Oddest Prime

Hey all. I have a 2010, I believe, Giant Rincon and am looking for a few months of touring next year. I've been looking at bikes for the last six months or so because I can't make up my mind on what'd be good for me. The plan was to get a LHT, but I'm tempted to go a significantly cheaper route and am now most strongly considering building up an old steel MTB frame or replacing bits from my Rincon.

All of the parts on it should be standard, but I don't know my parts at all, so I could be off on some. Here's what I'm thinking for it: get 700c rims and tires for the road; keep my 26"ers for tougher tours. Replace my flat bar with drops or a butterfly. Replace and keep the suspension fork with a rigid fork. Maybe different, lower gears? Put some money into a tuneup because I know I need it.

I've already got a rear rack, panniers, a handlebar bag, a saddle bag, and lights.

Does this seem somewhat doable for a <$400 budget?

DropBarFan

Hmm, it's got a decent alu frame right? From the bit I read the components are OK if not great so perhaps not too much needs replacing. AFAIK the Rincon has a non-lockout front fork, a lockout suspension fork gives some extra versatility. One can buy fairly narrow 26"/559mm tires for touring so not really necessary to have 2-diff size wheels. Of course one can buy good used drop-bar touring bikes for $400 so it's sort of a toss-up.

Happy Feet

Not sure how you would put 700c rims on a 26" bike but...

Your lowest cost example would be:

26" rims with smaller road tires. There is no real difference between the two if you use the same style tire. People think 700c's may go faster but that is because they usually compare a skinny 700c vs a fat 26" tire. In that case it is the rolling resistance of the fat tire that makes the difference.

Cheapest bar option would be bar ends on your flats. Next is butterfly bars because you can use your same brake and shifter set. Drop bars will require different brake and shifters which add to cost.

Your crankset should be fine. It is a mtb triple which will give you low gearing for hills. I have basically the same gearing on my converted mtb touring bike as well.

The biggest question is the forks. If they lock out that's good. You pay a bit of a weight penalty but gain some versatility in having a dual use bike. If you can't lock them out the give of the suspension may become annoying on the road and rob you of some forward momentum when you crank. The problem is the cost of changing to a rigid fork that has disc mounts. If you can find one cheap enough then it's not that big a deal.

So,
26" good quality road tires 30-50 X 2 = about $100
Butterfly bars = $20
Forks = $?
Tune up = $50-$100

Total $220 plus cost of fork if needed.

Doable for < $400 but the question is, could you buy a better bike for $220-$400? The answer is... maybe. You could luck out but, unless you know the history or know bikes, you may buy a $400 bike that still needs repairs or is damaged in some unrepairable way. That is always the risk with buying used. If it's a deal, why is the person selling it so cheap? At least building up your own bike lets you know the history of it before hand.

Hope some of that helps,
Good luck.

sonatageek

I would not go with narrow tires on the 26" wheels. My everything bike is a converted Raleigh M-60 mountain bike that I have been running 26x2 Schwalbe Marathon Supreme tires for the past 6000 miles. Great ride, fast and can be run a few pounds lower in pressure to make the rough terrain not so rough.

DropBarFan

Those Marathon Supremes look pretty nice, a whopping 1/2 the weight of Plus's; & only about 100 g more than the 35 mm Tom Slick but with better flat protection. Wider tires give a large increase in comfort for the slight decrease in speed.

timdow

I would not put hundreds into a $400 bike. It would be far better to either find an entire rigid fork steel MTB, find a used touring bike or to purchase a new base-level touring bike like the Fuji touring.


In retrospect after converting two MTB's and upgrading one used touring bike, I would just purchase a used or new current touring bike like the Fuji or Novara.

bradtx

Oddest Prime, Welcome to the forum.

I used my mountain bike for awhile before building up a drop bar touring bike. It wasn't ideal for me plus I still use the bike on technical trails, so few modifications other than a rear rack. However it was a wonderful learning experience.

I think a ~2" road tire, a rear rack, bar ends (or a trekking bar) will be all that's needed. My mountain bike's fork can't be locked out, but I have the dampening set fairly stiff and there was little pogo'g even when turning up the power. Other than some unnecessary weight, it wasn't a problem.

Brad

DropBarFan

Could simplify things to first decide which type handlebar would be most comfortable & use a bike designed for that type bar, saves $$/time.

saddlesores

is possible, depending on frame geometry.
recently converted a 26" shwinn mesa to 700c.
straight fork had plenty of room to accept the
rims with the much smaller tires. used a pair of
take-off giant brand disc wheels with 700x25's.

only problem was the rear. rim and tire
fit very tight with no room for fenders.
BUT the FD mechanism that sits behind
the seatpost prevented install. would have
to go with a 1X.

had to buy a bolt-on derailler which moved
the mechanism more to the drive side of
the seatpost, along with a clamp-on mount.
was then able to run a triple after switching
out the bottom bracket to compensate.