seely

Took a little ride with a friend the other day and got in my first truly long ride on drop bar MTB conversion.

At the start of the trail around 10 on Saturday:


First stop was about 15 miles in at my favorite greasy spoon:


My buddy got the only flat of the ride, my 800g Michelin's proved indestructable as always:


Shot of me from behind, trucking along at a 15-16mph average:


One of many road crossings. The trail turned to packed gravel/cinder about 30 miles in. The Michelins gripped well in some wet spots and rolled nicely on the gravel:


Bathroom break:


One of the half dozen rural towns we rolled through:


Road crossing nearer our destination:


We made it! We both ate a half pound burger and chips in about 10 minutes:


Overall the bike did great. I'm geared 48-36-28 x 12-32 8spd, friction bar end shifters. Gearing was great, plenty of range. The biggest problems I had were slight numbness in my hands (WTB dirt drops), and my legs just giving out at about 110 miles. I was riding flat pedals with stiff hiking shoes. Pretty pleased overall with the setup, and I'd highly recommend going the MTB route for anyone considering it for a touring build, especially if you're expecting to hit any dirt or gravel. In the future I'd probably scale back my tire selection to something lighter and a bit narrower than my 26x1.85 820g tires.

Barrettscv 

Great ride! Is that Howard City, MI?

seely

Indeed! We took the White Pine Trail to Big Rapids and back.

bikemig 

I love vintage mtb drop bar conversions; it looks like you had a great time.

degan

I rode a fully loaded High Sierra conversion across the country two summers ago. It performed amazingly. Those Japanese Schwinns are great.

OTS 

Awesome report !
Thanks for sharing.

Rick

John E

I have often contemplated doing that to my Schwinn, but I do like the climbing leverage afforded by the long straight bars, and the bar end extensions give me a welcome hand position, which I tend to use more than the main grips.

zandoval 

This is what having a bicycle is all about... Bravo...

Yo Spiff

Looks like a great day!

k_randomfactor

I'm jealous of you folks that have nice/cool bike trails like that. Much nicer than the MUPs and two-lane Appalachian twistys I get to deal with.

Looks like an awesome time!

WNG

Great ride report! Schwinn looks fantastic. I agree, a lighter and narrower set of tires will make it sweeter.

What was your friend riding?

seely

Thanks! The big tires are great for commuting around our horrible, horrible roads but on the smooth trail they felt a bit stiff and overkill. I'm thinking some 1.6-ish Conti's would do nicely.

My friend was on his hodgepodge Motobecane cross bike with fairly narrow road tires. He's got a 42 up front and a 11-28 or something in the back, 9 speed. My bike weighed in around 10 pounds more, so I felt pretty good about generally keeping up with him considering all the extra weight I was pushing (especially the rotating mass).

The weather was ridiculously nice -- it was clear, sunny and lower 70's until dark. The trail actually goes 100 miles north to Cadillac, MI, but we decided to do a there-and-back instead of arranging for a ride or an overnight up there.

Thanks for the kind words on the bike, its a project that's been in the back of my head for quite a few years now, and I've finally had the bike and resources to make it come to life. It's hard finding just the right frame in a 23" size for such a project.

The final piece came together last week when I laced up my new wheelset: Velocity Aeroheat 36h rims to Velocity road hubs, 3x, with DT double butted spokes and black brass nips. One of the perks of working for Velocity.