surreal

good people:

Hi. I've got a pipe dream i am working on; i'm looking to make some sort of a touring rig out of an oldish, steel mtnbike frame. the thing has got the cable stops along the top tube, which i kinda like for all-weather touring and randonee. here's the problems/questions i got before i get my hands dirty and start wasting cash on silly stuff:

-will drop bars/barcons work with top-tube cable routing?

-i know i'll need a top-pull front derailleur. will these work with drop bars and barcons? anyone have any favourite picks for top-pull fropnt derailleurs?

-if i want to rock the cantilevers, will i need those funny things that one finds on various jamis bikes and surly crosschecks? it's some sort of cable-stop/cable-guide jimpson. what are those things called? how do they mount up? et cetera? et cetera?

yeah, just some basic info b/c i figure folks might ask, even though i dont think any of the info below will greatly impact the above: the frame is a kona, with butted 'kona' steel. it's pretty light, and it's a cool frame. comes with a rigid steel fork. i'm planning on using XD's (48/38/26) with a deore rear end, maybe an 11/32 cassette. the bike will, of course, roll on 26" wheels with sensible rubber. i wanna have drop bars for comfy hands on long rides, and i want cantis b/c they work better with drops. i want a 26" 'tour' bike b/c i figure it's better for all-weather stuff, possibly in grody conditions. plus, i fancy the idea of something different. i'm thinking of doing this 9spd, but maybe 8 spd. i'm looking to burn a decent amount of cash, but obviously the frame isn't 'worth' breaking the bank. i guess i'm just kinda hoping to goof around. i want to make this work pretty bad, but i'd abandon the whole thing for a different frame if it isn't workable. but, i'm hunching that it is, so any info would be crazy helpful.

TIA,
-rob

wsexson

I just built up a touring bike using Shimano 9 speed barcons. The front shift lever is friction (not indexed). I would think that it should be able to handle any front derailleur you want.

Do you mean center pull cantilevers? The kind that work with normal road brake levers? If so, then you will need the brake cable hangers. The rear one will probably hang from the seat post clamp. The front one would probably either go on your steerer instead of a headset spacer or on your fork crown where you would attach a fender. You say that the bike is older, so I suppose that it might have a threaded headset and the spacer version of the hanger wouldn't be an option.

Maybe you should think about using v-brakes and the Dia-Compe levers that work with them so you don't have to deal with the hangers.

My new bike has an XD300 crank, Deore M510 RD, and 11-32 9 speed mountain cassette. The barcons work very happily with this drivetrain.

caloso

surreal, you might take a look at the Rivendell website. Their riders have lots of interesting setups like the one you are talking about. BTW, it sounds like an awesome commuter/utility bike. Good luck.

HillRider

Bike Tools Etc has a number of parts you could use including cable hangers for cantilevers that replace a washer in a threaded headset.

Barcon levers are non-indexed for front shifting so they will wiork with any derailleur and any cable routing. The shifting action may be "backwards" from normal but they will work.

Last year I did the same conversion to an early 90's Trek hardtail/rigid fork MTB and it worked fine. I used a 105 STI brifter for the rear shifting and a barcon for the front. I got a 1-1/8" quill stem and the canti cable hangers from Bike Tools Etc. and a set of 25.5 mm clamp diameter bars from a LBS. Everything does what it's supposed to.