steve-in-kville 

I am not a drop-bar person. My commuter has a flat bar and I much prefer that upright position and control.

So tell me, why wouldn't an old steel frame MTB make the perfect touring bike for me? Its strong, ridgid forks, most have eyelets and they can be retro'd with new components? My parents have an old Shwinn that I claimed for the project.

Can anyone think of any cons going this route?

bwgride

Converting old mountain bikes is very common. Upright riding position is also very common. Have a look here to get an idea:

https://www.pbase.com/canyonlands/fullyloaded

balindamood

I think many old mountain bikes (pre 1990) make fine touring bikes. They may not be quite as zippy as a proper drop-bar touring bike, but super comfy and can take lesser road conditions. I have a Schwinn with 1000's of miles on it and it is still one of may favorites.



This is a mid-low end Sierra (1985). A bit heavy (30 lbs new, pushing 40 with steel fenders, racks, and other junk), but super comfy.

sonatageek

The only down side is you won't have to spend a ton of money on it. Oh wait, that is a good thing.

If you are lucky you might happen on one with low rider mounts on the fork -- not real common but also not rare.

2manybikes

It's actually a good idea, depending on how much you need to spend on it.

Commodus

Yeah, it's no problem, but if you don't already I encourage you to use a trekking bar or at least bar-ends, so you can change up your hand position.

BigBlueToe

The only major con I can think of is if you prefer drop-bars, which you don't. Other minor cons: Is there enough room for you to hang panniers from the rear rack without your heels hitting? If you want to have panniers front and rear (highly advisable in my opinion) you'll have to get a front rack that attaches without the mid-fork eyelets, or else some p-clamp style adaptors. There could also be a mini-problem if your bike doesn't have eyelets for finders. That's about all.

I bought a touring bike before my first big (west coast) tour. A lot of the other stuff - panniers, stove, tent, etc. - came before the bike, so I loaded up my old rigid Stumpjumper and took a weekend mini-tour. It worked great, although I had everything on the back. Since I wasn't going to use it for a tourer I didn't bother trying to put a rack on the front.

Chainring

Cool bike Balindamood, I like the upright bullmoose bars. I started mountain biking right about the same year that bike was new, and I remember those Schwinn Sierras well. Very good, utilitarian bikes. Keep a fresh drive chain on it, and repack the bearings every couple years and you should be able to ride it for "another" 25 years.

rothenfield1

No problems that I can see other than the ones BigBlueToe pointed out. That is that touring specific bikes have lots of braze-ons for mounting stuff. Other then that, if you look the modern touring bike frame, it resembles a MTB more then it does a traditional road bike. MTB frames are designed stronger to handle the abuse of off-road riding which makes them better suited to handle the extra weight as well as having a more natural riding position. I say, more power to you and the legends of people who will be figuring out that their old MTB's have a new lease on life.

wahoonc

I don't see a problem. I am in the process of converting a 1989 Giant Iguana to tour duty.

Aaron

kuan

Those old Rockhoppers or Stumpjumpers are great. Some even had two fender mounts on the front dropout. I really think the first few years mountain bikes were just road bikes modified for off road use anyway.

mattbicycle

I don't think you'll have any major problems. Perhaps down the track when you've done a lot of tours and have some cash to throw around, a tour-specific bike will be a nice luxury. In the meantime, almost all the problems with using a mountain bike can worked around.

Drakonchik

Bottom bracket height is something to consider. Some earlier MTBs have bottom brackets at 31cm-ish -- talk about gettin' high!

LesterOfPuppets

Heels hitting panniers is the biggest trouble I've had. If you've a REALLY old MTB, it likely won't be a problem. A lot of 1980-1985 bikes had long rear triangles.

erbfarm

I use a 1993 Rockhopper Expert for touring, it's terrific. Had no trouble fitting front and rear racks on it. You can pretty much find a mounting solution for just about anything since there are lots of adjustable rear racks and p-clamps and such. I've got a 1985 Stumpjumper Sport frame that would make a perfect tourer -- it's bombproof and has really long chainstays (at least 18"). It's a bit big for me at 52 cm w/ a very long top tube (I think it's 58 cm or so) but I just haven't been able to part w/ it b/c it's so nice.

Gotte

The only problem might be....hold on, no can't think of any.