Fifty Plus (50+) - I did converted bybrid to road bike

OK Ok I believe i did it alot goes into modifying. My wife says i am tim allen with an attitude lol. Well she does anywhos i bought an insight1 and through the bike forum i was able to convert this bike the best i could Starting with trekker handle bars. changing the back gears to road bike type instead .Also have a larger neck as well 140 instead of a 130. You can see what i did through the attachment

heres more pics

Looks like you have been having fun. Wouldn't say it was a road bike just yet, but you have changed the character of the bike more in that direction.

i need a moderator to fix title of post it should read Hybrid mispelled. Thankyou. David

hey thanks tom coming from you that means alot. David

Boy, if you are out on the ends of those bar ends, you are stretched out a long way.

The trekker bar is awesome but depending on your bike you will have to change the neck as well. The next thing to work on is the peddles but most likely going to the shoe style. david

hey thanks tom coming from you that means alot. David

I hope you don't mind that I laughed out loud when I read this!

Perhaps I should have you talk to my wife and children.

that i'll have to test and see how she handles. Almost like putting a carb in a chevy sometimes you need to do more then just the carb lol Been there done that so to speak. But the idea was to get down more to help with elevation not upright where you get more wind in your face.

one thing i like about riding is the opertunity to take pictures. I have a canon 30d with a 70 200 macro lens. Love to take pictures

So get out and test ride- Hopefully next saturday on the annual PIE ride and get the pics to qualify.

Takes a lot to modify a bike into what you want but it does look as though you are going in the right direstion.

OK Ok I believe i did it alot goes into modifying. My wife says i am tim allen with an attitude lol.

Yup. You've acquired the disease. Now you're going to be modifying and building special purpose bikes for the rest of your life. Your wife should be happy because you'll be safely tinkering in your shop insted of out carousing.

i need a moderator to fix title of post it should read Hybrid mispelled. Thankyou. David

It needs more fixing than that. :twitchy:

SD, or is it sd, your conversion is looking pretty good. I partially converted my sons GT mountain bike into a drop bar commuter and it worked pretty well. You asked in your original post if we could see what you did. One thing that would help us "see" better is if you move your bike somewhere with less stuff in the background. It is hard to tell what is on the bike and what is behind it. Your pictures look like you took them in my garage. :rolleyes: Most of us close the garage door and lean the bike against it from the outside for a less cluttered view.

yes my lightimg was bad plus left over from Ike is baring down on us. Lighting is the key but thats a great idea. Thanks will reshoot also need to test drive it some more.

How does that frame compare with other sloping top tube road bike geometries?

ok here is some revamped shots

well if your asking if it compares with a trek 2.i lol not a chance but its light and would make a good touring bike now. I'll let you know how it rides after Ike passes ..

Can you even ride it with your hands out on the L-section of the bar ends?

I ask because that's mostly a mountain-bike type of frame. Mountain bikes frequently have longer top tubes than many road bikes, as they expect the hand position to be even with the end of the stem, whereas a road bike is designed knowing that people tend to ride on the hoods, which are extended well beyond the stem.

So you've put on a longer stem (140mm?) and a trekking bar, which moves the forward hand position to well beyond where a flat bar would have it. Then you put on the bar ends in such a way that it extends the far hand position another 4" or so. You must now be a good 8"-9" (200+mm) beyond the normal hand position. Even your shifters and brakes are well beyond where a flat-bar road bike would place them.

Of course you have many other hand positions with the trekking bar, including some that are closer than the end of the stem.

well whats nice is my lower arms rest on the trekker bar. Still waiting to test drive it. RAin rain rain..But i will make changes if i need to but this is a hybrid frame not a mountain bike more designed like a touring bike.

Tom i road it today the center point is about 4" forward then where the straight bar would be. the ballance is perfect because where the brakes are puts them to the side a bit still leaving me with plenty of ballance. As far as speed BIG DIFFERENCE. it almost feels lighter so to speak. No drag. The gears in the rear are smaller like taking a rear end thats a 370 and making it a 411. The rear gears that were on there seams to be for a mountain bike, but the big change was taking a 38 to a 28 tire and they swopt it out for me because the tire was only a month old and in good shape.

You are talking about the center point of the forward position of the trekking bar, correct? Then the end of the bar ends is out another 4" or so?

So you've moved your hand position forward about 110-115mm? You put on a longer stem and then added another 4". Can't say that I've ever heard of anyone making that big of a modification.

The original position must have been very cramped if the new position is comfortable. Now that your position is so much more forward, you will probably find that big soft saddle is no longer comfortable. Something narrower and firmer might be better.

ok t )o the meaty part of the seat ( where butt sits ) to the center point of where the grip is om handlebar ( where i hold to is 34" ) The whole purpose is to get my center point more down away from an upright position. Which i have accomplished but based upon where the old neck would be yes i am about 4" out. the good thing about this design is the trek bar gives me more rest on my arms as well. But my long term goal is to get a road bike but for now i am stuck with this one. but i do have it on craigslist

You are talking about the center point of the forward position of the trekking bar, correct? Then the end of the bar ends is out another 4" or so?

So you've moved your hand position forward about 110-115mm? You put on a longer stem and then added another 4". Can't say that I've ever heard of anyone making that big of a modification.

I wonder how such a large modification will affect the handling of the bike. Pay attention to that as you ride and how the bike responds on turns and quick shifts of your position to avoid potholes and such. When I was test riding the Roubaix they put on a short stem, the shortest they could go, thinking I'd feel more comfortable. I did not like the way the bike handled so I chose a longer stem instead and it feels comfortable. The short stem caused the handling to be too..... twitchy, for lack of a better word and felt unsafe. Safety and handling are two considerations when changing bars and stems.

OK, you've taken a hybrid and made a bunch of changes to it and got it to where you like it better for the riding that you do and now you've ended up with...................a hybrid.

The difference between a short stem and a long stem is only 1". The soul purpose of the conversion is to get down lower. Also changing the rear gears was a big plus. I would recommend anyone with a hybrid to do this. It only cost 50.00 parts and labor. The bike handles well but i do notice a bit of shake at times with the handlebars. If i can't correct this will have to look at a different set of bars. Another thought and tom this is where you come in. What if i got a road bike frame and just switched everything over to that. I know i have to change some things but am strongly looking at that option. David

i actually straightened the bars out. had them dipped to low. Feels a lot better handles well. Although the trekker bar i believe is designed for the flat part to be in the back like the straight bar is. What i was trying to accomplish was to get my head dipped down like on a road bike. IT works perfectly. Still will most likely move the brake leveler more out to the sides for better control. Over all it feels good and putting a road gears in the back instead of mountain gears she flies and handles smoothly. so over all i believe i have gone as far as i can go for now. PS any ideas lol...:rolleyes:

well i traded the bike sold the trade and got a trek 1000. So i guess that makes me a trekie...

Wow! What led to that position? You bought a popular bike.

well yen its gone i traded it for a gt legato and then i sold that one and bought a trek 1000. thats my new project. I will be changing the handlebars although. David

Now instead of converting your bike to a road bike, you have converted yourself into a roadie.

Tom this is the nicest ride i have ever been on. It handles great. Am looking forward to some trips on it. The bar i am looking at is the last bar on nashbar site under road handlebars. I took the rims of the legato gt which were almost new and put them on my trek. The rims were identicle and the cassette was the same. The tires were much better as well. I did leave the trek seat on although.
They were 28s instead of 25s. Whats amazing is how the gt legato 4.0 is almost a twin to my trek.
So now i am happily married...lol