turky lurkey

I Put some drop bars on my '87 Diamond Back Apex, for my first drop bar conversion. The bike has some interesting features, such as Huret downtube shifters, bio-pace chainrings, a u-brake, XT-pedals, and 1.5" Schwalbe Marathon's. Just finished this project this evening and I probably won't ride it for a couple days do to the fresh snow that's been falling all day. I rode this bike a few thousand miles in it's flat bar form as a commuter and trail rider. I thought I'd finally admitted it's 18" frame was a little small for me so I'd robbed some of its components for another project, a drop to flat bar conversion on a road bike. Then it occurred to me that the drop bars I took off of the other project would fit on this bike and might make the length more comfortable, next thing you know I was playing musical components again and transferring some of the components back to the Apex and robbing another bike for the road bike flat bar conversion project. Anyway, I think the Diamond Back will fit better in this form, I hate to give up on such a cool old MTB!.

frantik

sweet Diamondback

Number400

Posted this before but now it's finally out of the basement and has some miles and on it. Rides, tracks, shifts great and is quite comfortable. It was a mint $25 craigslist bike that was mostly destroyed in an accident last year. I love that bike and was determined to rebuild and ride it again.

Budget build but makes me happy to ride.

turky lurkey

Hey thanks! You are obviously into your Diamondbacks! And vintage mtb's in general. What component group came on your '86 Apex? Mine has mostly Deore which works great but I think previous ones were XT?

There is an Ascent of roughly the same vintage that has been abandoned in front of my college's recreation center since the middle of last summer. It has a lock but hasn't moved, has flat tires and some obvious mechanical issues, the u-brake cable is disconnected on it and one of the shifters is taken apart. I guess the owner figured he didn't know how to fix it so just left it there. I really want to save it from the dump and I asked campus security if I could have it, unfortunately no, they would rather have it rot there for now. They said they give all the abandoned bikes to some guy and the end of the year who refurbishes them. Apparently some lucky guy already has the monopoly on getting all the free bikes.

dyander

I really love these bikes, everything from the true dirt-drop vintage MB race bikes to our budget built do everything bikes like turky lurkey's DB and Number 4000's GT on this page. Now with a month or so of fit and road testing behind me, I am still blown away by how the bike completely fills the needs as my everyday bike,

and my main rider in this rural town where the best roads for riding turn to dirt.

I spent the last few years trying to get the right ride set up to hit these up and down dirt and gravel roads. My touring bike was great going up but too harsh and hard to control on the descents even with dual pivot brakes. The flat bar MTB set up was ok too, but with only one riding position it was hard to enjoy the longer rides.
Now I'm in heaven, the wide drops and hoods give plenty of riding positions, control when you need it and some flex for comfort and confidence in the descents. With the compromise 26 x 1.75 tires to handle the dust and gravel without giving up too much on the street and the great rigid frame MTB comfort to take up the cobbled, rocky or washboard patches, every ride is a blast.
Thanks to all the inspiration on this thread, I am a true convert.

turky lurkey

Nice looking bike! The budget aspect is great, the only things I bought for my conversion so far that I didn't already have was a new freewheel, clamp on down tube shifters and a longer bolt to make the shifters work with the bigger tubing. I can't wait to try mine out on some local trails and gravel roads but I think I might wait until the snow melts a bit, though that might be awhile. It's snowing now and we are supposed to get another 3-6" inches on Monday. Maybe I should just put the knobbies on and give it a go with some low tire pressure

WNG

Turkey Lurkey:
I think a pair of conventional Cane Creek brake lever hoods would fit your levers. Nice Apex! You'll find the extended bar position will yield a fine fit at the hoods.

Number400:
Wonderful job on the Timberline. Nice save.

WNG

Great photo! And wonderful conversion, just love the Bianchi celeste. I would love to find one to make my 2nd one.
I agree whole-heartedly. I'm hooked too. These bikes are so confident in off road trails. They open up riding opportunities that would be too tough for road bikes.
With my current 2.1" CX tires, I even take it single-tracking in really difficult conditions.
Swap on 1.75" commuting tires and it floats over pavement. And a pair of 1.25" slicks allow me to hustle pretty effortlessly.
A true SUV of bikes which won't cost an arm and leg, yet the return is pure satisfaction.

dyander

+1 on some lever hoods

Sorry about the weather, we tend to get spoiled out here on the sunny coast, but right now I trade a month on my trainer for a foot of rain. This will be a scary place this summer if we don't get some rain soon.

turky lurkey

Yes good plan with the hood's guy's I'll get some ordered pretty soon. I just came back from a snowy 12-14 mile ride into the front range on a rural paved then gravel road. I should have put on the knobby tires like I said I was going to do, instead I rocked the marathon's at about 25 psi. and it was little slippery. It was fun though, everything working well on the bike and it feels comfortable.

Vonruden

turky lurkey

nice stump jumper! And quite the mural behind it.

frantik

dang my gf has the same stumpy, also with drops. i still gotta take a pic. it looks like your bike is uh, getting fresh with the lady there

Vonruden

Just a teet bit.

revcp 

Received tires in the mail today (26x2.4 CST Cyclops. For those used to metric, that's 61mm!), so nearly finished with my conversion.

Started tear down about a month ago and have been slowly building it back up. Derailleurs are stock (Suntour XC), brakes are stock rollercams (with new brass pulleys from a BF member), crank arms are deore xt that I had on hand (spindle hole on the non drive side arm was rounded, so it as try to buy and match or used parts bin crankset. Esay choice), with stock chainrings from original crankset (good thing, as the xt rings were biopace). Bars and non aero levers are from a donor 1984 Miyata 210, bartape is planet bike, saddle is a selle royal from a 1985 Miyata 610 (which is now sporting my Brooks B17 Special honey colored with matching bartape), shifters are $20 ebay suntour barcons.

Hoping to post a pic this weekend. Should be a great commuter/hauler/gravel grinder.

inkandsilver

Whoa, sounds great. You must have to deflate those tires to get them past the rollercams, right? I struggle to get 1.95s through, even with q/r on the levers and cable hanger. But maybe I'm doing it wrong. I look forward to the photos.

trailmix

I love this thread, these bikes are so cool. I can't wait to get mine done but other projects keep sneaking in front. It was supposed to be ready by the start of winter, obviously not going to happen.

revcp 

Actually, no, I can put the wheels in with the tires inflated (mounted them about an hour ago). I pop out the pulley plate (or whatever you want to call it) and the wheel then slides in just fine. I was kind of surprised, as the tires really are huge.

revcp 

Quoting myself here so as not to repeat all the specifics. Only thing to add is that the barstem is also from the Miyata 210 donor. Below are some pics. Sorry about the quality. It was dusk, hovering around 0 degrees and I was using my camera phone. only thing left is to rebuild the front wheel in the spring with a dynamo hub (Shimano or Sanyo) and put a light on. Okay, and maybe fenders. But that's it. Except for bottle cages and bottles. And maybe a front rack. But no more.... See, this is how the insanity happens.

wrk101

Roller cams = sweet!!

due ruote 

Nice Schwinn! Between the fat tires and those awesome brakes, it looks like fender installation could be interesting.

inkandsilver

Badass!

likebike23

Lovin' that sierra!

WNG

That's the 2nd High Sierra rolling on those 2.4" salamis and roller cams posted here! The other was smoked chrome I think.
Looks great! Don't forget to give a road test/tire review. Curious as to how the traction is, given the lack of tread.

revcp 

Thanks. Maybe, re fender installation. If you look at the final photo, the "head on" photo, there's more room showing than you would think. The challenge, as you point out, will be getting the fenders to sit under the pulley plate, but I think it's a possibility.