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-   -   Drop Bars on my stupid-fire MTN bike?? (https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-mechanics/156961-drop-bars-my-stupid-fire-mtn-bike.html)

abm1213 12-01-05 10:53 PM

Drop Bars on my stupid-fire MTN bike??
 
I am riding an old MTN bike as a trainer on the road. I have fenders and skinney almost-road tires it has a 7-speed XT shimano drive train - real old. No suspension. I put a straight block cluster in place of the MTN cluster and it's great, fabulous. It, for some reason, has 170mm cranks so it doesn't feel like I've been dancing in wooden shoes after 4 hours. But, to get to the point, I miss the road drop bars on longer rides with this bike and I was considering converting the bike to be more road-like. HOwerver, the shifters are integrated with the brake levers with a "stupid-fire" decal on each unit perfectly describing the result. I was just thinking how I could take the retro Cinelli aluminum bars that I have sitting in the garage as we speek and place them on the stupid-fire bike. Do I have to replace the levers and shifters as well as get a new stem? The bike is old and has 1 1/8" threaded fork. The bike looks great, by the way, with grimey old black road-stained components, shiney new black fenders and a crapped up black paint job with black tape over any evidence of commercial brandism and deacalism. Anyhow, I am tempted to just slap the bars on and then see how the stupid-fire units sit when I wrap them onto the road bars. Has anybody done this? If so could you tell me about your experiences? You might save me alot of work for nothing and keep me from continuing to convince the neighbors that I am truly weird because I take apart and then re-assemble one of my three bikes every week or so without seeing a need. No effect is apparent either. I love my $100 bike as much as my $2K bike. This web-site is great, BTW.

PS - I am not interested in bar-end shifters.

Moose 12-01-05 11:06 PM


Originally Posted by abm1213
I am not interested in bar-end shifters.

Why? That's your best option.

jeff williams 12-01-05 11:29 PM

Well, I doubt 'any' road bars will fit the mtn stem clamp, road and mtn are often different diameters -but, since you dislike the 'stupidfire' replace with an old road friction set, the derailer wont care. The clamps for the road shifters will fit the road bars.

A used 1 1/8 quill stem (road) and the bars will clamp. Other thing is the brake lever clamps, same clamp size issue.
Most non-V brake levers do not pull enough cable for v-brakes usually found on mtb.
Non -V, the levers should work for all cantilever brakes. Road lever to mtn centerpull cantilever be fine I think.
One way around the cable pull issue is a 'travel agent' pulley.

?

dbg 12-02-05 11:27 AM

Probably a total rebuild of the shifter and brake assembly. Those won't fit a road drop.

HillRider 12-02-05 12:28 PM

I converted an old (1993) Trek MTB to road bars last year using almost all surplus and take-off parts I had in my collection so the cost was minimal.

I used an old 8-speed STI brifter for the rear shifting and a friction bar-con for the front as the Deore LX fd wouldn't index properly with the STI brifter. I used a left over road brake lever for the left side.

I converted the rear 7-speed hub to 8-speed using a parts box freehub body with no problems since the OLD was already 135mm and, by the time I got through juggling spacers, I didn't even have to redish the wheel.

I got a 1-1/8" quill stem from Bike Tools Etc. and 25.4 mm road bars from a LBS in their surplus pile. These were the only parts I bought.

spinbackle 12-02-05 01:39 PM

Do you like to ride on the hoods or in the drops? A pair of cheap barends (Profile Stubbies come to mind) will put you in a more stretched-out, almost hands on the hoods road bike position. I use 'em on my 18 year old Specialized with great success.

Retro Grouch 12-02-05 10:52 PM

I don't understand why you're even asking. It sounds to me like you've got an advanced stage of BTE, "Bike Tinkerers Disorder". You know that you're going to try to do it and see how it works regardless of what anybody says. That's what I'd do. Don't worry about the neighbors - it's way too late to try to make them think that you might not be weird. That's partly to the good. They'll never ask you to babysit and their kids won't bother you on Holloween.

I'd advise caution fitting your retro Cinelli bar into a mountain stem. Typical road handlebars are a little fatter than mountain bars so the clamp fits a bit too snugly. Older Cinelli road handlebars aren't typical - they were even fatter than most modern road bars. It'd be a shame to ruin them by trying to force fit them where they won't fit. If you have a front loading stem clamp you can cheat by chamferring all four corners so that you don't have sharp corners digging into your handlebar.

I suspect that you'll have difficulty sliding your Rapid Fire clamp onto your road handlebar. The magic number that you're looking for is 22.2mm diameter where the levers clamp. Even if you find a road bar that's that size, I think that you'll have trouble getting them to slide around the curves up to the top part of the bar where they'll function best. You might be able to get it to work by wedging the clamp open with a screwdriver and greasing the curves of your handlebar to make it slide easier.

Let me know how it goes. I'm still learning too.

dbg 12-02-05 11:27 PM

Camel passing through the eye of a needle, ..maybe. Mtb shifters on a roadbar, ..not going to happen.

HillRider 12-03-05 08:28 AM


Originally Posted by dbg
Camel passing through the eye of a needle, ..maybe. Mtb shifters on a roadbar, ..not going to happen.

Yeah, I think your have this right. I just went out and looked closely at a pair of Shimano old-style 7-speed LX MTB brake/shifter assemblies. There is no way they will fit properly on a road bike bar. Even if they could be forced on, the only way they could be oriented usefully would be to shove them almost to the stem. Lots of work to no benefit.

ApolloCVermouth 12-03-05 01:31 PM

In you don't want bar-end shifters these might be you cheapest option:
http://www.kellybike.com/2nd_xtra_takeoff.html

Otherwise I've seen a thumb shifter put on a drop bar with a pipe clamp. Seemed to work...


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