due ruote 

That Trek looks pretty nice, but if that's how high you need the saddle, a drop conversion might be dicey.

I use Panaracer Urban Max 1.25 tires. I think they're much like the Paselas and I like them quite a bit.

alecjahn

Oh yeah... forgot to put that down. But correct is still pretty high :/ Maybe I'll try out risers for a while and see how that goes. I'm sure I can find some quick 'n dirty ones just to test the fit.

Bikedued

I passed on a bike today, that would have a made an EXCELLENT conversion! It was a Centurion Commuter 5, made of tange no.5. Had the dia compe mini canti's, a rear rack, and upright North road meets mtn bars. The thing that struck me about it? It was super light?? I was amazed. The main problem? WAY too small. If it was 3-4 centimeters taller, I would be posting pics of it now.,,,,BD

Looked exactly like this! except no big ridiculous saddle. It was even the same size. The crank was a cast alloy piece, and the bars were alloy. I wish SO that it was bigger. It had to weigh about 24 pounds, with fenders and all.

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bjOr7ClCuY...5+vbg+1983.jpg

anixi

^Dued, that CC5 is nice! That would've been a killer gravel grinder, maybe with the fenders off and 700c wheels.

Taxi Rob

1. YES.

2. Powdercoat. The original paint wasn't that great, though I did like the color. I was thinking I could live with it but a lot was missing. Unfortunate surface rust shared a hue similar to the paint, so unless you sat there and pored over it on the workstand for weeks as I did, you may not have noticed. I've actually been thinking of eliminating the red, too. Anybody need some nice red ano cantis?

3. Headset is an IRC Technoglide cartridge set made by Tange. Unfortunately it came with a plain alloy spacer, so eventually I have to hunt down a red ano spacer to match.

4. I like the grey suggestion, maybe charcoal, goes with everything.

Taxi Rob

I built up a CrossPoint, which was the top-end of the range that came all Deore. I never weighed it but it would have made a respectable tourer from my estimation

purebikes 

1988 Trek 870 after its maiden voyage at Brown County State Park. The ride is superb on the True Temper tubing but still need to work on the gearing. I will also be looking for some sort of brifters or different shifter options because the bar ends on the WTB dirt drops is not the most efficient on the fly. I am also not the biggest fan of the chain stay brake set up, after today it was caked with mud. It is set up with mostly original components except for the newer Deore RD. I added the Nitto riser stem, Dirt drops and sun tour bar ends from the parts bin. Anyone else have one of these? I really like that it has down tube adjusters, pretty rare on a MTB from what I have seen.

mainstreetexile 

Nice!

Man, I found it very hard to believe that it would have come with downtube braze-on shifter mounts/cable stops, but I looked in the catalog and you can see them in the picture (although the originals are black). Crazy!

Looks like it has a little more aggressive geometry than the other models too at 73/72. Should make for a nice conversion.

That looks like a lot of seatpost and reach to the bars, how comfortable is it?

LesterOfPuppets

Broke the outer cage of my Suntour ARX derailer the other day, scored a BL replacement. Both work great shifting a double on a bike with 135mm OLD 8-10sp freehub with 7-speed cassette with a spacer behind it.


Some day I really need to figure out what frame this is. Pretty sure it's a Marin but have only viewed the German Marin catalog scans, and nothing seems to match.

frantik

wow i would be tempted to put some down tube shifters on there myself


I'm feeling a touch of guilt taking apart the Trek 8300 Composite and converting it to a drop bar.. it looks like it's "all original", and is a rare suntour equipped model, so i feel kinda bad mixing and matching the original parts.. but at the same time, it's not pleasant to ride as it is since the bar is way to low for me and a bit long too... and i don't even really like flat bars w/o bar ends at least. So I might as well take it apart

on a side note, I wish all mtb thumbies were easy to put on drop bars, not just the ones with bendable steel bands.. i have some nice suntour XC pros but they have alloy clamps so i can't use them on drops. I don't really like the look of bar end shifters, though I've never tried them. buying them individually also gets expensive, and I don't buy bikes that come with them very often

purebikes 

Not too bad since I was riding on the hoods but yes I might need a different stem setup. On that has a little less reach, and a smidge taller.

I think that might be a little awkward on the trail but you never know. I have been looking for a set of those shifter mounts that go right under the drops so that you can mount thumbies. Kind of hard to find though.

frantik

I don't do a lot of off roading so it wouldn't be as big of a deal. When I do go off road, I don't change gears that often...

So I've started converting the Trek 8300 to a drop bar.. it's got a threadless fork that is cut pretty short so I have to find some mega riser stems.. I tried a 130mm 25 degree stem but it extends too far out and is a bit too low. I used a stem calculator and it looks like a 40 degree 130mm stem will raise it ~20mm and push the reach back ~25mm.. hopefully that will be enough. Threadless stems are lighter but I miss having the easy height adjustment. it doesn't help this frame is probably a little too small for me, though the top tube is actually slightly longer than I prefer. I don't know what was up with the 90s frames AND stems being super long..

due ruote 

This is a re-post, but last time I was flogged for having a fugly stem. Hopefully this one is an improvement. It's a fun bike at any rate.

frantik

kinda hard to see the stem but sweet bike

speaking of stems, i need one to complete the Jamis drop bar conversion.. 1" quill with a 30 degree rise, 120 extension if anyone's got one.

jdefran

Where did you get the yellow hoods? What brake levers are those?

neo_pop_71

Down tube shifters on trail bikes might sound bizarre to us now but back in 1990 Johnny T. raced to the World Championship on a dirt drop bike using a prototype Shimano STI "brifter" set up. He had two configurations, a bar end shifter and a clamp on frame mounted down tube shifter. Depending on the race coarse was the determining factor since he might be catching air and wanted to avoid the dreaded "knee shift" of a bar end shifter.



I love the Suntour XC Pro series! I'm running full XC Pro on my '92 Bridgestone MB-1, I found out through doing a bunch of forum lurking on RetroBike that the XC Pro thumb shifters will mount up on the the On-One Midge drop bar. That sealed it for me and I ordered one! Best move I ever made regarding that build, for whatever reason the Midge bar just feels the best on that frame and I did try the WTB and the Gary bar but it was night and day in overall comfort.



-D-

frantik

do they only fit the midge bar or any dirt drop bar? did you have to do anything special to get them to fit (ie bend them a little, etc)

the midge bar is pretty nice.. just a little too wide for me though. Plus you can't really use the hoods as much

and you've got me thinking.. i should get myself a downtube shifter band and try it out, maybe on the Jamis..

wintermute

Hmmm, do you think the bend is shallow enough for these to be mounted immediately above the brake lever bodies?

Let the ebay hilarity ensue!

due ruote 

Those are Dia Compe AGC levers; hoods from Ebay.

due ruote 

I probably don't have my levers in the "correct" position (post #1688) but I find the hoods on the Midge bars to be very comfortable. ymmv.

neo_pop_71

The shifters made the bend, so I don't see why you couldn't set them up to be in reach when you're in the drops. I went with the set up I have after some trial and error but it boiled down to the fact that I would be climbing with my hands on top of the bar or above the brake hoods. I descend in the drops, that's why the levers are positioned where they are... it works well for me but it might be hell for someone else. The other thumb shifters that worked and you could definitely position them as you suggested are the first generation XT "Deerhead/Stag" shifters. That's exactly how I set them up on my Cimarron commuter with the flipped Albatross bars and the Dia-Compe "Batwing" levers, the shifters placed perfectly, my hands never have to leave the grips thanks to the long levers and the large shift paddles. A set can be bought on Ebay cheaper than bar end shifters, maybe something to consider.

Here are a couple photos of mine after some polishing with SimiChrome.

RFC

Still one of my favorites!

Henry III

This bike is just plain awesome. Little too stretched out for me but just something about those lugged Trek mtb just tickle my pickle. lol.

neo_pop_71

Hey Henry III, that 870 turned out great! I really dig the geometry of the frame, it looks to be very similar to the '87 Bridgestone MB-1 with a steep head tube angle and a nicely raked fork. The geometry on your 870 is much more aggressive than my lugged '92 Trek 950, that's got to make a for a sweet ride that slices and dices narrow trails. I think I'm going to start grabbing up all the lugged Trek bikes I can find. What tube set is your 870? Thanks for sharing!



-D-

cooperryder

You can check out the various year models of the Crisscross here.
https://bikecatalogs.org/SCHWINN/MODELS/Crisscross.html

https://bikecatalogs.org/SCHWINN/1992..._cc_specsb.jpg

I had the 1992 model for a while but the largest 22" size was a bit too short for my preferences so I passed it along.
According to the catalog it lists the 1992 tubing as doubled butted CroMo, the same as the higher priced Crosspoint & Crosscut.

The other years show just the main tubes were double butted.

It lists that 1992 model as 27 lbs. for what that is worth.

Someone else asked about it being tour worthy.

Well this gent thought so to the tune of 23,000 touring miles until a rear drop broke but Schwinn replaced the bike for him
and according to the narrative he toured on the 2nd one until someone in the city of brotherly love attacked him & stole it.
www.pedalprayers.org/Journey/page03.html