'd be better off just trading in my current bike for a newer one with hydraulic brakes already on it. Cyclists lived many years without hydraulic brakes, and I like everything else about my bike. So I'll probably just keep it as is for a few more years anyway. You just piqued by interest, so I had to ask.

hokiefyd 

We can't go to DC to see cherry blossoms, but our beautiful county park has plenty. I've been riding some of our older bikes lately, but I got the Zander out today and got a couple of pictures. There was enough of a break in the weather to get some nice riding in today.