tricky 

I did some googling. I found this. https://www.modernbike.com/shimano-a...ont-derailleur Check the cable pull, but maybe this would work? Here are a few more. https://www.modernbike.com/front-der...ullisdual-pull

RicardoDeGalvez

I have just picked up an old mountain bike frame and planning to convert to a drop bar for commuting, errands, and maybe touring. I am assuming I would want to put more road oriented gears on it, is that correct?

There are single braze-ons at the front and rear. I have seen fenders and rear racks attached to the same braze-on, Is there any reason I wouldn't want to do this?

wrk101

Ideal for me would be to install both STI shifters, but use the front lever just as a brake. Then install either a bar end shifter, or a DT shifter to control the FD. I prefer friction on the FD anyway. Since my Cimarron does not have shifter mounts on the DT, I would just pull out an orphan bar end shifter for one side. Sure, it might look a little odd, but functionally it would work great.

biketroubadour

You'll probably need a shorter BB axle. But it also sounds like you cable tension may be too low if you have lots of movement beyond the final click. I'd start by increasing tension, & if that isnt working go with a bb around 2-3mm shorter to start.

beicster 

I have been doing that for years on various bikes and other than being a bit more fiddly to install, I have never had a problem with it.

due ruote 

simmonsgc

Great pic, great looking bike.

due ruote 

biketroubadour

if you can find one of these pulleys at your local bike co-op, you can mount it above or below the fd to change cable pull direction as needed. Then you can get a 31.8 braze on adapter & use any braze on style 3 speed road derailleur you want. If you look back a few posts at my purple Concorde, that's exactly what I did to be able to use a 105 fd even though the frames cable guides are for top pull mtb fd's. I just mounted the pulley below the 105 fd sent the cable down to the pulley, around it & up to the fd. You might have to do something clever to adapt the band to 31.8 though (bolt an extra length of aluminium with bolt holes on each end in there most likely)

3speedslow

HarborBandS

I used a Problem Solver's "Cross Clamp with Cable Pulley" over the weekend to convert a top-pull frame to a bottom pull derailleur and STI brifters, and it works beautifully. They are about $20, and seemingly more robust than this vintage Sturmey Archer piece--but it's the same idea.

I'll post the bike when it's done, though it's a 2002 Trek 7500 FX "Fitness Bike" with 700c wheels instead of a proper 26" mountain bike. But the frame and components were totally MTB, so the conversion is similar.

3speedslow

scale

i am building out a stumpjumper conversion now and i am going to start with some surly open bars rather than drops. I will likely want to convert over to drops at some point. I have no idea on stem heights for either setup at this point. I am thinking of getting one of those Sunlite adjustable quill stems:

https://www.amazon.com/Sunlite-Adjus...r=8-8-fkmrnull

They are not surprisingly heavy and seem to give a good range. THey seem a bit dorky but i guess who cares. I like that it has the 2 bolt cap for quick bar changes. Its either that or get a quill to threadless adapter and then guess at stem length and angle over and over until i get it where i want it. Sure you can get adjustable threadless stems but those look even worse and chances are with the adapter would be much heavier.

BradH

1989 Rockhopper Comp. I'm going level toptube this time.

2cam16

Love the look of this one!

Aww

(hope photos are not too huge)
It has been a while as everything takes me a bit longer than expected, but finally managed to test ride this.
First of all, thank you all for advice, it was really helpful.
In case anybody was going through the same in the future - the FD pull of 3x7 Shimano RSX STIs (and I believe any other road STIs, too) doesn't pull enough cable to use mtb FD, or at least it didn't in my case (using STX FD). Using road triple FD helps, in my case random Tiagra. It needed a thing very similar to the problem solvers one to use bottom pull FD on a frame designed for top pull. They are sometimes used on cheap 90s mtbs, thatš where I got one, and attached it to the fender mount close to bottom bracket. Works fine so far.

The bike itself... rides perfect, and even though it is equipped with STX which was nowhere close to top of the line (and is about correct for the frame), it's about 12kgs.
Hope it qualifies as classic or vintage, it is about 1994/5.
Heavy Tools bikes are probably not really common worldwide, they used to be early 90s Austrian mtbs, both steel and aluminium, the company also made pretty cool loose mtb clothes. Then they disappeared for a couple years and the brand was probably sold, then they returned before 2000 with cheap and pretty bad hobby market mtbs.
Their bikes from early 90s are all of the most classic mtb look, no design features and such, as you can see.

TenGrainBread 

How is it to ride with those handlebars? They look a bit narrow and they are traditional road race bars which make riding on the hoods difficult.

Aww

They are narrow indeed, and actually the saddle, stem and the handlebars might still be changed. So far, tried this on my commute in a huge city with lots of terrible condition roads, and for the short distance, it is fine (also I am used to narrow bars on road bikes). Wouldn't be so enjoyable for longer trips though, so I am still considering a change.

BradH

Thanks. Frame measures 56cm C-T but longish on the TT. With the 73 degree ST and 70 degree HT I was able to end up with the same reach as my road bikes with only a stem 1cm shorter than I would use on a 56 square frame. I wrapped the bars, put on fenders and took it for a ride today. I really like it. The BB is lower than my 93 DB Apex and it just feels right.

zjrog

I have a 29er that has Sora 3x9 brifters, pulling a Shimano SLX RD, and a SRAM X5 FD. Shifts just fine. But I didn't set it up, that was done by the kid that gave me this bike. He did say finding a FD that worked was tough.

NocoRider

Mixing & matching road/mountain FD's and shifters is anything but obvious. The obvious challenges:

- Cable pull ratio vary with generation and across brand.

- Top versus bottom pull.


Not so obvious...

- Road FD's are designed for the narrower bottom bracket shells so they do not always have the reach to push the chain to the large chainring on the wider bottom bracket shell in MTB's.


One fix (hack?) I've used is to install the FD with a larger clamp and add a shim on the side of the crankset to push the FD a couple mm to the right. Old inner tubes can be cut to make shims and a bit of contact cement (aka rubber glue) can be used to build up a shim.


Another work around: Use a friction or ratchet type shifter instead of an indexed shifter (eg. use bar end shifter, Campy 9 & 10 spd shifters, various old mtb thumb shifters, etc)


Greg - one of these years I really am going to post some pic's...

Darth Lefty 

I tried a side swing SRAM X5 on my Shimergo bike (for maximum dissonance) and it worked ooookay in bottom and middle rings. It also handled the big road triple really well. But shifting, there was rub on the FD in the big ring with the two smallest cogs. It worked better when I put on a Sora FD. Doubles are a lot more forgiving.

zjrog

Cool info! The SRAM X5 on my bike, is indeed a top pull MTB FD...

Squeeze

It looks right, too. Nice bike!

dumpsterhuffy

If a drop bar'd Klein Pinnacle is the poor man's Cunningham, then the Cannondale SM600 is a poor man's Klein. This one is from 1986, and wears all the original components, minus the bars (Nitto Randonneur), stem (Specialized, from an old Stumpjumper), Dia-Compe non-aero brake levers, Shimano barcons, and early '90s Specialized Cannibal tires. Bar and brake lever angle are optimized for riding in the drops, and the rando bars are a rideable placeholder until I can get my hands on a pair of true, flared dirt drops. The history (bike was once a part of the MOMBAT collection) and patina of the bike make me question the wisdom in further customization, but if the drop bar concept works for me in the long run it'd be really cool to strip the frame and reapply black decals to make it a more visually correct homage to a Cunningham.