bcpriess

I'm in the process of building up an offroad gravel slash MTB using a '97 Trek 830 as the basis (it's a comfy frame, and I like how it rolls versus a bigger wheel for certain things. It has a 3x7 MTB drivetrain (altus long cage 34t derailleur), and 25.4 Midge bars. I'm building the cockpit around the drop bars.

Currently the reach is a little long, and I have two routes to fix that. 1) I can get a long 80mm quill stem like the ones Kalloy makes, or I can get a tall quill-to-threadless adapter i.e. Soma and a basic threadless stem of my choosing. Option 1 costs about $20. Option 2 costs about $40. 80mm seems like about the right length. The pros for option 1, are it's cheap, and it should solve the problem. Cons are reach is fixed, and if I want to take it apart I either have to take off the stem with the bars, or disassemble one side of the bars. Option 2 pros are ease of assembly/disassembly, and cons seem to be clunkier look, one additional mechanical fail point, and higher cost.

The second dilemma is that of shifters. I'm waffling between three options. 1) Thumb shifters up top. 2) Barcons. 3) Microshift 3x7 brifters. My pros/cons for these: 1) pro=cheap, simple, con=eats up top of bar hand position, requires moving hands to shift; 2) pro=at the bar ends, so keeps me in the drops and at the widest best control part of the bars; con=expensive, since I don't think the old Suntours will support a 7 speed MTB cassette and may only marginally support the triple and I think I'd be forced to buy new Microshift barcons for $80 or so; 3) pro=relatively inexpensive ($55), con=no experience w Microshift brifters, not totally sure they'll index to MTB.

Any thoughts/opinions on what I ought to do?

tyrion

I have On One Midge bars and bar-cons and I like the combination. I find myself riding in the drops much more than I did with more conventional compact drops, so more often than not my hands are close to the shifters.

Another things is, those Midge bars seem shorter (fore - aft) than other dirt drops, so bar end shifters add a little more effective length - those bars might be too short for me without the barcons.

If you get 10 speed barcons (or bar top thumbies) and run them in friction mode that would provide an upgrade path to 8,9, or 10 speeds in the future.

Squeeze

Yes! Read this thread. Or at least browse and check out some pictures of bikes similar to what you're doing. There is tons of good information in there.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...nversions.html

I have a setup similar to yours on a rigid '90s MTB with 26" wheels, including a Midge bar and bar-end shifters (3x8). I love the bar-end shifters, especially when off-roading in the drops. I can brake with my fingers and shift with the heel of my hand and/or a couple fingers - although not necessarily at the same time, depending on how rough the terrain is.

Stormsedge

I used an adjustable stem on my build...and, in retrospect, should have used friction/thumb shifters for future upgrades.

bcpriess

Ended up finding a $25 set of Suntour indexed 6sp barcons, and turned the index off since I'm rolling 7sp. Very nice feel and barely used and they hold position well. As expected the current/stock stem is giving me numb fingers from putting all my weight on the bars. I ordered a tall 80mm quill stem, which puts it in about the same spot as my other bikes relative to the seatpost, so that should finish up the project for now.

Update: new stem arrived today, and it immediately relieved a lot of pressure on my wrists, so I expect to be able to dial the fit in over the next several rides.