Originally Posted by
tjspiel
I think you should try out a different bar/brake setup on your vintage road bike first to figure out what's causing your discomfort and if drop bars will be something you find beneficial or not.
I've done a drop bar conversion on a MTB and there are some tricky aspects to it. It was a fun project for me and made less expensive by the fact that I had some surplus parts like brifters sitting around. One of the other things that made it easier was that I had a road bike which fit and was comfortable. That made getting the bars positioned right on the MTB easier since I had something to compare it to.
Since you're thinking of continuing to use the bike off-road I'd seriously consider some drop bars meant for cyclocross bikes. They're wider and flared.
Yeah it needs to be able to go off road also. Not hard core mountain biking or anything like that but gravel trails with rocks and roots etc. I used my road bike this morning and had to walk that off road part so it took me a little longer to get in. Its not that my road bike is that uncomfortable, its average and it runs well but I got spoiled on the plush well equiped commuter I built off a MTB frame. The gearing, saddle, tires, wheels etc, just everything is built with comfort and performance in mind and its hard to replicate that with the road bike. I like the spirited performance and lighter weight of the road bike but for long haul I need more lux. I was just thinking about all the good points made on this forum about the drops and wondering what it will entail to at least try it out. I can always go back if I don't like it. So, you would suggest cyclocross bars? I will start looking into that. If you can think of any other problems you had with your project let me know and thanks.