Sixty Fiver

We've been down this road before... it's a bumpy path strewn with rocks.

qmsdc15

It's now a white elephant he's trying to get rid of.

I converted my first flat bar bike to drops, a 1985 Ross Mt. Hood, (swapped out the parts before riding it, not even a test ride) , then like Jared, ended up converting it back and passing it on.

Unlike, Jared, I used my drop bar conversion as a delivery bike for over a year before replacing it. I also competed in several mountain bike races on it.

wunderkind

Well I didn't bother to read through the entire thread. Hmm.... So what was the verdict?

Sixty Fiver

I think we concluded that a hybrid was not defined by the bar set up as that is a personal choice for riding comfort and that we have the commercial definition of a hybrid as well as a working definition of a hybrid bicycle.

My drop bar hybrid goes on the road, off the road, gets used for many utilitarian purposes (like towing), tours, and serves as my primary commuter through most of the year.

qmsdc15

We concluded that 65er's bike fit very well in the touring bike category and thus was unworthy of the hybrid designation, but he stubbornly held his ground and since he is a moderator and I am not, our disagreement resulted in me being banned from posting here for a two week period. The emperor does not have new clothes. Tell him at your own risk.

Sixty Fiver

Incorrect.

qmsdc15

No, you are incorrect!

Can you tell I'm still a little bitter over that banning thing?

Sixty Fiver

Your accusation that I banned you for disagreeing with me is a complete and utter falsehood, and you know this.

I cannot say much else on this without breaching confidentiality of a number of parties.

Implying that I would ban anyone for disagreeing with me is also slanderous and a little funny because, in case you missed it, I'm not wearing any badge.

qmsdc15

Sorry you find it only a little funny. Suggesting I have slandered you is slanderous

To anyone interested, 65er had nothing to do with my banning.

65er, I think you were a moderator at that time. I did not say you banned me, I implied that your status as a moderator had something to do with it which I believe is true. I know my banning was none of your doing, you are OK with me, your touring bike is not a hybrid, we agree to disagree about that, but I know you did not have anything to do with my banning and sorry you think I accused you of that.

wunderkind

OK forget I ask.

jarelj

Uh.... yeah.................. so anyway, the drop bar setup for the Trek FX is for sale, as will be the entire bike as soon as I get all of the original parts bolted back on. Or maybe I'll just sell the whole bike in parts, either way.

wunderkind

Just wondering why did you replace your brakes with cantis?
On another conversion of a Kona Dew hybrid, this bike manage to retain the original brakes.

https://bikesarethesolution.wordpress...go-conversion/

desertdork

With only a couple exceptions, road brake levers (including "brifters") are designed for direct compatibility with short-pull brakes. Sidepull calipers and centerpull cantilevers are short-pull. Linear (or "V") brakes require the longer cable pull of most flat/mtb levers and the few compatible road levers.

To my knowledge there are three options if you want to use v-brakes:
1. Get a set of the long-pull road brake levers
2. Use a travel agent in combination with std road levers to increase the amount of cable pulled at the brake
3. Set the brake pads extremely close to the rim, which I imagine would result in poor modulation in addition to requiring a perfectly true rim

meanwhile

Arguing that a bike with drops must be a road bike so it can't be a hybrid is a bit weird when you consider drop bar mountain bikes. Some of these machines - and I'm not talking about MTB conversions for the road but bikes meant to be ridden off road with drops - are real beasts and could eat terrain that would destroy a Tek 7-something and its rider - these off road tanks are supposed to be "road bikes"?






... Appropriately enough, these are ideal bikes for


And the machine that created the modern hybrid market, the Bridgestone X0, had shallow drops.

And the argument that "It can't be a hybrid, if it has drops it's a tourer" is even sillier - most modern tourers don't have drops! in Europe, where most tourers are sold, butterfly bars - flats with built in bar ends - are the norm.

jarelj

The Shimano brifters are designed to work with Canti brakes, they have shorter cable travel then the V-Brakes. It works very well, the brakes are strong and tight feeling, not sloppy at all.

qmsdc15

The guy who thinks 65ers bike is a touring bike, me, fitted his first mountain bike with drop bars and was pictured on the cover of Spokes magazine racing it. At that time, I would have called it a mountain bike, but maybe it was a hybrid. I never thought of it as a road bike.

A bike with drop bars, touring geometry, touring gears, 700c tires, racks, isn't a hybrid just because it has drop bars. It takes more than drop bars to make a bike a hybrid.

gary245

Yo Jarel... so - what was the primary factor in your decision to sell? I've been contemplating the same modification with my Sirrus... but now am too wondering if I'd be better off with a Cyclocross bike...

robcor2

Cayles......awesome looking ride. That is what I am gonna do for mine (same model). Don't mean to be a copycat....but is the sincerest form of flattery. Thanks for the photo.

Robert

Thomas Brock

I'm going to switch up the bars on my Trek 7.3 FX disc, too. I have a set of On One Mungo and Bontrager drops. I'm not sure which set I'm going to try first (I'm leaning towards the Mungo). and Shimano ergo levers, so all I'll need is a set of bar-cons.

I'm starting the project in January and I'm pretty excited about it.

I'm glad to see that other FX riders are trying the drop-bars, too.

kaliayev

He wants to go fast. I think the guys who got flamed at the beginning of this thread for questioning the OP's intended use, the geometry of his bike, or who stated he should just buy a road bike are laughing their butts off and saying I told you so.

jarelj

I had never had a bike with drop bars before, so I wanted to try it. Now that I did it, I really like the drop bars and can't see having a flat-bar bike again for road riding. And I want to get into CX racing so I have some extra motivation for training, working toward an end so to speak. If I kept the 7.6 I would have been looking at new wheels & tires, probably a new crankset and some other things in 2010, so cost-wise it's proabably a wash to either continue upgrading it or switch to something new. And the larger frame size I went with for the road riding on the 7.6 was probably a little big for more rugged riding. I picked up a lightly-used Voodoo Limba cross bike that already has the components on it that I would have been ugprading to, so it worked out fine. Now I just need spring to get here so I can ride again!

I ended up just throwing the entire converted 7.6fx plus all of the original parts all up on flea-bay, never found the time to take it all back apart again and the prospect of working in the garage in sub-zero temps is not too attractive right now. I'd guess I have about $1600 invested in the bike overall, so someone's going to get a heck of a bargain! https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=160392045532

wunderkind

Wow.... atleast now you can say you have done a drop bar conversion. It is a nice bike too.

Anyhoo for those who want to have drop bars on their flatbar bikes, a cheaper and way easier way to do it is just get one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Origin-Bicycle...2805943&sr=8-1

you will get the aero position that a roadie enjoys. takes only 5 minutes to convert. LOL!

jarelj

Yeah, I actually looked at those bar end drops in the beginning too. I decided against them for 2 reasons: 1) the reach to the drops would be much longer with the stock stem and bars due to the longer stem length, so it probably wouldn't have been a very good represention of what actual drop bars would be like, and 2) I was worried about not having access to the brakes while going the fastest (i.e. - when riding in the drops). My frame on the 7.6 was marginally too large for me anyway, so anything that made the reach longer would not have worked very well. Even with the drops on it, the reach was still a little long for anything other than going fast. If I had gotten the 17.5" frame instead of the 20" frame, with the drops on it, that would have been just about perfect I suspect.

Sixty Fiver

Those are a cool idea... save for the fact your brakes and shifters will not be within easy reach... something I am rather fond of.

robcor2

Cayles. Well...the bike is done and I have already put on about 200 miles so far this year.....I am in love with it, my other bike is getting jealous. Thanks again for the encouragement and info....here is a pic.


oh....I gave away the Brooks saddle to a friend for X-mas....decided as much as I like the look, I did not feel like breaking in a saddle. ouch.

Robert