simmonsgc

Do it! I wanna see it! What year?

superstring

Soon. Very soon. It's a 1990.

Bikedued

I've got an 86 MB-2 frame, thankfully not the moss green grey with red. I had it done up with moustache bars XO-3 style. Then it went to a mtb style with bullmoose bars. Thinking about drop bars now. I will have to find another donor bike for components.,,,,BD

simmonsgc

Enamel blue? That was always one of my favorite colors.

dddd

That large frame size looks like it will be perfect with the drop bar conversion.

Be sure to post your finished bike and report on how it rides.

That stem is as long as I would consider using on an MTB/Dropbar conversion, so hopefully the steering remains neutral while riding up out of the saddle using a (hopefully) wide enough bar.

LesterOfPuppets

That reach looks pretty darn long!

jstar1000

Yeah I will probably get a shorter stem for sure but for now I just want to get it rolling with as little money as possible and decide what to do next. I have my eye on a technomic stem for $35 on ebay at about 50 cm.

Pompiere

So, I swapped the hybrid wheels over to the Parabola, just to give it a quick test. I only rode down the gravel driveway and a little on the road, but it felt pretty good. I put the road tires back on since I wanted fenders for winter and I don't have a pair to fit the hybrid tires. For next year's season, I will be looking at this further.

dddd

I would sure want to test ride it with the 10cm on there to see how it handles, then consider the shorter stem. A 5cm decrease in stem length is huge in terms of how the steering will be affected.

superstring

Used to be. Now it's "Midnight Blue" (or at least that's what I call it). I'll see about taking some pics in the next couple of days.

superstring

Well, the weather's been pretty crappy the last few days. I was hoping to take a better picture, but here's one anyway.

simmonsgc

I like the dark blue. Reminds me of the dark blue that Fuji used. That's a nice build on your MB2. I'm running 1.5 tires right now too. I see you swapped to v-brakes from the cantis, and it looks like you are running take-offs for the shifters? They work well for you? Nice looking bike, man.

I spent a lot of the last two days cleaning and refreshing all the components for my MB2 build (the one I just got back from powdercoat). I'm using diacompe 986 cantis, and I had a mismatched set-- front was silver, rear was black. So, I used Strypeeze paint stripper to strip the black set, and then polished them up. Was even able to save the '986' decal. Cleaned and trued the mavic wheel set, cleaned the cassette, derailleurs, shifters, yadda yadda. Some of my tools are at a friend's shop; I just need to get my 5 and 6mm taps and tools to chase the BB clean, blow out all the media from the blasting, and then build it back up. I'll post some pics when I get it done. Hope it looks as good as yours. Thanks for posting it. Worthy of some better/detail pics when the weather breaks!

superstring

Thanks for the kind words, simmonsgc.

I like the Kelly Take-Offs; good on you for spotting them! Here are a couple of detail shots from the summer when I had the WTB Dirtdrops/Specialized RM2s and Specialized Crossroads on (The WTB bars are for sale, BTW). The rear brakes are WTB cantis, circa 1992.

I have the full Bridgestone decal set. I'm still debating whether to put them (or some of them) on or not.

Kdogbikes

Really nice looking specialized, jstar.

Hypno Toad

I have some questions for those that have converted a MTB to drop bars... I'm debating converting my Pugsley (not vintage, I know) to Woodchippers. I use the Pugsley for a wide range of riding conditions including: single-track (summer & winter), winter commuter, long touring rides (summer & winter), and have plans on some gravel centuries. I love the hand positions available on drop bars and the Woochippers would be great for style of riding I'd do with the Pugsley. My one concern is the shifters; it appears I can't get STI shifters to match my Pugsley derailleurs; therefore, I'd need to get bar-end shifters. I like the idea of bar end shifters for touring, but I'm concerned about ease of access on technical terrain. I am experienced with dropbars on a MTB - my primary bike is a Kona Dew Drop, which is basically a dropbar MTB. I ride this on summer single-tracks all the time and LOVE it. It has STI shifters, so I'm accustom to having brakes and shifters at my finger tips while on the hoods.

Please let me know if you ride single-track or technical trails with your dropbars and bar-end shifters, what are your thoughts and experiences. Thank you!

My other options is some old Scott AT-4 Pro bars, I have these on an old Rock Hopper out on loan to my brother-out-law (this is not my bike or photo, just for reference):



For reference, here's my beast:

Hypno Toad

Tell me more about these Kelly Take-Offs.... please. I'm very interested in this setup and your experience (see my earlier post about converting my Pugsley).

himespau 

Take-off's are great on a commuter. Especially if you're the type to ride with interrupter brakes. You can't really use them to shift from the drops (at least I haven't managed to figure out how), but from the tops, the hoods and other upright positions, they're super easy. If you're out somewhere and your RD gets banged, you just drop down into friction mode and keep on home until you get things figured out (with my 6 speed commuter, I never bothered and just kept on friction until I tore the bike down for other purposes).

superstring

Hey Hypno Toad

When shifting into a larger chainring/cog I go onto the drops and use my thumbs to operate the levers. When shifting into a smaller ring/cog, I wrap my thumbs around the brake hoods and use my two middle fingers. Either way you have lots of leverage (and control) and, with the Midge bars, it's easy to transition between the two positions. And, as I see it, an advantage the Take-Offs have over bar-ends is you always have both hands on the bars.

Hypno Toad

Talking to my guy at the shop, he hand another suggestion, anybody tried the Dyna-Sys MTB Derailleurs? & thanks to everybody for putting up with my over-analyzing and asking tons of questions.

zjrog

I have Salsa Woodchippers on my 29'er and like them a great deal. I sure do miss the Scott AT4 bars. I could almost aero tuck on my MTB back in the day...

Hypno Toad

What shifters do you use with your 29'er? And do you use this bike for tight/technical riding? I think I found the shifters/brake combo for this project - Gevenalle - but I'm still interested in other options.

The old Scott bars... I laugh looking back at myself in the early 90s: Since it was my only bike, I'd ride my Rock Hopper for road rides and get down low on these bars with knobby tires buzzing away. I recall one ride, catching and holding pace with a group of roadies, they wanted to drop me but I was having too much fun annoying them with the hum from my MTB tires on the blacktop. I wish I had a heart monitor back then, I'm sure I was blowing it up. Silly young kid I was back then, now I'm just older.

zjrog

The 29er I have was a gift from a great friend, and it has Sora 9 speed STI brifters. And, Origin8 inline brake levers up on the flats. This is a fun bike to ride and a lot faster than I expected...

Yes, I have a similar story about chasing roadies with knobbies in the early 90s. Best day was a lunch ride, chased down a weight weenie roadie always bugged me to try lightweight stuff... Dude, I'm a Clyde at 6'3" and 235 at the time... A few grams saved weren't going to help me out any... He heard before he saw me, he took off... I had a touring bike triple instead of MTB triple, so I hammered with a 53T chainring and caught him. Passed him. And left him behind. Got back to work, and couldn't stand up... He showed a few minutes later and the rest of my group right behind him. Weight weenie never bugged me about weight saving stuff again. And I don't think I ever pushed that hard again. Miss that level of fitness these days...

mattk42

In her latest incarnation. Though, not exactly the best angle. I'll have to take a better one with a better camera.

neo_pop_71

Hey superstring-

Really cool build you put together! Some dirt drop conversions don't look like they'd be much fun to ride, however yours looks like it would be an absolute blast to hit the trails on... really great job on the build! Seeing you run a DKG Strong-Arm brake booster (my favorite hands down), allow me to suggest you keep your eyes out for another great DKG product, the Shift-Ease pod mounts. A few years back I built vintage Yeti inspired gravel grinder, I also ran the DKG Strong-Arm brake booster as well as the DKG Shift-Ease on my dirt drop conversion. The Shift-Ease pod mounts keep you hands on the brake hoods or the bar tops for shifting accessibility. Again, really smart build you put together, I'd love to hit the trails on it some weekend and I can't say about many dirt drop builds!

Thanks for sharing, please post any updates, cheers!

-D-

Here are a few photos from that build:

kevins08 

[MENTION=381190]Hypno Toad[/MENTION]

Heres another option for the Puglsey, and you'd be able to use your existing shifters as well.

Gevenalle GX Shimano Dyna-Sys-Compatible Shifters - Shadow Plus

I have a surly troll with a salsa cowchipper bar and dura ace bar ends and xt shifters (9 speed). Its built more for touring and commuting rather than singletrack. Can't recommend the bar enough though, if you aren't dead set on the woodchipper. It makes the hoods as usable as the drops unlike the woodchipper, which would be useful for any serious offroading.

I'll have to post a few pictures, even though not necessarily vintage. I used the ergon high rise stem from ebay talked about previously in this thread and it worked out perfectly.