Originally Posted by macaroni steve
great! thanks everyone for all the suggestions.
yes, I am poor
and i would much rather modify my MTB for long distance rather than up and buy a whole new bike. so I think I would like to make the following mods:
1) get slick tires
2) get drop bars. does anyone know of any good ones out there that would fit on my mtb?
3) get new shifters. right now I have those rapid fire platicky things and I loathe them. any suggestions for something better with instantaneous action?
4) a fixed front fork. again, any suggestions?
5) I guess i could use a decent bike repair book also. i'll look around this forum for suggestions.
thanks!
You may need a quill or stem that fits your fork/headset and also is sized for a road drop. Tourers often like to use bar-end shifters onthe end of the drops. And friction shifting has durability and serviceability advantages especially for road repairs, so consider that over indexing. Also you can buy fixed forks with a geometry optimized for replacing suspension forks (i have one from Surly).