I've been looking to get a dedicated road bike for a while, and last week I got to mess around with someone's Specialized that he had put some Shimano tourney levers on and fell in love with them. However, I'm also on a pretty tight budget.

I've seen some used bikes around that fit most of my criteria (700c, aluminum frame, etc) but almost all were hybrids and came with flat bars. For some reason I find drop-bars wayyy more comfortable, at least for me, and was wondering just how tough it would be to install a set of drop bars and these shifters: Amazon.com : Shimano Tourney ST-A070 3 x 7-Speed STI Lever Set : Bike Shift Levers : Sports & Outdoors

Sorry if this question has been asked before, I did some searching and couldn't find much. Any advice would be much appreciated, and thanks in advance!

You have to match a "road" FDER to a "road" shifter.
RDER is OK.

Thanks for the heads-up on that.

Find a used roadbike to start with. Hybrids and flat bar bikes have very different geometry--usually a significantly longer top tube.

Be aware of a few other potential differences, especially that frames' top tube lengths may be different between road bikes and hybrids designed for flat bars. If you convert a hybrid with a long top tube to drop bar, you might find the reach to be a bit of a stretch unless you use a very short stem. Many bike companies have frame geometry charts posted online, so you can compare to find out if this would be a problem for a specific bike you're considering.

Also, you may find the cost of a hybrid plus conversion may cost more than buying a road bike in the first place. Below is a list of items you may wind up replacing to pull this off well. (You may not need all of them, but each of these items is a possibility depending on what bike you start with.)

Handlebar
Stem
Brake/Shift Levers
Bar Tape
Brake Cables & Housing
Shift Cables & Housing
Road Front Derailleur
Road Tires & Tubes

...and you'll need to make sure the parts you select are compatible.

Not worth a conversion because of the geometry, and the cost of parts and labor put you in road bike pricing already

Yeah, looking into it I might be better off just buying one with them already installed. Thanks for the help anyways!

On a budget? I just put drops on this hybrid, and used Tourney trigger shifters ($15 on line). Total cost was very little, way under the cost of those shifters you are looking at on Amazon. The more resourceful you are, the lower the cost. Think co-op, friend's parts bin, donor bike, or whatever.

Trekking bars are another thrifty option for a hybrid conversion.

[IMG]1992 Schwinn Crosscut 16 inch by Bills Vintage Steel Bikes and Parts, on Flickr[/IMG]

Started with this, pulled out of a scrap pile:

[IMG]1992 Schwinn Crosscut by Bills Vintage Steel Bikes and Parts, on Flickr[/IMG]

Out of curiosity, would an 8 speed shifter work on a 7 speed cassette? I've seen a ton of 3x8 STI's at a decent price, but absolutely nothing for 3x7. Just wondering if they even exist, or if there's a way around it.

No. You can find some exceptions that people with some MacGyver skills have figured out, but you generally need to match the number of gears between shifter and cogs for indexed shifting to work properly.

There are the Shimano Tourney ST-A073 shifters, but they seem to be getting scarce. Another option would be the Microshift SB-R473 shifters, which are compatible with Shimano drivetrains and can be found via Google or eBay in the $70-80 range.

I bought a 1985 bike last year with Shimano 600 SIS (index) shifters on the downtube. It had a 6-speed freewheel which I converted to a 7-speed Shimano Tourney. I like to have my hands on the handlebars, so I swapped out the brakes and tube shifters for the Tourney brake/shifter setup. It's a basic setup, but it works very well. You'll definitely want to start with a drop bar bike - otherwise, costs can start to mount up.

If everything is Shimano, probably. Check Sheldon Brown's site, and you'll see that the spacing between 7 and 8 speed is pretty close. Some on this forum make it work, some don't. I'm one of those who says the spacing is close enough to work.

I'm also of the opinion that if you find a hybrid frame that works for you, or even a rigid mountain frame that fits, you can find budget parts to make a road worthy machine. I know folks that have an MTB frame set up with narrow 26" tires and drop bars that work just fine on the road. They're heavier than a regular road bike, but great for bad roads. So I wouldn't discount any bike for a conversion

[MENTION=19590]skydog[/MENTION]: You, good sir, have just made my day. I found some on ebay, though the only ones available come with a derailleur set as well so that jacks up the price a bit, but I'm not complaining. Apparently one of the guys at my college might be selling his old aluminum Raleigh for around $60, so I might do a conversion on it if that pans out.