bconneraz

I left the gearing as is, and it works pretty well on the road. I rarely use my granny gear, however, when I have a loaded trailer full of groceries, it's nice to have as I live in a fairly hilly area. When the time comes, and I need to replace chainrings/cassette, I'll probably look at a set up that's more similar to a touring bike.

wrk101

Some MTB cranksets are more like compact cranks with a granny. My 1989 Cimarron came with 48/38/28 chain rings, and on the rear I am using a 11/28 7 speed cassette. So other than the granny, gearing is not much different than my road bikes (all have compact cranksets).

blart

Has anyone ever seen a 26.2mm clamp before? What I assume to be an '87 "Street Stomper"

LesterOfPuppets

Yeah back in the freewheel days the 48/38/28 was pretty common, mated nicely with a 14t small cog. 44 t big rings got to be pretty common when 11t little cogs did.

I have 39/52x11-32 on mine. Works well for lots of road riding on 1.5 or smaller tires.

I also used a 52/39 for STXC this year but stayed in the 39 the whole time for those races.

frantik

i don't include the granny gear and sometimes I change the cassette to a more narrow one

finnyct90

I rescued this one from the transfer station metal dumpster.
Except for the tires, everything has come from the parts collection.
I went with the old 7 speed, RSX bifters that I have been saving for a fun project.
All I need to finish it is the proper front derailleur. The IRD compact triple derailleur works great with bifters and MTB triple rings.
Now to search the inter web for a nice vintage Trek saddle, as this one appears to have been a chew toy.

bconneraz

Looks fast! Nice job on giving a cool bike a second chance on life.

Bikedued

Grinning ear to ear. Just pulled off a tubeless conversion on Araya RM-20's. Yep the lightening of the Stripped M500 continues. I also found the fork I may use. A Carver carbon tube fork, though it's a little pricey. There's not a whole lot of lightweight 26" forks with canti mounts out there, and the Carver is a 1 inch steerer. It has available clamp on canti mounts that can be mounted anywhere on the fork. Has anyone ever used one of these?,,,,BD


Bikeman Carver Bikes Rigid Carbon Mtn Fork 410mm, 1 Inch!

frantik

i owned a fork branded by a different company that looked identical, but i never rode it. i found a Trek "System 3" steel fork to replace it that was lighter..

Bikedued

I could swap forks with the red Cannondale, the frames are pretty close in size. At least the chrome would somewhat match the bike. Or, I could just paint the whole bike, and not have to deal with the constant polishing. Here on the Gulf Coast, it starts to get hazy in a week or two of sitting inside the garage.,,,,BD

Number400

My old GT. One more round of mods.

Just put some 700c wheels on it and a SOMA CX fork. Rides so much nicer now than before.
1993 GT Timberline
- Salsa Cowbell II drop bars
- Ritchie stem
- Cane Creek 40 headset
- SOMA XC Fork
- Race Face Respond Crankset
- CX wheelset pulled off of my Raleigh CX bike. I am going to tubulars on that bike
- Sora 8 Speed STI shifters
- SRAM 8 Speed Cassette

Now just waiting for my long reach caliper to come in. I am finally rid of that u-brake!

VeloSTW

Here is my MB-1 drop-bar conversion:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/950753...7634959300983/

It's had a drop bar since I bought the frameset NOS from Bridgestone mid-90s when they liquidated.

Did a 650b conversion for Compass 42mm Babyshoe Pass tires recently. Still works with the 26"x2.25" Schwalbe Furious Fred wheels if I adjust the pads 1/2" down in the slots.

I changed the gearing to 51/28 x 14-32 after the 650b conversion because I didn't have enough gear choices up high for the fast road riding these tires like to do. The previous 46/38/20 x 13-28 gearing was set up for Utah single track which I used to enjoy on this bike (with drop bars).

My preferred road gearing for mountains here is 50/30 x 13-28 with the crank set up with an inboard chainline so the big ring works with the whole cogset. So I stay in the big ring for all flat and rolling and moderate climbing, and switch to the 30 for steep or long canyon climbing.

This 51/28 is the gravel version of that and works fine so far. The 28x32 is fine for the steepest gravel roads around here. The 51 gives several fast cruising gears and even the 51x32 is 42" and ok for a lot of climbs.

anixi

^Very nice! Although, you could probably use a larger frame. You might consider trading the frame for larger here:
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...l#post17014493

VeloSTW

Thanks, cool site. Yeah, the MB-1 is sized for mtb and the stand-over height is better for single-track and lower than I'd use for road. But it has the right top tube length for me and the bar/saddle height difference is the same as I use on my road bikes, and comfortable for me over distance.

Furcifer

Early 90's Trek 800. This is my commuter, which had been hanging in a shed for years when I bought it. Actually got two at the same time, one silver one blue. Neither would roll or shift or anything before overhaul, but after I must say they have been very solid bikes for commuting and casual rides.

Ive been slowly doing this and that to it:

Bikedued

The C'dale conversion got a weigh in during the ride. It went from 25 pounds even, to 24 pounds and 5 ounces. Not too shabby!,,,,BD

cobrabyte

Cleaned up my Rockhopper the other day. I've got some stainless steel 26" Berthoud fenders in the garage that I've been toying around with the idea of installing.

Specialized Rockhopper by (cobrabyte), on Flickr

Paramount1973 

Mine are 48/38/26 with 7-speed 11-30 cassette and 46/39/24 with 8-speed 11-32 cassette. I ride a hilly section of MUP on my commute with some rather steep ascents and steep gravel roads with some singletrack in a nearby park so I am changing the gearing on the first bike from 7-speed to 8-speed with a 11-32 cassette and a 24t granny ring.

cyclotoine

Just got back from a 5 week tour in Norway and Scotland. This is my partners conversion.

due ruote 

I'm using 28/38/48 with a 13-26 8 speed. I'm in the flatlands and a 12-21 would actually probably be better. I absolutely never use the granny ring.

orangeology

superbe!

Velocivixen

So I've been considering converting my 1992 Specialized Hardrock to drop bars. It's got Shimano Indexed 7 speed Rapid Fire below the bar shifters which work great. Trying to figure out my shifting options. Looks like I could either: 1. get 7 speed grifters from auction site, etc. OR 2. Use friction bar end shifters. I know that Shimano makes bar end shifters, but don't go to 7 speed.

Could I use Shimano Ultegra Bar end shifters (8 speed) like these? I upgraded to Shimano Deore XT rear derailleur (RD-M735) Does spacing with 7 speed freewheel (new Shimano 7 speed) play nicely with the pull actuation of an 8 speed indexed shifter? I do know where I can get shimano bar end friction shifters for cheap, but LOVE indexing with this setup.

Universal Cycles -- Shimano SL-BS64 Ultegra Bar End Shifters

Grand Bois

Those 8 speed shifters will work for 7 speed. My wife's bike is set up that way.

Velocivixen

@Grand Bois - Great to hear. Thanks!

dphilips

I'm in the process of a build that will use 8 speed indexed shifters with a 7 speed derailleur and cassette. I've seen a bunch of conflicting information on this combination but enough positive reports (see the amazon reviews for the SL-BS64 shifters) to try it for myself. You'll want to be sure your derailleur limit screws are set to prevent the 8th gear on the shifter from being reached.