Bike Forums - View Single Post - Show Your Vintage MTB Drop Bar Conversions

04-12-14, 07:34 PM

#2902

Paramount1973

Senior Member

Join Date: Sep 2011

Location: The First State.

Posts: 1,168

Bikes: Schwinn Continental, Schwinn Paramount, Schwinn High Plains, Schwinn World Sport, Trek 420, Trek 930,Trek 660, Novara X-R, Giant Iguana. Fuji Sagres mixte.

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Just finished converting a 1992 Trek 930. I found it at a local flea market, it obviously was a retired cop bike with a hardshell case on the rear rack sporting an antenna mount and a cable from the (missing) antenna to a walkie-talkie bag on the handlebars. Not that I am a weight-weenie but some of the original parts were on the heavy side so I substituted lighter ones from the parts bin where I could. I had used the wheelset for my High Plains drop bar conversion but picked up a second Specialized wheelset at VeloFest with Specialized hubs and Mavic X221 rims. I used Shimano Deore II canti brakes (BR-MT62) from a cannibalized Rockhopper, Suntour XCE 170mm cranks with 48/36/24 chainrings and an 8-speed 11-28 cassette. The original cup/spindle square-taper bottom bracket was in fine shape so it went back on the bike. I got the slightly used VO platform pedals at a recent VO garage sale. They are quite light and grippy. The almost-new rear derailleur is a Shimano STX and the front the original Exage 400. The handlebars are Civia Emersons with 8-speed Shimano bar end shifters and Tekto RL340 levers. The alloy stem is a Nashbar ATB with a 2-bolt faceplate. The tires are 1.75 Panaracer Tservs.

This was something of an experiment, the bike is a size smaller than I would normally ride as a mountain bike but the virtual top tube length (54cm) was right at my optimum length for a road bike. The bike got its first real shake-down cruise today with about a 10 mile mix of highway, MUP, gravel and single-track. It was fairly exciting on the single track, we took a shortcut and it got kind of technical for a mile or so. It did great on gravel and was a delight on paved stretches. The STX derailleur indexed really well with the bar end shifter. The bike came in right at 26 lbs without the bar and seat bags.