Show Your Vintage MTB Drop Bar Conversions
#7176
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Thanks! I actually have a late 80s Miele road bike that was given to me by a neighbour with one broken aero brake lever. Since I won't be keeping it or selling it for anything more than $300 I am on the lookout for cheap alternatives and that would probably do the trick vs spending double or more on tektros.
And you can get them in long pull and short pull versions depending on the types of brakes you are using.
#7177
Newbie
Front rack is a cheap Sunlite Gold Tec which I've strapped a Wald 137 basket to and tossed a Dark Realm 137 basket bag in. I've heard some stories of this rack failing under heavier loads, and for a while I was kicking around the idea of getting a similar Nitto rack for the peace of mind, but then I also came across stories of steel Nitto racks failing when people attached baskets and overloaded em. I think the moral of the story is that any front rack that attaches to the canti posts, no matter how shiny/expensive, should be treated gingerly and not overloaded. While touring with this bike, I try to keep my high volume-low weight items up front and put the heavier stuff in the saddlebag. If you want to put a lot of weight on the front, it'd probably be better to get a rack that attaches to eyelets near the axle.
#7178
Junior Member
Rescued this from a dumpster and kept it over 70% original, it is now my dedicated winter rig/ errand runner. I even sold my touring bike in favor of keeping this.
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#7179
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Here's my second dropbar mtb build - 1993 Trek 950. Almost all original aside from the conversion. Great handling and fit using a threaded-to-threadless stem converter. Using the MicroShift 3x7 brifters everything works well, though the FD indexing is a bit off due to the mismatch of road-mtb pull ratios. I have a barrel adjuster to make this manageable, but needing to stop before a big climb and make adjustments to use the small ring is a bit annoying. Any suggestions or tips aside from replacing the original Deore LX FD with a touring FD?
I have a '93 970 that I did a drop bar conversion on. I run Tourney 3x7 shifters into the stock top pull XT FD. The Tourney and FD match up perfectly...at least it shifts like you'd expect on any road bike with a triple. I've read here on BF that any of the DX, LX, XT series FD work well with road shifters. My only experience is with XT/Tourney combo. I'd either continue to tweak in your LX(I suspect there's a sweet spot there somewhere) or look for an XT.
Nice bike. Mine is now a dedicated touring bike and it's a wonderful ride. Did a 61 miler on it today..shakedown ride for an upcoming tour.
Nice bike. Mine is now a dedicated touring bike and it's a wonderful ride. Did a 61 miler on it today..shakedown ride for an upcoming tour.
I was going trough my 970 today and had to disconnect the FD cable..which means I "lost" my perfect nice-shifting setup on the front end. It was tough getting it back(apparently I stumbled into the right setup when I first assembled it on the first try..). After futzing with it for a while with marginal success I disconnected the cable, loosened up the inline barrel adjuster to about mid-travel and started from scratch. Followed a mix of Calvin Jones/Park Tool video and RJ-Bike Guy's video..a little more tweaking & I now have good FD shifting back. Whole setup (success) seems to be particularly sensitive to the low limit screw adjustment. Determined my RD hanger was a bit out of alignment(slight DR rumble after completely setup) and fixed that..but that's a different issue. Please post back if you ever get yours adjusted in. I may be picking up another similar bike(same components) and it would be good to know where you netted out.
#7180
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Just f
Just finished converting a 1989 GT Team Avalanche that I have had for about 30 years. Test rides around the block were good. I found that I was between the middle and large chainring on the MTB triple and am trying a road triple. The 3x7 shifters are Micronew brand and seem fine.. To get the XT front derailleur to work with the shorter throw shifter I ran the cable on the opposite side of the clamping bolt, as suggested somewhere on this website.
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#7181
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Some how I missed this question from post #7134 from July 10th of this thread and did not reply.
https://www.bikeforums.net/22136304-post7134.html
My powder coated 1989 or 1990 Trek 950 which was originally that same bright blue,
has upright bars, a Sunlite alloy North Road handlebar and a 1" quill stem adapter plus 8cm , 25.4 clamp stem, Origin8, I think.
A pic here on this upright bar thread.
https://www.bikeforums.net/20739318-post155.html
and here...
https://www.bikeforums.net/20630352-post139.html
Safe riding to all
Last edited by cooperryder; 09-09-21 at 09:12 AM.
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#7183
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Nice bike. Actually a 750 DB conversion may be one of the best conversion-types as it can handle larger tires and the frame is a bit lighter/more road like. I've been thinking about building up a 750 myself..one of the more versatile frames ever made, and there's lots of them around.
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#7184
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In 2000, I was looking to do something like this to my Multitrack, but fell hard for a Kona Jake the Snake (figuratively and literally... washed out on some gravel on a test ride) so just traded it in for that. Never regretted that, but I think the trek would have been a fun bike.
#7185
Hoards Thumbshifters
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Here's my second dropbar mtb build - 1993 Trek 950. Almost all original aside from the conversion. Great handling and fit using a threaded-to-threadless stem converter. Using the MicroShift 3x7 brifters everything works well, though the FD indexing is a bit off due to the mismatch of road-mtb pull ratios. I have a barrel adjuster to make this manageable, but needing to stop before a big climb and make adjustments to use the small ring is a bit annoying. Any suggestions or tips aside from replacing the original Deore LX FD with a touring FD?
Last edited by mechanicmatt; 09-17-21 at 09:07 PM.
#7186
Bikes are pretty neat
Here's my second dropbar mtb build - 1993 Trek 950. Almost all original aside from the conversion. Great handling and fit using a threaded-to-threadless stem converter. Using the MicroShift 3x7 brifters everything works well, though the FD indexing is a bit off due to the mismatch of road-mtb pull ratios. I have a barrel adjuster to make this manageable, but needing to stop before a big climb and make adjustments to use the small ring is a bit annoying. Any suggestions or tips aside from replacing the original Deore LX FD with a touring FD?
If you don't mind me asking, what make/model of threaded to threadless stem adapter did you use here? I am doing a really similar conversion on a 1992 Trek 7000 with a 1 1/8" threaded headset (same Deore LX groupset that will be coupled to the same 3x7 Microshift shifters on a modern bar/stem setup) but am struggling to find a 1 1/8" to 1 1/8" adapter that is tall enough (and reputable/safe enough) to allow me to use a more common 7° stem rather than a normal/shorter adapter and high-rise 35°-40° stem (like I had to do on an '89 Hardrock build I did last year) to achieve a similar stack height and bar position. Your adapter extension and stem setup is what I am looking for as well, so any and all information you can provide here would be much appreciated!
Last edited by EB_AZ; 09-17-21 at 10:22 PM.
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#7188
Newbie
Bought this bike from a local shop 2.5 years ago. They had converted it to drop bars but there were many things I wanted to change, mostly cosmetic, some functional. I'm finally done with my modifications. It's a 1991 Bianchi Ibex. Took it on my first overnight trip a couple weeks ago and I love it.
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#7189
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Bought this bike from a local shop 2.5 years ago. They had converted it to drop bars but there were many things I wanted to change, mostly cosmetic, some functional. I'm finally done with my modifications. It's a 1991 Bianchi Ibex. Took it on my first overnight trip a couple weeks ago and I love it.
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#7194
Senior Member
It was never a Salsa. Those were leftover decals from a resto-mod I started and traded off before I finished it. It is not a Voodoo either. I couldn't find replacement decals for what it was and these looked cool so I used these. It's a Performance M103 frame made of True Temper OX Ultra 2 and the fork is a Tange bi-plane from a 1983 Specialized StumpJumper.
#7195
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Could these bikes be used in a gravel bike race or do they have specific rules as to what makes a gravel bike?
#7196
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There are often times separate podium categories for singlespeed and fatbike, which helps show just how varied the bikes used can be.
#7197
Junior Member
PCons713,
I was going trough my 970 today and had to disconnect the FD cable..which means I "lost" my perfect nice-shifting setup on the front end. It was tough getting it back(apparently I stumbled into the right setup when I first assembled it on the first try..). After futzing with it for a while with marginal success I disconnected the cable, loosened up the inline barrel adjuster to about mid-travel and started from scratch. Followed a mix of Calvin Jones/Park Tool video and RJ-Bike Guy's video..a little more tweaking & I now have good FD shifting back. Whole setup (success) seems to be particularly sensitive to the low limit screw adjustment. Determined my RD hanger was a bit out of alignment(slight DR rumble after completely setup) and fixed that..but that's a different issue. Please post back if you ever get yours adjusted in. I may be picking up another similar bike(same components) and it would be good to know where you netted out.
I was going trough my 970 today and had to disconnect the FD cable..which means I "lost" my perfect nice-shifting setup on the front end. It was tough getting it back(apparently I stumbled into the right setup when I first assembled it on the first try..). After futzing with it for a while with marginal success I disconnected the cable, loosened up the inline barrel adjuster to about mid-travel and started from scratch. Followed a mix of Calvin Jones/Park Tool video and RJ-Bike Guy's video..a little more tweaking & I now have good FD shifting back. Whole setup (success) seems to be particularly sensitive to the low limit screw adjustment. Determined my RD hanger was a bit out of alignment(slight DR rumble after completely setup) and fixed that..but that's a different issue. Please post back if you ever get yours adjusted in. I may be picking up another similar bike(same components) and it would be good to know where you netted out.
Sweet build pcons! Thanks for sharing this here. These 90's Treks make such classy drop bar conversions, especially with a modern bar/stem setup.
If you don't mind me asking, what make/model of threaded to threadless stem adapter did you use here? I am doing a really similar conversion on a 1992 Trek 7000 with a 1 1/8" threaded headset (same Deore LX groupset that will be coupled to the same 3x7 Microshift shifters on a modern bar/stem setup) but am struggling to find a 1 1/8" to 1 1/8" adapter that is tall enough (and reputable/safe enough) to allow me to use a more common 7° stem rather than a normal/shorter adapter and high-rise 35°-40° stem (like I had to do on an '89 Hardrock build I did last year) to achieve a similar stack height and bar position. Your adapter extension and stem setup is what I am looking for as well, so any and all information you can provide here would be much appreciated!
If you don't mind me asking, what make/model of threaded to threadless stem adapter did you use here? I am doing a really similar conversion on a 1992 Trek 7000 with a 1 1/8" threaded headset (same Deore LX groupset that will be coupled to the same 3x7 Microshift shifters on a modern bar/stem setup) but am struggling to find a 1 1/8" to 1 1/8" adapter that is tall enough (and reputable/safe enough) to allow me to use a more common 7° stem rather than a normal/shorter adapter and high-rise 35°-40° stem (like I had to do on an '89 Hardrock build I did last year) to achieve a similar stack height and bar position. Your adapter extension and stem setup is what I am looking for as well, so any and all information you can provide here would be much appreciated!
Last edited by pcons713; 10-04-21 at 03:48 AM.
#7198
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#7199
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UPDATE:
The Super Maxy non-drive arm had a crack (along with a variety of other factors) made fitting a proper bottom bracket difficult. I went with a SunXCD and had them install a new headset as well. Definitely need new brake pads. Plenty of little things need to be fine-tuned, but it's a bike! I can't wait to get on some good off-road terrain to really try this thing out!
#7200
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The Super Maxy non-drive arm had a crack (along with a variety of other factors) made fitting a proper bottom bracket difficult. I went with a SunXCD and had them install a new headset as well. Definitely need new brake pads. Plenty of little things need to be fine-tuned, but it's a bike! I can't wait to get on some good off-road terrain to really try this thing out!