Show Your Vintage MTB Drop Bar Conversions
10-27-14, 06:43 PM
#3576
Junior Member
48/32/22. The larger two rings shift perfectly. But since the big ring is so big, it positions the derailleur cage too high for the ramp that shifts the small ring to contact the chain when shifting to that ring. I countered this by setting the inner limit much further in than usual, so the bottom part of the cage can shift the chain into the little ring. It requires trimming after the shift but it works well, and I barely use the small ring, so it's all good.
Hooray for friction shifting. This setup likely wouldn't work with indexed gears!
Hooray for friction shifting. This setup likely wouldn't work with indexed gears!
royal
Enjoy!
10-28-14, 09:40 AM
#3578
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Seriously cool use of ancient steel mtb's. Love all of them. One of my favorite threads.
A sea foam green 1986 Diamondback Apex was my 1st geared mtb, sold yrs ago to a friend so I could upgrade. So in that vein, I am throwing my hat in the ring with my '86/87 Diamondback Ascent EX. Yellow frame, u-brake and stem gifted by friend. Thanks Dominic! Stripped paint, wanted a bit of patina, now time for clear. Few rides in about 50miles, ready for completion as the set up is perfect.
$10 mustache bars had a scratch.
Dia-compe levers, Shimano canti front, Shimano U-brake will be on soon.
Deore cranks, 39 chainring, 19 surly cog, red KKT Lightning pedals from my KOS Kruiser
DX hubs, RM20 rims, old tires.
Strong seat post, Avocet saddle I have had since 1985 and still love. Stainless Cage.
A sea foam green 1986 Diamondback Apex was my 1st geared mtb, sold yrs ago to a friend so I could upgrade. So in that vein, I am throwing my hat in the ring with my '86/87 Diamondback Ascent EX. Yellow frame, u-brake and stem gifted by friend. Thanks Dominic! Stripped paint, wanted a bit of patina, now time for clear. Few rides in about 50miles, ready for completion as the set up is perfect.
$10 mustache bars had a scratch.
Dia-compe levers, Shimano canti front, Shimano U-brake will be on soon.
Deore cranks, 39 chainring, 19 surly cog, red KKT Lightning pedals from my KOS Kruiser
DX hubs, RM20 rims, old tires.
Strong seat post, Avocet saddle I have had since 1985 and still love. Stainless Cage.
Last edited by CruzCtrl; 10-28-14 at 12:39 PM.
10-28-14, 10:11 AM
#3579
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Nice job, that thing is looks sweet. I see Antelopes for dirt cheap fairly often on CL, I may just have to snag one next time...
10-28-14, 10:56 AM
#3580
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10-28-14, 12:57 PM
#3581
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Pictures of this '86 Stumpjumper were posted here in the Spring. I thought some of you might like to see the bike with fenders. Also replaced the Ichigear pista drop bars with Nitto B135s.
There are more pictures and details in the thread "To Fender or not to Fender". As you can see, it can be a pain in the posterior, with the HUGE frame to fender gaps to try to get acceptable fender lines.
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There are more pictures and details in the thread "To Fender or not to Fender". As you can see, it can be a pain in the posterior, with the HUGE frame to fender gaps to try to get acceptable fender lines.
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Last edited by kehomer; 10-28-14 at 01:44 PM. Reason: sp
10-28-14, 01:35 PM
#3583
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Thank you due ruote. Good question, cloth tape will happen. If I didn't live in the MTN's and ride so much dirt I would keep them as is.
Last edited by CruzCtrl; 10-28-14 at 11:34 PM.
10-28-14, 01:42 PM
#3584
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Beautiful bike Kehomer. Hope you find some relief so you can ride it more.
10-29-14, 02:26 PM
#3585
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10-29-14, 06:54 PM
#3586
Junior Member
I think my setup worked because a rule of thumb for front derailleurs is that they can shift a maximum of a 16 tooth difference between rings effectively unless it's a special derailleur, which is what the difference between 48/32 is. You might have problems if you try to do a 48/28 or 30 since the difference is larger for both. I'm not sure how it will actually turn out, it may not work or just not shift as smoothly, but don't let that stop you from trying!
Royal
10-30-14, 04:28 PM
#3588
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what stem is that? I may need to get one. Nice bike I just tuned up a purple 830 I picked up local for $75. The exage 400 is not a bad group but the steel chain rings and steel handlebar had to do. I put an old alloy bar on and a newer deore external BB crank on it and shaved a few pounds. some studded tires and she'll be commuting through any storm.
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1 Super Record bike, 1 Nuovo Record bike, 1 Pista, 1 Road, 1 Cyclocross/Allrounder, 1 MTB, 1 Touring, 1 Fixed gear
1 Super Record bike, 1 Nuovo Record bike, 1 Pista, 1 Road, 1 Cyclocross/Allrounder, 1 MTB, 1 Touring, 1 Fixed gear
10-30-14, 05:32 PM
#3589
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what stem is that? I may need to get one. Nice bike I just tuned up a purple 830 I picked up local for $75. The exage 400 is not a bad group but the steel chain rings and steel handlebar had to do. I put an old alloy bar on and a newer deore external BB crank on it and shaved a few pounds. some studded tires and she'll be commuting through any storm.
11-03-14, 04:54 PM
#3590
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1991 Specialized Stumpjumper Team
Finished.
1991 Specialized Stumpjumper Team, Campagnolo Euclid drivetrain, 1st Generation C Record Brifters, misc, Shimano crap I'll try to replace.
1991 Specialized Stumpjumper Team, Campagnolo Euclid drivetrain, 1st Generation C Record Brifters, misc, Shimano crap I'll try to replace.
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1972 Colnago Super, 1972 Bianchi Specialissima Professionale, 1998 Colnago Monotitan, 2014 Salsa Horsethief, 2015 Salsa Mukluk Ti
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11-05-14, 02:59 PM
#3592
Full Member
Ok, not a mtb 'drop bar' conversion, although I have done about 6 of those to this point & shared some of them, but this is a mtb conversion
with Nitto Albatross bars.
It is the 1986 Peugeot Orient Express that had the 'under chainstay' roller cam brakes & I know there are fans of them
but I could not get them to work right, (I think the springs were warped or something)
so I found these Tektro '26" Cruiser' sidepulls for $17 on ebay and gave them a try.
First ride on it yesterday after installing proved them to work very well for me.
They are beefy and swallow those 58 to 60mm fat tires with room to spare.
I will have to deflate the tire to remove wheel but that is not a huge issue for me.
I am enjoying this 'relatively' fat tire bike a lot.
It's rolling at a fraction under 30 lbs. which is quite a bit less than the 34 listed on the online 1986 Peugeot catalog.
Again with all due respect to the under chainstay roller cam fans this looks to be a decent alternative rear brake solution for
certain mtb's.
I guess for folks who wanted to not use any canti's you could use on both front & rear.
with Nitto Albatross bars.
It is the 1986 Peugeot Orient Express that had the 'under chainstay' roller cam brakes & I know there are fans of them
but I could not get them to work right, (I think the springs were warped or something)
so I found these Tektro '26" Cruiser' sidepulls for $17 on ebay and gave them a try.
First ride on it yesterday after installing proved them to work very well for me.
They are beefy and swallow those 58 to 60mm fat tires with room to spare.
I will have to deflate the tire to remove wheel but that is not a huge issue for me.
I am enjoying this 'relatively' fat tire bike a lot.
It's rolling at a fraction under 30 lbs. which is quite a bit less than the 34 listed on the online 1986 Peugeot catalog.
Again with all due respect to the under chainstay roller cam fans this looks to be a decent alternative rear brake solution for
certain mtb's.
I guess for folks who wanted to not use any canti's you could use on both front & rear.
11-05-14, 03:35 PM
#3593
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Those are actually Chinese made knockoffs, and heavy at that but help make this bike a blast to ride.
CST Metropolitan Palm Bay Wire Bead Tire 26-Inch x 2.35
METROPOLITAN PALM BAY C1779 | Hybrid Tires | CST Tires (Listed at 1075 grams) in their copper brown color.
Got them on close out at REI over a year ago.
11-05-14, 04:37 PM
#3594
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I have been thinking about a drop bar(VO flared model) bars on my burgandy Urban Express, along with a set of Deore DX derailleurs. I am undecided on the tre size though. I can probably go narrower and pick up a little speed, since the wheels I'd use are 90's era matrix on deore hubs IIRC. I will do all I can to lighten it up within reason, but there's only so much you can do. it will most likely end up in the 30-33 pound range like most 80's steel mtbs.,,,,BD
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11-05-14, 04:57 PM
#3595
Senior Member
Ive decided to swap my Marin over. Thanks to all the enablers here on the forum. I have the bars already, waiting on a set of bar end shifters, aero brake levers and bar tape. Ive done a mock up with the bars and really like the fit. Looking foreward to getting it done.
11-06-14, 08:15 AM
#3596
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I have been thinking about a drop bar(VO flared model) bars on my burgandy Urban Express, along with a set of Deore DX derailleurs. I am undecided on the tre size though. I can probably go narrower and pick up a little speed, since the wheels I'd use are 90's era matrix on deore hubs IIRC. I will do all I can to lighten it up within reason, but there's only so much you can do. it will most likely end up in the 30-33 pound range like most 80's steel mtbs.,,,,BD
It is a heavy frame to begin with at 8.9 lbs for the bare frame & fork.
On the plus side it has lots of room to spare between the stays and fork with those fat tires.
I could easily shave off several pounds with lighter tires and wheels but will save that for a lighter build I am currently mulling over with a different lighter frame.
Several of my other 21" to 23" mtb frames weigh in right at 8.0 lbs for bare frame & fork.
To date my lightest was my 23" Schwinn Cimarron at 7.65 lbs for frame & fork.
The heaviest I have encountered to date is a dark gray Specialized Hardrock frame which was a whopping 9.65 lbs for bare frame & fork.(Sold that one) Good grief, did they pour lead down some of the tubes of that one?
It is interesting to me that another Specialized, a Hardrock Comp ( 1989 model) I have weighs a flat 8.0 for the bare frame and fork.
I have read of several of the folks on this list have pared down their vintage mtb builds to weights to the sub 25 lb range.
It would be interesting to know what the bare frame & fork weights on these lighter vintage mtb's.(Such as the Specialized Stumpjumpers)
Since I completely disassemble b4 rebuilding it is easy to weigh the bare frame & fork.
From my very limited mtb sample of about 8 frames/forks the difference between the higher end Cimarron and several other decent double butted tubing frames was .35 lbs. Not a whole lot of difference there.
I currently have a Trek 850 sitting here as my next project that is a 8.0 frame and fork.
I hope to build it up at no more that 26 to 27 lbs.
I am finding it a bit harder to achieve a lighter build with these tallish frames.
I don't care for it's current royal blue color of the 850 and am inspired by 'kehomer's' beautiful metallic orange Stumpjumper that was posted recently.
Last edited by cooperryder; 11-06-14 at 08:22 AM.
11-06-14, 08:24 AM
#3597
Thrifty Bill
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I have been thinking about a drop bar(VO flared model) bars on my burgandy Urban Express, along with a set of Deore DX derailleurs. I am undecided on the tre size though. I can probably go narrower and pick up a little speed, since the wheels I'd use are 90's era matrix on deore hubs IIRC. I will do all I can to lighten it up within reason, but there's only so much you can do. it will most likely end up in the 30-33 pound range like most 80's steel mtbs.,,,,BD
With a little effort, you should easily end up below 28 pounds.
11-06-14, 08:29 AM
#3598
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Amazing. Funny how these road groups can shift off-road derailers. I'm gobbling up all the campagnolo mountain bike stuff I can get from the local trading site, so far not enough for a complete bike, but getting there.
11-06-14, 08:54 AM
#3599
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There are so many great bikes here. Lots of inspiration!
I've been SLOWLY rebuilding a 1990 stumpjumper I picked up off CL last year, and this thread has made me decide to convert it to drop bars.
i have 2 questions though.
1) Does anyone know where I can find a pair of 25.4 Midge drops? I've been watching On One's site for quite a while, but they seem to be sold out every time I check. I've even tried ebay, but I haven't seen them in my clamp size.
2) Does anyone have experience fitting 26x2.35 tires with fenders on an old stumpjumper or comparable bike? I really like the idea of fatty tires (schwalbe big apples or big bens), but I don't want to get them on there only to find out later I don't have room for a fender?
Thanks in advance for any help!
I've been SLOWLY rebuilding a 1990 stumpjumper I picked up off CL last year, and this thread has made me decide to convert it to drop bars.
i have 2 questions though.
1) Does anyone know where I can find a pair of 25.4 Midge drops? I've been watching On One's site for quite a while, but they seem to be sold out every time I check. I've even tried ebay, but I haven't seen them in my clamp size.
2) Does anyone have experience fitting 26x2.35 tires with fenders on an old stumpjumper or comparable bike? I really like the idea of fatty tires (schwalbe big apples or big bens), but I don't want to get them on there only to find out later I don't have room for a fender?
Thanks in advance for any help!
11-06-14, 11:30 AM
#3600
Full Member
