Hypno Toad

Great timing! My mechanic at the LBS just recommended the Gevenalles too. I did go with the Woodchippers and Gevenalle's - told the LBS to start the order. It'll take a couple weeks to get the parts and time to complete. I'm excited and hope that the bars are the right 'fit' for my riding.

superstring

Hi neo_pop_71. Thanks for the compliments! Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as the DKG Shift-Ease mounts are concerned, I don't think they'd be compatible with my Dura-Ace 9-speed shifters.

neo_pop_71

Hey superstring,

You're not wrong about the D.A. 9 speed not being compatible, spot on with that, I just wanted to point out another great DKG product that works beautifully on a drop bar conversion. I should note for anyone that might be confused that the Shift-Ease mounts work with Shimano shift pods that can be removed from the brake levers.

Again, really nice build, thanks for sharing!

-D-

neo_pop_71

Hypno Toad I think you're going to really pleased with your choice of shift levers, the Gevenalles (RetroShift before being bought) are a great alternative to Shimano STI or Campy Ergo levers. I've run them on a couple CX builds and they work flawlessly, I have nothing bad to say about them. I just finished up my ultimate gravel grinder/ commuter / CX "parts" bike and I ran a 1x9 RetroShift set up with a black Ultegra derailleur and a XT 12-32 cassette. I opted to go with a Kooka crank and bashguard and a 34 tooth chainring because the compact drive matched up perfectly with the gearing to handle everything around me as a grab and go bike. I don't have pics of the finished build but I did snap a few progress shots, here are a couple:
-Cheers

Hypno Toad

Thank you for the feedback! & nice looking bike, I want to see more pictures when their ready!

neo_pop_71

Hello thumpism-

Greetings from one proud Cimarron owner to another, I always love seeing others' Cimarrons. I'm always intrigued by the variety of set ups on Cimarrons, thank you for posting yours. I have to ask, are those white wall slicks on your Cimarron? If so, would you please post the brand and size. I like the look of an oversized slick tire and I'm a big fan of white walls but I hate the blocky (is that a word?) look of white wall cruiser tires. I'm building a custom Electra Rat Rod cruiser right now and those tires you have would be absolutely perfect on my cruiser. Please let me know when you have a free moment and thanks for your time!

Best regards,

-D-

p.s. Here's some proof how much I dig white walls... my '63 Sweptline with wide whites... love 'em!

thumpism 

Those are not whitewalls, but aged, faded (and probably unsafe by now) Specialized Fat Boy 1.95 skinwall slicks from the '80s. Must be the age and the garage light that makes 'em look like whitewalls. Don't know where you could find the tires you want, but good luck tracking them down.

*edit*

I used to work in the bike biz and checking a former employer's online catalog I find what is likely to be the closest thing you'll find to what you want. Not a true slick, but minimal tread on a fat whitewall carcass. Perhaps your local shop can order them for you, item TIRE6062 in the Hawley catalog.

Hawley

neo_pop_71

Hey thumpism,

Right on! That link is for a tire that is just as cool as a slick, reminds me of an old hand cut slick. Those tires will work beautifully for my Rat Rod build and the time they are back in stock by mid-March I should have the build done and ready for some fresh skins! I really appreciate you taking the time to hook me up with the link, cheers to you for your effort!

Have a great weekend... hopefully with a ride or two,

-D-

p.s. Here are a couple progress shots, I know they are not C&V but I figure it's fair to share given the help provided. I just managed to fit a 1 1/8th" steer tube White Brothers DC110 "downhill" (it was downhill 20 years ago when it came out) fork onto a 1" steer tube frame by swapping the dual crowns. Please ignore the hideous layback seatpost as it's only there to hold the seat I had recovered in black leather with a vintage Rat Fink patch, I'll be fabricating my own Lucky 7 post to match the body line once assembled.

thumpism 

Cool! I have the perfect C&V piece for that one-piece BB shell, an O.M.A.S. shell adaptor consisting of two alloy pieces that slip into the shell, one from each side, held together by bolts, and each is threaded to accept a "normal" British-thread BB cup. I thought I had a photo of it, but I must not.

eliphino12

Looks good. I have done this on two bikes, coverting Univegas to fixies. Did you have any trouble with the chain alignment? Mine always were a tad off which would result in the chain slipping if the back skewer shifted at all

BigSung

Hi Sixty Fiver,

Can you let me know what you are using for the light mount by the fork? I just installed Ortlieb handlebar bag, and I am having issues with mounting my light. Even with the handlebar extender to mount the light, it is still blocking my light partially. That small bar/clamp looks like a solution that might just work for me. TIA.

Sixty Fiver

Salvaged some straight bars for this but there is a lot of tube stock one could use, PVC tubing is easy to work with and a popular choice for light mounts like this;

The outer drilling was oversized to let the bolt head pass to the inside while the inner matched the bolt and fender mount, because it was a non tapered bar I was able to pop bar end reflectors on each side to give it a nice finished look after a little wrap with black tape.

I have made lots of these, it is a pretty easy job.

BigSung

Would you mind posting a close up? This seem to be one of the better solution for my situation.

BigSung

What size is the Apex and how tall are you?

Chunt61

1995 M2 Comp 19" conversion. With parts bin and new levers, less than 100 dollars to convert. Will probably switch from a 120 stem to a 100 soon. A little stretched out for my taste.

arex

I'm kind of in the same boat. Even though I'm tall with a long torso, the stem I'm using stretches me out uncomfortably. Fortunately, I have a few other stems to play with.

BradH

18" frame, 71.5" tall.

wrk101

One good work around is to install a threadless stem adapter. Then use whatever threadless stem you want. That is what I did on my Ross. I usually avoid those threadless adapters, but sometimes they work so well, it just makes sense to use them.

arex

That's what I have. Figured it'd be easier for trying different rises and reaches, especially since there's not a lot of road-type stems for 1-1/8".

BigSung

At 5' 8" with 30" inseam, I am wondering if I need to start looking into 16"/16.5"/17" frames. Both my road bike and my Salsa Vaya have ETT of 54cm, and Stand Over are all under 30 inches.

wrk101

Focus on TT length instead. I am 5-9 (thought I was 5-10) and my drop bar bikes are from 19 inch to 20 inch frame size. I did 21 inch frame once, needed a super short stem on that one. The earlier you go, the shorter the top tube tends to be. Mine are all from the mid 1980s. By the 1990s, top tubes got really long.

This is a generalization, there are of course plenty of exceptions.

The first bike that I started this discussion with was a late 1980s Univega Alpina Pro. 18 inch frame, black chrome finish. I wanted so bad for that bike to fit, but it was too small. So it moved to another home.

The good news with rigid frame mtbs is that they tend to sell at a reasonable (low) price. Almost all of your upgrades will transfer bike to bike. So if you get the size wrong, just find another one that fits, transfer the parts, and you are good to go.

I really like the Schwinn Cimarron. Right now, I have three different sizes. Once I sort it out, I'll probably move two of them on to new homes, and just keep one.

I documented this somewhere, but I had three MTBs that were all 20 inch frames. There was a 2 INCH difference in TT length from the shortest to the longest!

BradH

By swapping the stem for a shorter one I got my reach where I wanted it when I added the drop bars. Top tubes were really long back then. For reference my stepson's 16.5" 1991 Trek 850 has a 56cm top tube and a 10cm stem. By swapping in an 8cm stem your reach would be like your road bike.

BigSung

Due to the shorter inseam, I have been focusing on standover height. My current rigid MTB is a 19 inch frame that has TT length of 23 inch (58.42cm) that I use as commuter using trekking bars. It is really a no name brand, but it was my first bike that I purchased back in the late 80s. It has 4130 steel frame, albeit a heavy one. For sentimental reasons, I will probably never let this one go. But after reading this thread, I am tempted to get one going with a drop bar, and I am realizing that I should be focusing on the TT length that matches my road/touring bikes.


My road bikes currently have the following ETT:
- 2005 Litespeed Teramo, size M, ETT 54cm with 90mm stem.
- 2013 Salsa Vaya, ETT 54cm with 80mm stem.
While my mtn bikes are around ETT 57-58cm (~22.75in)

I also have a 94 Diamondback Apex in 20 in frame which has ETT of 23 in. I had planned to use it as my commuter using trekking bar, but it's too big for the drop bar. So I have been looking into something smaller in size. I have noticed that late 80s and early 90s rigid MTBs tend to have longer TT compared to early 80s. 1992 18" Diamondback Apex has ETT of 58cm (22.8in). I have noticed that Trek 900 series seem to have a bit shorter TT than Diamondbacks. Looking at 1992 Trek's:
- 16.5" ETT 53.9 cm / 21.2 in
- 18" ETT 56.5 cm / 22.2 in
- 20" ETT 57.5 cm / 22.6 in

My search continues.

BigSung

I have the same setup on my Salsa Vaya, bar end for FD & STI for RD.

BigSung

Quick question on bar end shifters. How would Shimano Ultegra BS64 work as bar end shifters for 3x7 drivetrain? Ultegra BS64 is a 3x8 shifter, but I believe it should work on 7 spd. Any pros and cons on Ultegra BS64?

I have been monitoring Suntour barcons, but it's a little more pricier than I want to spend. Ideally I might go the route of replicating the current setup on my Salsa Vaya by using barcon for FD, and brifter for Rear.