Hybrid Bicycles - I'm looking into doing a drop bar conversion on my hybrid. Help!?

I have a hybrid with a 3x7 speed drivetrain. I would like to switch out the flat bars for drops and add some brifters. However, as most of you probably know, 3x7 brifters are IMPOSSIBLE to find. Here's my question: could I switch out the 7 speed cassette for a 5 speed cassette without any issues? Will I need a new rear derailleur? Will I need a new freewheel hub? Are there any 3x5 brifters that you know of that I could get for $100 or under?

I forget what your particular bike is, but it may have a 7-speed freewheel. If that is the case, you will probably be replacing the rear wheel (or relacing the current wheel with a freehub/cassette setup). This, combined with the other costs involved in the conversion, may prove more costly than the original bike. Another option would be to go with barend shifters instead of brifters for your drop bars. You can get a set of barend shifters that will allow you to use your current 7-speed. I haven't seen any 5-speed brifters, though you may be able to find some vintage ones somewhere.

Another issue you may run into will be brake compatibility, as the linear-pull brakes your bike probably has will not cooperate well with road bike brifters. They do make linear-pull brakes that can work, though they have a little pulley that changes the mechanical advantage of the cable. It is a workable setup, though it does add to the cost of the conversion.

Have you considered trying a set of trekking bars on your bike? They will give you many hand positions (like the drop bars) plus you can probably use your existing shifters, brakes, etc.

just get some friction barcons and you can use any derailleur and any amount of gears

204622204623204624Just get some cane creek drop bar brake levers and maybe even the cane creek cross top inline brake levers if you also want brakes on the top bar still and just use trigger shifters. You can either dremel out the inside of the clamp to make it a larger circle so it'll fit over an around the drops onto the top or you can make a little tube and connect it under your steam to fit them on. It's what I did and it works perfect and it doesn't cost a lot. I'd leave those shifter/brake combo levers for the road bikes cause there can be to many issues involved with compatability and cost a lot of money. I'd rather buy an entry level road bike than spend a lot converting my hybrid that much. I changed my utopias set up to drops but I only spent prolly around 150 to change my bar set up like I did.

With patience you may be able to find some 7 speed brifters... they are out there.

Easier and less expensive would be to use bar end shifters and if you have v brakes will need some linear pull compatible levers like Tektros or switch your v brakes to cantis which are compatible with standard drop bar levers... or use travel adjusters to modify the cable pull.

5 speed systems predate brifters by some years so as far as I know, there are no brifters available for a 5 speed drives.

There are a lot of options for bar ends from vintage friction like Suntour, earlier indexed models from Shimano, and as far a modern stuff goes you can still find 8 and 9 speed indexed or buy shifter pods to adapt indexed downtube shifters which allows you to use 6 and 7 speed indexed downtube shifters.

are you sure you have a cassette and not a freewheel?

There are no such thing as a 5 speed cassette, there are 5 speed freewheels, but they are getting very rare.

Most road bikes use double chainrings; thus the 2x7/8/9/10 brifters.

Here are some 2/3 x 8: http://www.amazon.com/Shimano-ST-2300-2x8sp-front-rear/dp/B0038EI5K2/ref=sr_1_29?s=cycling&ie=UTF8&qid=1307156158&sr=1-29

One of the comments/reviews is not correct: 7 speed cassettes are 5.0mm spacing, 8 speed are 4.8mm spacing...

You could get an 8 speed cassette, remove on of the cogs, and put a spacer into take up the space. 8 speed cassettes are 4.5mm wider than 7 speed cassettes, removing a cog from an 8 speed cassette is no big deal. This will get the correct spacing for the indexing of the shifters, and fit on where a 7 speed cassette fits.

204622204623204624Just get some cane creek drop bar brake levers and maybe even the cane creek cross top inline brake levers if you also want brakes on the top bar still and just use trigger shifters. You can either dremel out the inside of the clamp to make it a larger circle so it'll fit over an around the drops onto the top or you can make a little tube and connect it under your steam to fit them on. It's what I did and it works perfect and it doesn't cost a lot. I'd leave those shifter/brake combo levers for the road bikes cause there can be to many issues involved with compatability and cost a lot of money. I'd rather buy an entry level road bike than spend a lot converting my hybrid that much. I changed my utopias set up to drops but I only spent prolly around 150 to change my bar set up like I did.

I like your idea. I could just buy travel adjusters, cane creek brake hoods (I was actually looking at those on amazon), and modify my current trigger shifters to go on drop bars. I still need to earn some money, though. I am a 15 year old without a job, and I need money to change my bar setup. I only have $30 so far. I will probably stick with my setup for a few more months until I change it. Thanks for all of the input!

Trigger shifters are one of my favorite shifting setups. I put some on my hybrid, and find them easier to use and maintain than brifters. If you can put together a setup that incorporates your trigger shifters, it would simplify your bicycle adjustments. It would definitely save you money over going with brifters.

are you sure you have a cassette and not a freewheel?

There are no such thing as a 5 speed cassette, there are 5 speed freewheels, but they are getting very rare.

Most road bikes use double chainrings; thus the 2x7/8/9/10 brifters.

Here are some 2/3 x 8: http://www.amazon.com/Shimano-ST-2300-2x8sp-front-rear/dp/B0038EI5K2/ref=sr_1_29?s=cycling&ie=UTF8&qid=1307156158&sr=1-29

One of the comments/reviews is not correct: 7 speed cassettes are 5.0mm spacing, 8 speed are 4.8mm spacing...

You could get an 8 speed cassette, remove one of the cogs, and put a spacer into take up the space. 8 speed cassettes are 4.5mm wider than 7 speed cassettes, removing a cog from an 8 speed cassette is no big deal. This will get the correct spacing for the indexing of the shifters, and fit on where a 7 speed cassette fits.

Getting a 5 speed freewheel is not hard to do... they are still in production but many shops don't stock them and there were 5 speed cassettes made early on... Shimano Uniglide came in 5 and 6 speed models but these are obsolete.

The shifter needs to match the cassette / freewheel for optimal shifting although differences of one between shifters and cassettes / freewheels can sometimes work fairly well... removing one cog and adding a spacer does not change the spacing between the cogs and that .2mm difference can manifest as a shifting issue.

Biggest issue is the braking as modern brifters are not designed for v brakes and front road shifters are not compatible with front mtb derailleurs... a friction bar end system addresses all the shifting problems as it is universally compatible and with a little time in the saddle one can usually learn to shift friction as effectively as one does indexed.

I am very inconsistent about my wanting to do drop bars. I think I will just get some nice barends and grips. I would like to get a new stem, because I just got an iPhone mount on my stem, and the viewing angle of the iPhone is way too obtuse. I need it to be as close to parallel with my head as possible. I think I will just keep and use this bike as is (with new barends and possibly a new stem) until I go to college, when I will hopefully get a decent roadie.

FWIW, I didn't know there was a difference between a cassette and a freewheel :o

I would suggest trying a trekking bar... really expands hand positions and only costs about $20.00 and will use all your existing hardware.

The only thing you will miss is a low drop position and will gain some other beneficial positions from the wider bars... your stem will probably need to be changed to a slightly shorter one when you switch from fflat bars to maximize hand position.

eh. 15 year olds.... i don't like the way they look at me. you can get cheaper inline brakes from performancebike.com and amazon.com has the cane creek bar end brake levers for cheaper than on the canecreek site I think and you can prolly get some inexpensive drop bars from the performancebike.com site too. you can go to a local bike shop and get the brake cables for a couple dollars as well as any housing you may need but you dont' need much. if you do want the inline levers as well you'd just need 2 7 inch pieces of housing caped with a ferral on one end to connect the drop lever to the top inline lever and you'll prolly wanna double wrap your bar and some people put some tubing foamy stuff from a hardware store under there bar tape to make it more squishy so your hands are more comfy. I think you can get everything for just under 100.00 You should just make a bar to put your ****ers on. get a peice of copper tubing from lowes or something, usually in the plumbing section but you'd need to cut it to size with a pipe cutter, usually about a 7 or 8 inch piece just depends on the kind of trigger shifters you put on it really. I just put the shifters on the tube and placed them as close together as I could get them without them actually touching and marked where I needed to cut then I cut the tube and used a small hose clamp for the center of the tube and then connected a larger hose clamp to the center hose clamp on that tube which I wrapped around the top of the stem and tightened up and it's real sturdy. If you don't like the silver metal of the hose clamps just wrap them tightly one or two times with electrical tape and you can also wrap the exposed part of the copper tube in tape to match your bike or bar tape and it's really hard to even notice there is a extra bar.

I would suggest trying a trekking bar... really expands hand positions and only costs about $20.00 and will use all your existing hardware.

The only thing you will miss is a low drop position and will gain some other beneficial positions from the wider bars... your stem will probably need to be changed to a slightly shorter one when you switch from fflat bars to maximize hand position.

That's a great solution. I thin you suggested that to me in the past. It would also allow me to put more things on the bars. Would I just put griptape on them?

eh. 15 year olds....

Remember, you were 15 once! I think I am probably just going to go for some nice barends and with some of the money I save, I'll get some 28mm tires/tubes.

I think I will just get some nice barends and grips.

if you set up the bar and bar ends right, they work pretty well :) you can wrap bar tape around them too :)

I'll be riding to the LBS next week to pick up some barends. I'll give my POS stock ones that came on my bike to my brother. He thinks they're cool. Keep in mind that my brother rides a front suspension MTB for city commuting with knobby tires, a milk crate jerry-rigged with bungee cords attached to his handlebars, and just realized he was riding on 20psi in the rear tire and 40psi in the front tire (out of the max 80psi of his tires). Some people...

Don't knock the milk crate! My milk crate morphed to a removable wire grocery basket on my rear rack, but I hardly remove it as it is so useful!

to bad you're not close by between me and my hubby we have extra parts i could have put it all together for you.