Velocivixen

@wrk101 - those are two beautiful bikes! Wow. Now, see, I love the horizontal top tube. My '92 Hard Rock has a horizontal top tube, but if I were to put drop bars on it I may as well take flying lessons, as I'd be really stretched out too far forward. That's why I bought the bike I did - because the top tube is perfect length. However it has a sloping top tube due to it's size. Ugh. So what crankset are you using there, and what stem? I love the look of the silver vintage triples like Suginos, etc.

Shimano will send me new, albeit, ugly black modern cranksets for warranty work. Likely Altus or Acera.

I have an opportunity to buy indexed Shimano 8 speed bar end shifters that might play nicely with the 7 speed. So excited about this build. I've been looking for a long time. I think the paint was a big contributing factor too. This bike's paint looks showroom and is really pretty two color fade. I can always upgrade components myself, but I don't know how to paint.....yet.

Velocivixen

@LesterOfPuppets - I measured my OLD and thought it was close to 130. I couldn't get the digital caliper arms close enough because the hub/wheel in the way (I didn't think to measure it when it was all torn apart). If I knew how to build a wheel I'd get an 8 or 9 speed hub and go that route. From what the guy at Universal told me, and he has replaced a lot of these recall cranks, that Shimano has boxed "kits" with crankset, bb, front derailleur and chain that they just send out right away. Prepackaged. Apparently they're quite responsive in this regard. Since this is more of an experiment at this point, I don't want to start spending all kinds of $$ for this.

I have a stem, bar cons. Will need brake levers (aero) and I want a different bar, likely the On One Midge. Went over to Planet X bikes to get one and they were closed.

eastbay71

The brown one was a Bikes Direct Motobecane Jubilee DLX comfort bike, The raw aluminum and red bike was a '95 Schwinn S[nine 5].4 (100th anniversary) and my wife's bike was a cheap Fuji the model escapes me. As far as your shifter dilemma, I've found barcons to be the easiest to work with. Thanks for adding the words "grifter" and "bricter" to my bike lexicon.

eastbay71

I just bought a Midge for a Nishiki project and all I could get was a 31.8mm in black. They used to have so many colors

Velocivixen

@eastbay71 - Oh man. I was typing from my iPhone and the lovely auto spell kicked in. Yeah, I was referring the the brake/shifter combination. Hope you got my meaning though.

Darth Lefty 

Nearly all is compatible within Shimano SIS & STI up through 9x mountain and 10x road, just so long as the shifter matches the cassette or freewheel. So that's many generations of bikes. But the 7x freehub is narrower than the 8-9-10x freehub, and freewheels bigger than 7x are rare, so either way it's hard to add speeds to 7x. With Campagnolo shifters and alternate cable routing many things seem possible. Another thread around here lately, someone reported buying a secondhand bike with a Shimano RD, 7x cassette, and using 9x Campagnolo Daytona shifters. But Campagnolo 9x stuff isn't made any more either.

CTC Shimergo
Sheldon & co. Shimagnolo
A pretty weird bike

Data on cable pull of Suntour Accushift and any pre-indexing stuff is hard to come by. I can tell you that I measured my Nuovo Record RD taking 1cm of cable to shift 5x, and that my Super Sport's Twin Stik shifter needs its entire range of movement to shift an SIS RD through 5 speeds. So it would seem that older stuff had higher tension and took less cable.

It's not really a thing for your bike but I was looking today to see if there were any newer info. It seems people are shifting Shimano Dyna-Sys derailleurs on 9x cassettes using SRAM 9x shifters. But none of them have hard data on pull per shift.

LesterOfPuppets

1995 is pretty late, it might be a 7,8,9 speed compatible freehub. I'll see if I can get a 9-speed on that freehub tomorrow.

degan

I have a Technomic on my drop bar conversion that I rode across country on. Worked great for me, but my bike frame is one of the largest that Schwinn offered, so I didn't need any extra rise to make it fit properly.

Velocivixen

@LesterOfPuppets - so are you saying there's a chance that I could get a 8 or 9 speed cassette onto the freehub I have?! That could solve some issues. I have an opportunity to buy some used Shmano 8 speed indexed (rear) bar end shifters. I could still try "brifters" less expensively if I could get an 8 speed on there.
@degan - nice looking bike. Wow, you rode across the country? That's amazing on any bike, if you ask me.

wrk101

I would expect a 1995 MTB to be 135 OLD. Easy enough to check.

LesterOfPuppets

Yeah, my girlfriend has one all original except saddle and it's definitely 135. Will check that freehub accepts 9 speed in.a few hours.

Murray Missile 

Our 1997 TREK 820's both had Altus hubs with 7 Spd. cassettes and neither would take anything more than a 7 speed. Higher end hubs from that era may be a different story. I moved the original wheels to other bikes when I upgraded wheels and tried fitting an 8 speed to them at that time. It was a no go, the cassette hub just wasn't wide enough. However, when I put the new wheels on I didn't have to reset the stays, they fit a little snugger between the dropouts but I was able to get them in with minimal effort.

pcdmiele

I've been following this thread and the drop bar thread with interest. Have you thought of trying the RETRO SHIFT type shifters I have them on two of my bikes and love them. it is an excellent solution if you like to ride in the hoods and with use any number of down tube or bar end shift levers. I run / have run 7 speed 105 shifters on both 7 speed and 8 speed cassettes and my current favorite is a 600 7 speed shifting a 600 RD with a swapped in longer cage on an 8 speed cassette. crisp reliable shifting close to my hands and I can visually see my gear selection at all times. the front shifter is friction and thus easily trim-able and works for any FD double, triple ,mountain or road. I'm not sure how well these would work on a dirt drop style bar as I have never tried one. though I would like to try the SALSA COWBELL bar if I can find one.

the below ones I made my self and are not quite as nice looking as the RETROSHIFT ones. mounted to some compact cane creek levers(same as tektro) If you would like to try them out for a while PM me. I would lend them to you as the below pair are currently un mounted (I have made 3 sets) you would have to come up with the shift levers in what ever flavor you prefere. the 8 speed bar ends will work perfectly.

Royal

Velocivixen

@LesterOfPuppets - you still have the RSX 100 shifters? If so and would consider selling please pm me.

Paramount1973 

I never felt comfortable riding in the drops on singletrack so I added Tektro cyclocross brake levers and use them off-road. They are great.

crank_addict

Enjoying all the post and various conversions but to simplify, I like these $20 road drop bar-ends. Not for the paceline but they do serve a purpose. Compared to a typical road bar, its a wide set-up on a flat bar so one might want to trim at least an inch from each end.

This set-up was from some Japan supplier with the aptly named "Champ- no Crown"... snickering. For these, I did add some length to the grip for my hands. (The mirror is an add-on). Origin 8 also offers a low cost drop end.

Velocivixen

@pcdmiele - I forgot all about those retro shift shifters. That could be an option.
@Paramount1973 - that's a great idea on the Tektro cross brakes. I might try that. So you can use those cross brakes as your only brake? They're not the same as "interruptor" brakes? Educate me please.

I'm trying to do this "on the cheap" (I know 'cheap' is relative). First, I am not a mountain bike rider, although could easily go find some nice easy stuff. I'm not even sure if I'd like this setup, but I've seen drop bar conversions that ended up being peoples commuter or around town bike. I bought my Surly CC specifically for drop bars, bar end shifters, etc. Ended up getting fitted (shorter stem & shallow reach/drop bars). Even with short reach brake levers I never felt completely safe in regard to braking. The positioning of the brake levers was set for me to be riding on the hoods & braking from there. Of course not a lot of leverage. Braking from the drops was ok in an emergency, but not great. So I now have a mustache bar on my Surly and I can get to the brakes at my fingertips & I'm comfortable.

Maybe cross brakes would be the way to go. I have some shimano levers mounted to bar end pods (6 speed) that can run friction. I could try that for awhile to see if I even like the setup then evolve from there. So I'd buy the bar (now on sale), longer cables/housing & some sort of brake levers.

LesterOfPuppets

Nope, afraid I sold them a while back. They were still going for $50 a pair on eBay back then. If only I'd known...

Velocivixen

Well now I'm ticked off. So, this is getting more expensive. Apparently you can't get On One Midge bars anywhere. I've got an email out to Planet X bikes in Portland, who is On One's US company. My quill clamp size that I own is 25.4 and any of the bars similar to Midge like Soma Portola or Soma Junebug is either 26 or 31.8. So....new bar, new quill stem, brake levers.......

I just might use my current stem, current 1980's SR drop handlebars, friction bar end shifters and they buy some Tektro cross levers or ??? to try. So if I end up really liking this set up, I can go about refining things as time goes on.

Does anyone have any On One Midge bars in 25.4 they'll sell me???

ofgit

Have a Specialized BB1 I'd let go of. Just put one on my purple '93 XO-2.

Paramount1973 

The cyclocross brakes are the interruptor type. They allow braking from the hoods and the flats. I have then positioned out a bit from the stem on the tops of the bars such that I can make full use of the width of the handlebar when steering. I found that trying to ride (mild) singletrack from the hoods did not work because my hands could get jarred from the brake levers. Cyclocross levers allow a more mountain bike like experience.

likebike23

I built a drop bar mountain bike and enjoyed the process of sourcing the parts as cheap as possible and building the bike. Then I rode it a bit, didn't really like the ride at all. The long top tube required a shorter stem and the low head tube required a long quill. Put these two factors together with aggressive cross country geometry and it just felt noodly and squirrely. I hope it works for you, but my advice would be to invest as little money as you can and ride it to see if it's for you. If you love it, then get the Midge, retroshifts, etc.

due ruote 

I'm all for making do and trying to cobble together projects on the cheap, but if the end result is your position is off, it's not a fair test. But I'm sure you know that already.

As far as the bars go, is there a co-op or such where you could at least look for some old rando bars? They would be at least a little more like dirt drop bars. One thing I would pay attention to is the bar reach. Midges don't have a lot compared to many/most standard road bars. I don't know about the Somas, etc. but I suspect they are similar.

likebike23

@Duo ruote: You're right it's not a fair test. I am just trying to help based on what VV said. She isn't a mountain biker, probably won't be, and she doesn't especially like drop bars. It's my understanding that a dirt drop bar optimized for riding in the hooks on dirt, a good choice for VV? Probably not. If I was going to recommend a bike for a beginner mountain biker who doesn't particularly like drops, it certainly wouldn't be a drop bar conversion. I like the idea of a Rando bar, use the suntour bar ends on hand, and a cheap dirt drop stem like this:Sunlite Alloy 2-Bolt Quill Stem - 180 x 22.2 x 80mm, Silver. I'm not trying to be disagreeable, I'm just saying that being conservative with the spending on some projects can be a good thing.

Velocivixen

@due route & @likebike23 - you're both correct. Don't want to spend a lot of money for a "maybe" and I likely won't do "real" mountain biking. I also know that if I don't get the cockpit set up right it's not a fair test. I do like Moustache bars though and that's th backup plan if drops don't work.

Thanks to to everyone for their encouragement. Not sure how long it will take to get cranks here from Shimano. I suspect not long.