droy45

I read alot about how comfortable and useful drops are and I have been procrastinating trying them out on my commuter because I find them uncomfortable on my vintage road bike. Not sure if this would be the best section to post this but do any of you use MTB frames with drop bar conversions and what specific adjustments did you have to make? I would like to experiment with this but not sure if it's worth trying. I have a very short stem angled up 60deg right now and think it could make a good conversion considering the long top tube length of the mountain bike. Also consider that I use the MTB frame because I switch to 650B in the winter months with larger studded tires and go back to slicks in the summer and also do some off road on part of my commute with rough pot holed roads besides.

alan s 

Not worth the time and money, IMHO. What issues are you trying to solve? Back pain, hand pain, aero position? Bar ends and raising/lowering the handlebars will solve most issues without having to change handlebars.

tigerteeuwen

Are you fairly tall? when i first got my older road bike i found the drop bar's extremely uncomfortable, but i found out the main culprit was they bars being to narrow for my shoulders, i switched over to a much wider pair and would honestly never go back to a straight bar with pretty much only one hand position.

fietsbob

Trekking bars are a simpler conversion on MTBs because all the levers get re used , rather than replaced.

might even have no need to replace cables.. as well ..

ThermionicScott 

I use decidedly non-compact drops on mine. Of course, it helps that I'm not dealing with shifters.

droy45

Not tall, I'm average 5ft 8in. I find the very same thing. My older road bike has very narrow bars its uncomfortable. I will be trying it out again tomorrow for my commute. I like the bike because its lighter although its not dressed for commuting.

droy45

Thats a nice set up you've got there. 26in wheels? Did you choose non compact because you wanted the drops to be lower?

tjspiel

I think you should try out a different bar/brake setup on your vintage road bike first to figure out what's causing your discomfort and if drop bars will be something you find beneficial or not.

I've done a drop bar conversion on a MTB and there are some tricky aspects to it. It was a fun project for me and made less expensive by the fact that I had some surplus parts like brifters sitting around. One of the other things that made it easier was that I had a road bike which fit and was comfortable. That made getting the bars positioned right on the MTB easier since I had something to compare it to.

Since you're thinking of continuing to use the bike off-road I'd seriously consider some drop bars meant for cyclocross bikes. They're wider and flared.

ThermionicScott 

Thanks! Yeah, with drop bars, I like to have a big difference between riding on the tops (more upright) and in the drops (as aero as I can manage for long periods of time.) The tires are Panaracer Pasela 26"x1.75", which I really like.

droy45

Yeah it needs to be able to go off road also. Not hard core mountain biking or anything like that but gravel trails with rocks and roots etc. I used my road bike this morning and had to walk that off road part so it took me a little longer to get in. Its not that my road bike is that uncomfortable, its average and it runs well but I got spoiled on the plush well equiped commuter I built off a MTB frame. The gearing, saddle, tires, wheels etc, just everything is built with comfort and performance in mind and its hard to replicate that with the road bike. I like the spirited performance and lighter weight of the road bike but for long haul I need more lux. I was just thinking about all the good points made on this forum about the drops and wondering what it will entail to at least try it out. I can always go back if I don't like it. So, you would suggest cyclocross bars? I will start looking into that. If you can think of any other problems you had with your project let me know and thanks.

krobinson103

H bars. Reuse the shifters and brakes, lots of hand positions and they are super comfortable. Tried a bike with those was impressed. If you don't use the drop portion of drop bars much its ideal.

droy45

Would you have a link to an example of how those look?

krobinson103

Look up Jones bars. this smart phone makes posting links a pain. basically and oval shaoe with grips on either end wrapped in bar tape. Look odd but they work great.

droy45

I found them, wow, nice bars. Very tempting. Expensive but the craftsmanship is excellent. I checked out my spare parts bin and pulled out a vintage set of drops with nice dia-compe brakes and have test fit it to the bike. It seems fairly comfortable. It measures about the same as my road bike so I'm concerned with the comfort of having to reach further to the hoods but I will tape up those bars and try it out for a while. I am trying to gain more efficiency with the head winds I'm having to deal with and also my commute will be increasing 8 more miles each day so I'll have to reserve 3 hours a day for round trip commutes. I need the plush comfort of my commuter and want to make it as fast as possible. I don't need road bike speed just nice reliable transportation that can take off road shortcuts.

Andy_K 

Using drops on a mountain bike you typically need a much shorter stem and usually taller too.

One of mine:



I definitely agree that it's not worth the cost just to try it out unless you've got most of the parts on hand.

droy45

Mine ended up looking just like yours. I had all the parts on hand. My stem is much shorter than yours and the height is about the same. Its also angled up a little more than that too. I used vintage dia-compe brake levers and hoods and the reach is not bad. I will tape it up tomorrow and try it out for awhile. So how do you like yours? Do you prefer those drops over the flat bar?

grinningfool

You've got bar end shifters and brifters. What's up with that ? Nice bike, by the way.

kingsqueak

I have dimension flat top, shallow drop on a Surly Ogre and like them. The drops for me are not regular riding. I ride the hoods or the "corners" braced on the flats most often. Nice to have the options.

I'm a roads and paths rider not single track.

Finally adding a pic.



Oh and I started with a 100mm stem and have a 70mm on order now...I'm a big guy but the reach was still long to the hoods.

FKMTB07

No shifter cables coming from the brifters, he's probably just using them as brake levers. Use what you've got on hand.

droy45

Well, this is how it turned out. I used standard ones instead of compact. I had them on hand already and didn't want to buy the compact ones just for an experiment. I like it so far although my arms and shoulders will need to get used to the different body position. It definitely helps in climbing, my pedling efficiency has improved, I have more room to move around in the cockpit and the different hand positions are nice. Time will tell, I miss my ergon comfort grips and the mirror mounting on my flatbars. The whole setup is way more comfortable than my roadbike and I think it will work out fine for winter commuting too.

Andy_K 

Yep. The "brifters" were a swap meet pick-up -- $10 because they didn't shift. I gutted the shifting mechanism and put something in there to keep them from swiveling. Now they're brake levers.

mijome07

Compact bars on my 29er. Comfortable fit. Elbows never stretched out w/ stock 90mm stem.



Don't mind the mess in the background. This is an old pic'.