Hey there. I've recently been bitten by the 'cross bug and have been doing a local race series for about a year now.

Anyway, I've raced and ridden SS mtb for two years, and absolutely love it. Based on my experience thus far with 'cross, I'm almost never shifting. In fact, I just started limiting my derailleurs to a narrowed gear range.

I've come across an old steel touring bike with cantilever posts, but no signs of brand. It is, however, an incredibly light frameset, weighing in at around 4pounds with the fork. What I want to do is knock out the dropouts currently on there, and braze in new, truly horizontal SS/track dropouts myself. Before you try to talk me out of it, I already contacted my local framebuilder. $200 for a dropout conversion. Uh...no.

So, what I'm wondering is if there are track dropouts that are available in the opposite of a plug-in lug. What I'm talking about is a dropout with ports in which the seat and chain stays insert into.

Also, what materials will I be needing besides the gas/torch, brazing material, flux, and lug? That's it, correct?

Thanks very much for any advice and tips.