Wow, how is the fit like that? Those frames are pretty bad ass. Is that front fender stay that attaches to the canti boss something you made?

The fit is pretty good for me (I'm about 5'9"), but I have to use a pretty upright stem to get the bars close to level with the saddle, which is about as far as I can comfortably lean over. I modified an existing fender stay to mount to the brake bosses. It works for now, but I'm going to have to alter it soon to improve it. There's a bit too much in-built stress the way I have it now.

I'd like to know more about the fenders as well.

Here's a crazy idea for folks looking for get a more "road-like" head tube angle out of their mtbs. It works best with sloping top tube frames but you can do it with level top tubes as well.

Basically you take a suspension fork and remove the guts from it and compress it all the way. this creates a fork that is shorter than your standard fork, which creates a sharper effective top tube angle. it also will shorten the wheel base a tiny bit and also increase the seat tube angle.. all characteristics of road bikes. With a sloping top tube bike, you can almost make the top tube level.


I haven't tried this out on my drop bar conversion bikes, but i have done it on my polo bike and it definitely changes the way it rides. I haven't figured out a way to keep the fork compressed without using zip ties, but once i figure out a clean way to do it, i'd like to experiment a bit and see how it feels

Couldn't you achieve the same result in a better fashion by putting a pre-suspension (smaller axle to crown) fork on a suspension-corrected frame?

That is an interesting idea, you could just remove the guts and then epoxy the stanchions so that they cannot physically more anymore. At that point youve ruined that SUS fork but if its something really old that you cant rebuild at least youre getting extra life out of it. A lot of older forks are very light and when you remove the innards they are almost as lightweight as a typical cro-mo rigid fork.

yes.

You could also just measure your axle to crown on whatever you have and seek a fork that is shorter. You only need about 10mm shorter fork to steepen the angles by about half a degree as a very rough estimate.

it probably depends on the fork but when fully compressed with all the innards removed, a judy rock shox fork is even shorter than any rigid fork i have by at least a few cm

One option would be to replace the springs (if it has them) with the highest rating. That way you only get compression when you have a very heavy rider, or, no compression at all with someone weighing between 150-175lbs.

^ you don't want the springs in there.. the idea is to make the fork as short as possible

Im still thinking you find the optimal length and then epoxy the poop out of the lowers and the stanchions will NOT ever move again.

I think the 26" Surly LHT fork is pretty short. In fact I'm kind of wishing I had used one of those instead of the Surly fork I chose. I may replace it before I cut the steerer tube.

yeah thats not a bad idea.. the epoxy doesnt even really have to do much except prevent gravity from extending the fork back out

I like it, nice! Surly 1x1 works well. Have the same fork on my Mongoose Rockadile drop bar.

Did you post your Rockadile in this thread? My current commuter is a 1993 Rockadile I bought new. Heavy but pretty much the toughest bike I've ever owned. If this Rocky Mountain works out as my new commuter, the Rockadile will go back to being my heavy cargo/grocery bike.

Edit: Just found your Rockadile. Very nice! Was 94 the year they switched to double butted tubing? I think mine's just straight-gauge chromoly. So very heavy!

Yes, I believe mine is butted. It's "light" enough anyhow, at least it doesn't bother me. I commute, trail, offroad, and century on it (well necessarily with the racks all the time). As tough as it is and as well as it rides, it deserves to keep seeing action.

Yes, it's got an a-t-c of 376mm. The next-shortest Surly fork (aside from the disc-trucker, which shares the same a-t-c as the LHT) is the shorter 1x1 fork, at 413mm.

I get the idea of trying to gut and freeze an old suspension fork, but I'd worry about long-term durability and I reckon it'd look a mess.

at 38cm that is pretty close to a fully compressed suspension fork. and more attractive. but old sus forks are probably easier/cheaper to come by

BITD, I had a chromoly Kona full-rigid that i'd converted to drop-bars, xd 48/36/26 triple, barcons, etc. Rack, bags, blah blah blah.
I loved the bike, but it's reverted to mountain bike duty, and has been for a few years.

The drop-bar mtb bug has bitten me again, and I got a cool frame for it. I'm still up in the air if I want to go with drop bars or northroad-style upright bars. Thing is, the Kalloy 115d dirt-drop style stem I got won't accommodate my Nitto bars. The clamp area, which looks basically narrow and normal-ish, will not allow the bends of the dropbar to pass thru. NBD, as I can just run a different stem, but that'd necessitate my getting some other variety of cable hanger, etc... So, yeah, I'm frustrated. the stem is but a small hiccup, but the fact that it frustrates me so indicates that I've lost my way with this build.

I guess I need some spiritual guidance/advice. I'm committed to building an all-rounder with some serious touring/bike-camping flavor-- that'll happen regardless, and I'll probably end up spending about the same amount of money regardless of cockpit set-up... I just guess I want/need someone to re-sell me on the drop-bar mtb thing. For every inspiring pic I see on this thread, I see about 3 that make me wanna go upright....

Its easy enough to go with a headset spacer cable stop. They can be purchased for less than $5. I like the stems Oddjob has picked up from Amazon. They make bar changes super easy.

All the bikes I own, the one that gets ridden is the Cimmaron drop bar conversion. I have short legs and a long torso, so the longish top tube is not a problem for me.

I usually add small misc parts like this one to larger orders to avoid shipping charges. Lots of versions of this style of stop.

http://www.niagaracycle.com/categori...justable-steel

CR-7 Drop Bar 700c Project: (Built the whole bike around the stem...couldn't stand to have it gathering dust on my desk)


http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/v...psdec93dd0.jpg




http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/v...psafcb99f3.jpg




http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/v...ps8ddbc319.jpg




http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/v...ps17d0ae46.jpg





Steve

Steve,
Wow! This interesting build deserves a more detail write-up. It looks fantastic. How do the 700C wheels compare to the 26"?

Grafton, FTW, etc..

Looks fun Steve....

I told you it was a rocket... good that it went to my brother from another mother.

:)

From my perspective as a drop-bar addict ;), I'd think they should be great for all-rounder duty if set at the right height for you -- many of the bikes here have their handlebars at or even slightly above the saddle. Have you seen this column on making quill stems play nicely with drop bars? https://janheine.wordpress.com/2012/...r-into-a-stem/