nixter

Can you convert a MTB to a street bike by changing the tires and front fork?

I have this GT Outpost that has now been converted to SS but I don't ride off road and would love to use this for a rain/snow bike.

Here is a photo....


Would there be a special front fork I would need to use? and can you change a threaded headset to a threadless headset?

crushkilldstroy

You can throw slicks on there and a rigid fork. Won't be as responsive as an actual road bike, but it'll be leaps and bounds better than what it is right now.

You could swap out to a 1" threadless headset if you wanted, but on a bike like that it isn't gonna make a ton of difference. Take it into a bike shop with tons of pull off stuff and find an old rigid 1" threaded fork with the same length, have them swap the crown race onto the new fork, and you'll be golden.

kemmer

I wouldn't go to 1" threadless if I were you, there isn't as much available in that size. Just stick with threaded, that way you don't have to buy a new headset and stem. If you stick with what it's got you can also swap the suspension fork back on if you want to sell it or ride it offroad.

nixter

This is what I was looking for for a final look...



Other than the gears and no purple paint. Can I use a fork like that on my GT?

Aeroplane

There are a lot of 1" threadless headsets out there, and any 1 1/8" stem will work with a standard shim.

But it's only worth the money if your shop/flea market doesn't have a rigid 1" threaded fork. It's an upgrade to a janky bike... probably not worth the money in the long run.

crushkilldstroy

Can you? Yes. Should you? No. It would handle very differently (rake/trail and axle to crown on the fork would be different), you couldn't run the same wheel on it (road wheels and MTB wheels are different diameters) so your front and rear wheel wouldn't match, you couldn't run the same brakes, you'd have to switch to brake levers that are designed for calipers because levers for v brakes don't pull the same amount of cable. If you wanted to switch to drop bars, you'd have to switch the rear v-brakes out for cantilevers because road levers don't work with v-brakes. And all of this is ignoring the fact that the geometry between the two frames is way different.

If you really want a GT road bike, sell your mountain bike and buy a GT road bike. Otherwise, just throw the slicks and a rigid MTB fork on there and you'll be fine.

nixter

Cool. rigid MTB fork is what I am looking for.

krash

You can do this and make a very useful bike from it. Here's mine (which is about to be parted out and sold):

https://joshkarnesmusic.com/media/ss.jpg

I can heartily recommend 1" to 1.25" lightweight slick tires such as the Performance Forte "Slick City" like I have on my bike:

https://www.performancebike.com/shop/...tegory_ID=5430

I pump them to 90psi (5psi over the recommended limit) and I have 1500 miles or so on them with only one flat (glass) and no other issues, probably have another 1500 miles left in them.

For my bike, I also took the fork apart and took the spring out, replacing it with a length of aluminum tubing so it becomes mostly rigid. My fork was an elastomer top out bushing on top of a coil spring so I just replaced the spring with the tubing and then the elastomer gives it about a half inch of real stiff travel. It works great going off curbs etc. Perhaps you can come up with something similarly creative for that fork. Maybe you can download an RST service manual for the fork telling you how to change the spring for a different rate of spring, and follow those instructions and replace the spring with something solid like a piece of PVC pipe.

The alternatives are either to put up with the fork compressing on you all the time (kind of annoying) or replace it with a rigid MTB fork. If you can find a rigid MTB fork, it may be expensive, heavy, or both. And it may also be considerably shorter in crown to axle length vs. the suspension fork at the recommended sag. This will affect the geometry of the bike, most likely in a positive way for riding on the road, but mostly it will make the head and seat angles at least a degree more steep if you get one of the common cheap steel forks, maybe more. The bike probably has 71/73 angles and could stand to be 72/74 or even 73/75 if you are only riding on the paved roads.

With 44/16 gearing I can spin at about 25mph on this bike. As you can see I have the seat post past the max extensioin, seat all the way back on the rails and a super long stem on the bike. If this frame were a 20" instead of an 18" I would probably keep this bike to ride on rainy days. I like riding it a lot. The bike is about 21 lb or so.

134k

I had an old raleigh MT600 MTB with some shocks on it, and converted it over to SS. I simply ordered a Surly Rigid 1x1 fork ($60 at my LBS), and swapped the crown races. If you ran shocks on your MTB, the Surly Rigid 1x1 will be a direct replacement in terms of axle to crown height. You can also order the fork with our without disc brake tabs if you wanna use your old front brakes.

*you may have to cut down the fork steerer tube though*

crushkilldstroy

The Surly 1x1 fork is 1 1/8 threadless and his bike is 1" threaded. He's just gonna have to get one of them 1" threaded Tange jobbers.

krash

those 1" threaded Tange forks are going to be much shorter axle-to-crown than an MTB 80mm suspension fork. probably will improve the street handling.

quick ebay search turns up promising candidates, most $70 ish but this one looks good for cheap if you don't mind the color:

https://cgi.ebay.com/1-THREADED-26-WH...QQcmdZViewItem

crushkilldstroy

True. Speaking from experience though, it's all you're gonna find unless you luck out or go custom.

Also true. Not as nice off road, but I'm pretty sure that won't matter for this guy.

Not a bad deal, but I got the same thing for 10 bucks with a fresh coat of gloss black on it from my LBS. It's always worth trying local instead of just jumping straight to eBay.

Also mind your steerer length. Too short and it won't work at all. Too long and you have to find someone who can rethread and chop the top off, which costs more coin. Labor charges can quickly turn a 20 dollar ebay fork into a 40 dollar one, and if you end up with that you might as well have just bought a new one for 50 online instead.

The LT

Is it even 1"? just because it is threaded doesn't necessarily mean that it is 1". 1 1/8" threaded do exist and it wouldn't surprise me to see one on a bike like that.

crushkilldstroy

Well I'll be damned. Google says that it is. That makes life a lot easier for the OP if he's in the mood to swap out a headset.

nixter

this looks pretty close to it...

https://www.epinions.com/bike-Bicycle..._Outpost__2000

and it is listed at 1 1/8"

krash

well if it's 1-1/8" then you have a lot more options, most of which will cost more than the 1" junk box stuff.

I'd still tend to suggest a shorter fork rather than one of these new style SS MTB crowned forks that are built to regular suspension fork axle-crown dimensions. You will appreciate the steeper angles and lower profile you get with a 2" shorter fork.

nixter

Love the bike. I used to have a specialized



I have missed it every day since I got rid of it. It would be much more fun to convert than the GT but that is what I have left.

nixter

I should be able to use the same 26" wheels with that shorter fork right?

Retem

dude thats a road bike

krash

yeah, well as long as you buy a fork for a 26" MTB, and get it with cantilever/V-brake bosses.

The newer rigid forks for MTBs often are longer to compensate for the fact that they are not suspension forks. In other words, a suspension fork is longer because it compresses. So to fit on the same bike without altering the geometry too much, a replacement rigid fork would also have to be longer than necessary. So you get like 2" of tire clearance above the tire.

krash

This is a '96 or '97 S-works M2 Super frame.

Bulletproof. Ultra rigid. Very light.

When I was riding it as a MTB, it was like 23 lb with an air fork and 2.2" tires. However since it was too small for me, it was an endo machine. So I replaced it with bigger, heavier full suspension bikes that fit and never looked back. I'm not very nostalgic about it. It was just the junk laying around the garage. With any luck I'll have the new bike built up by this time next week and the M2 will be for sale on CL... cheap.

Aldone

that's mine

SSfreak

I found this on the net. Singlespeed, disc brakes mountain bike frame.




It use to be this.

krash

what i like about that is that it only has a rear brake.

if my S-works frame had disc brake tabs then I would have done the same with it rather than buying a whole new frame. altho I have to say I'm rather stoked about getting a new bike instead

cc700

https://www.sebmx.com/2007/bike-detail.asp?id=16

this only has a rear brake... what's with only rear brakes?