Nokton

I am about to become the proud owner of a "new", 1991 vintage Marin Eldridge Grade frame and fork.

I plan to convert this to a mostly black drop bar gravel road and trail bike. The frame is coming with a headset and seat post, but will be bare other than that. I plan on having the frame powder coated in matte black and then starting my build.

I'd like some suggestions for other components, in black, that I might want to consider. I'm mostly a vintage bike guy, but I'm open to doing this build with vintage or new parts, as long as they're black. I'm not going to go with all period-correct parts like I do on some of my builds, I'm just going to build a fun, useful bike on a nice old frame.

I can get a set of all-black wheels with Shimano T4000 hubs and Weinmann Zac 19 rims at a good price and it's likely I'll use these.

I can't decide about 8, 9 or 10 speed for a cassette, but I know that I want a black triple crank set. I'd also like to get black cantilever brakes and levers that will fit drop bars.

I'm probably going to go with bar-end shifters, but don't have any strong preference for friction or indexed shifting.

I'd like to find some wide, somewhat flared drop bars in black and a quill stem, also in black.

I am going to use red brake and shift cable housings for a touch of color.

The reason for this being all black is that last year I built a bike in all white, with the exception of silver components, on a Specialized Sequoia frame and this is going to be its companion bike.

I will post pictures of this build when I start it and when I hit 10 posts. I started a post of a couple of my vintage bike projects the other night and got a message that I couldn't post URLs (apparently even to images I uploaded on this site) until I have 10 posts.

Any suggestions for components, especially high quality, but fairly budget friendly ones, in black would be greatly appreciated. I don't know a lot about bike components since the middle 1980s

TIA

Nokton

I _was_ having a hard time figuring out components for this project because of the necessity to have a front derailleur and crankset that works with the rear derailleur, cassette and shifters.

Then, it dawned on me to take a different approach--I _have_ a multispeed mountainish bike that I like the gearing and shifting on (a 2015 Trek 8.5 DS) so I said to myself. Self, I said, why not see what's on the Trek and use the same stuff?

With that approach, it was pretty easy to figure out that 9-speed Deore M610 front and rear derailleurs would work with a 26/36/48T crankset and that either 9 speed Dura Ace or 9 Speed Microshift bar-end shifters would be compatible with this.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read my post.

due ruote 

ThermionicScott 

^^ Here's the thread: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...nversions.html

@Nokton, I love my drop bar conversion, and ride it all the time, but I wouldn't get too precious about components like the stem and handlebars when you're first building it up. Since vintage MTBs have different geometry from what we're used to in road bikes, you may find that you need more or less reach or drop than you expect. In other words, be prepared to swap parts for a while until it fits right.

tonyfourdogs

Looking forward to seeing this build progress, Nokton. I've just finished cleaning up and rebuilding my 91/92 Marin Palisades Trail which may or may not end up as a drop bar conversion. Rode it out for the first time today and it's like an armchair on wheels. SO comfortable! Will post pics when I've given it the once over.

simmonsgc

This is most excellent advice. I've done 5 now, and this has been true EVERY time.

Nokton

First, let me say thanks for all of the excellent advice, I truly appreciate it.

Next, I noticed that it's true on one bike that I "unconverted" a mountain bike from drop bar conversion to a conversion with Nitto Choco bars. I thought that the stem length would be right, but the new bars reached back so much further than I expected that I ended up with two reasonably expensive Nitto stems to get the fit just so. I'll keep this in mind. I'm hoping that a middle length Kallo Dirt Drop stem will get me somewhere in the right area for fit, but I guess I won't really know until I try.

Thanks again!

CliffordK

I'm just starting on a vintage Cannondale conversion/rebuild.

A few of the choices I'm looking at are wheels.

So far, Velocity Cliffhangers are the only wide tubeless ready rims with machined sidewalls for rim brakes that I've found in 26".

I'm planning on adding a dynamo to the front wheel, and front and rear racks.

due ruote 

clasher

There's a lot of neat looking flared drop bars coming out for the "adventure/gravel" scene but I dunno how many of them are still 25.4 clamps, not a lot of 31.8 quill stems out there. I've built a few drop-bar MTB conversions and echo the stem length comments above. For black canti brakes I don't think you can beat a set of new tektro cr-720, 15$ a wheel on amazon. Heaps of clearance and easy setup with lots of adjustability.

Nokton

I'm hoping that the Origin8 Gary 2 handlebars will be a good fit for my build. They seem like they will be, but I guess I'll have to wait and see. The first step is going to be picking up the frame and taking it to the powder coater.

mrv 

howdy - i just undropped my old MTB. I had Gary bars, bar end shifters, Cliff Hanger wheels. 8 spd. All black components.
I switched to: Jones 2.5 SG loop bars; Paul Thumbies for my 8-spd shimano; Paul Love Levers; my black ORIGIN8 black cranks broke (like just snapped above the pedal man!!) , so I installed a set of SUGINO I purchased for RivBike for a different project.
Eventually I'd like to paste more really expensive parts on this cheap frame, like some Paul MotoLites - so far I'm greatly preferring the Jones Bars, as the top tube is soooooo loooong on this Frame - like 60cm.

Hopefully this helps you visualize your project. Let me know if you have specific questions.

CliffordK

For 31.8, there are two options. Either finding a quill (open face is nice), or to find a quill to 1 1/8 threadless adapter, when then opens up a huge variety of stem possibilities.

For a road style drop stem, there is this one. Not a lot of selection. 80mm only?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/351784121927

Perhaps a couple of welded stems?

For MTB style angled up, somewhat of a larger selection, with Origin 8 stems leading the pack with a couple of sizes.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ORIGIN8-PRO...W/291752283499

Then, of course the adapters.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Origin8-Ste...k/331918080947

Going with the 31.8 open face stems allows a wide variety of bars, including the "winged" flat top bars which are comfortable for riding on the tops.

due ruote 

Those look good. When I did my Stumpjumper, I already knew I like Midge bars, and wanted to use a 25.4 quill stem. That made it harder, as Midge stopped producing the 25.4 bars some time ago.


The conventional wisdom is to set up dirt drop bars so that the drop is the default hand position. For most people, that means setting them up so that at least initially they seem on the high side. It can be an iterative process to get it right, but I find these bikes to be a total kick to ride, and well worth the effort.

lacro

I too am interested in the Jones 2.5 SG loop bars, especially with all the hand positions. I don't want to buy new brake levers and shifters, and would like to keep my XT shifter/brake combos. I think I can do that with the Jones bar where it wouldn't be possible with a drop bar. My conversion to road riding is a GT Zaskar LE mtn. bike that has a longish top tube. The hardest part for me seems to be stem height/reach which is daunting to say the least! I currently have an 1-1/8" threaded headset since I converted to a rigid fork for this conversion. I am following this thread with much interest.

My clean slate:

John E

I hated the Ritchey flat bars on my mountain bike and seriously contemplated switching to drops, but cutting about 2cm on each side and adding extensions helped immensely. I now have the much-needed neutral wrist rotation hand position one gets with drops, and the ability to change hand positions for pain or fatigue, just as one does with drops.

beicster 

I am debating this same thing right now. I love the look of drop bars on an old mountain bike but I can't make it comfortable. I have ordered a set of of the Velo Orange Daija Far Bars to see if I can make those work. If not, I am not sure whether I will go with something like a Bosco or more like a Jones Bar.

crank_addict

I like what you got going here, due route.

Just in from a night ride with my mash-up Stumpy. Nothing really matches and it was built on donor parts, scrap frame Tange prestige direct drv. whatever. Wide Midge On-one bar mated to an early Specialized quill riser stem with the cable feed thru the middle. My time to boast about how piles of junk parts is part of a fantastic all around rider. The headset is probably parts of three brands, same goes for the seat post. A real mash up that all came together. Some even from the B.O.C. thread here. Vintage Continental all slick / 26in. X 2. For road use thinking of taller gearing and mess with the Sat. AM group riders the ones with zappy shifting CF bikes. Hehe

https://www.flickr.com/photos/49390831@N08/albums/72157663892157897

due ruote 

jcb3

simmonsgc

Nice bikes all around lately on my favorite BF thread. Yours is sorta the perfect color for this kind of bike, I think. How do you like the Thunder Burts? Using them on pavement at all?

EDIT : Whoops, I got confused. I was thinking I was in THE show your dropbar conversion thread. Oh well, old age and senility will out, I suppose.

simmonsgc

I get that. Sometimes the junkyard dog builds are the best ones, when bikes seem to fall together, and all the bits play nicely -- as if by magic. Reading your post made me think of a very long project to re-do a 1988 MB-2. I think I've posted the album here before. It came to me as a beat-up frame with mismatched fork, and I built it up with parts on-hand, and commuted on it for a year, and it was AWESOME. Then I decided I had to re-do it. It sorta fought me every step of the way, and now that it's all "fancy" it's just not the same. Contemplating reverting it back to more of the 'zombie apocalypse' bike it was before. To be fair, most of my issues have involved the new drivetrain. The old one was effortlessly happy. I guess the lesson is that sometimes it's smart to leave awesome enough alone.

The whole tale is in the album here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/MDAIyNhATgwuzGlR2

jcb3

fliplap

Plus of those Kalloy stems is that they're cheap and tall, I've got one on my drop bar Schwinn Mirada. Minus is that the stem clamp is really wide, making threading some bars impossible without spreading the clamp. You can do the penny trick, but the bolt hole is blind, so you'll need a thin nut to fit both the penny and the nut in the slot. It's doable, just a bit finicky.

Nokton

I got my frame last night and here is a picture:



Next comes stripping the frame down and taking it to the powder coater for a matte black finish.

I know that I need to remove the headset from the frame for powder coating. Can anyone tell me if the studs that cantilever brakes fit on are removable?

Finally, I thought that I was getting a Kalloy Dirt Drop stem, but I need a 1 1/8" quill stem. I'd like to do a Kalloy or Kalloy-style stem, but I may need to use something else. Suggestions?

Last, a warning that this build is going to take a while and likely won't be finished until well into next month. I probably won't even get it in for powder coating for a couple of weeks yet.

Thanks for all the responses!