I have an old, 29lb Nishiki 10 speed. I am older, an analog guy, and frugal plus it fits me. I like it as a road bike which I will want to use for my first Sprint this summer and want to convert it back and forth to more of a Cyclocross or Hybrid to handle the manicured Katy Trail of Missouri. Is this possible? Is it advisable? If possible, what is the type and size tire could I get and is there a better handlebar? Thanks in advance for any thoughts. - TZ

Can you post pictures of the bike and trail? Most old road bikes can take a fairly wide tire. I like drop bars just fine for mild dirt. A spare wheelset would let you switch quickly, with bigger cogs for the trail as well.

Can you attach a picture or two? It'll help us identify what kind of 'older 10 speed' we're talking about.
Wheels and tires are going to be the main difference in how you fit it out for your different missions.
If it's got older 27" wheels, tire choices are going to be a little more limited than if it has the 'modern' 700c size.

Without knowing the specifics, I'll go with a few general suggestions. Tires, (27") I like the Forte Strada from Performance as a road tire, it rolls well on good pavement or bad, corners well, and is usually on sale for >$20.
For your Katy trail, the Panaracer Pasela has a little more grip and a bit of shoulder to the tread for unpaved adventures.
I don't know what you mean by 'better' handlebar. Flat bars, or just a modern wider, alloy drop bar.
For your sprint (Tri, right?) it's about 10 miles, so if you want to go aero, you can pick up used clip-on aero bars from CL for $30-50 all day long. But on a flat, 10 mile bike leg back in the age groups, you can probably get away with just riding in the drops.

What exactly do you mean by converting it? Do you want to put a set of STI/brifters on it? Do you want more gears? Riding on dirt and gravel with skinny road tires is not ideal, and mud can clog up your caliper brakes. You may be able to put wider tires on it depending on the clearance.

I always thought it was cheaper to start with what you wanted. Been too long since I read Sheldon Brown's site; it goes over all the various bits. Stem diam, bar diam, etc. I'd be sorely tempted to shop CL and maybe used bike places and see if what you want is already out there. Might not be the cheapest though. But you may have fun finding the right exact parts to pull off what you want.

As for tires: you could mark the forks and chainstays where the tire is, remove wheels and measure the width. Or carefully measure as-is how much clearance is on each side of the tire, and add that to the current tire width. If you're not hitting mud then you should be ok to get just about that wide.

The parts of the Katy Trail I've ridden were pea gravel and my old Trek 720 with 32mm wide road tires had no trouble.

What aspects of a "hybrid bike" are you hoping to incorporate into your conversion project?

On the other hand, those are sometimes good candidates for 700c conversions, which could both expand tire options and give extra clearance.

But, if it's 27" and a Swifttire Sand Canyon can fit on the bike, I might go with something like that for the Katy.

If the bike fits and it's comfy, setting it up for a gravel trail could just be a matter of putting wide enough tires on the bike. Many older bikes have frame and fork clearance to take moderately wide tires.

What size tires are on the bike? Do you have much clearance between the tires and the frame/fork?

Thank you. I think it is about the change in tire. It takes a 27inch. Currently 1 1/4 slick road tires. I am pretty sure there is more clearance. Key is the caliber brakes and I will need a pro to handle that.

IronFish - This is very helpful. Thank you for the information on the two types of tires. I cannot figure out how to place a photo here. While I took 4 pics for the group, I don't have them accessible with in a link as needed for the website.

mcours2006 - I am pretty sure more gears would be great but I am happy with the 10. I am unfamiliar with STI/brifters. When I said convert, I meant a back and forth on the tires from road to gravel trails and maybe finding a flat handlebar or a more modern wider alloy drop bar. Thank you for your help.

This is good stuff Supton. I appreciate your thoughts. I am keeping an open mind on other options.

JohnDThompson - I think my hope was to have a road bike and a trail bike on one frame. I think the answers I am getting have been helpful that I could change tires and maybe try a different handlebar. Especially since I am happy with the gear mechanisms. Thanks for putting your mind to my predicament.

HTupolev - thank you for the idea of a Swifttire Sand Canyon. This looks like a great tire for my 27inch wheels and idea. Much obliged.

[MENTION=460421]DrZ[/MENTION] - The other option would be to convert to 700C - you'd have both more tire choice and a little more tire clearance. To do so you only need to have adjustment room to lower the brake pads 4mm.

On newer drop bars - they mostly have a larger diameter at the clamp. Finding flat bars would be easy, but you'd need new brake levers. Downtube shifters (assuming that's what you've got) aren't as easy to use if you move things around to sit up a little more when you change the bars.

10 speed being 5 by 2 , 120 wide rear , [as i did..] get a single gear freewheel , and axle spacers ,

move the axle to be equidistant from both sides of the hub.. the freewheel moves to a rightward chain line

re tru the rim to be centered again, and of more equal spoke tensions, R/L.

and now you have a one speed , and the envy of the younger kids.






....

If you are looking to change your bike into a "rail trail special", here are a few things to consider:

Bullhorn bars

Works well over long distances, and doesn't require you to sit in a hunched-over position. Works well with:

Stem shifters

..so you don't have to reach way down to shift. Or, you could keep your drop bars, and consider bar-end shifters, like this:

Also, you could try an adjustable stem, where you can adjust your drop bars upwards when you need it, like this:


Also, since you won't be needing a wide range of gears, you can replace your old wider-range freewheel with a narrower range, like this 14-24:


Or, you might like to try a 'split shift" setup, where you just buy a smaller front chainring only 4 teeth smaller than your large ring, and keep your wider-range rear freewheel. This will allow you to 'split' each gear with the front derailleur, giving you a lot more fine-tuning for gentle grades and headwinds.

Any of these components I have shown is less than $20, except for the bar-end shifter kit, which was $35.

Viich - this idea of going to a 700 is a good one and I am going to take that to bike shop with the bike and see what gives. The brakes are newly padded and were supposed to be adjusted by REI but not accomplished well in my view. I also now find the handle bars loose - side to side - which gives me the thought of at least adjusting them up or finding the straight bars however I am not keen on switching all the brake mechanisms and such. I will get a price for it all and decide. At some point it goes to changing out the bike completely. Thank you kindly for your ideas!!!

Fietsbob - you are a magician. I thought about a fixie but it defeats my hope of having one bike for casual trail and the other for Tri Sprints. Thanks much! - TZ

AlexCyclistRoch - thanks for the neat ideas for adjustable options. I hadn't any idea there were these options only now just getting back into cycling for fun and this new Tri Sprint goal. I really like the adjustable stems. Cool stuff to be sure. Thank you kindly.

I've been on the Katy Trail in the past. I believe Creve Cour is paved, makes a few mile loop. But the Katy is pea gravel. I rode it with my road bike (23mm or 25mm tires), and had no problems, although after a few hours of riding, I could certainly feel the added rolling resistance. I suppose it was worse right after a snow melt when the tires would sink in a bit. The trail in the St. Louis, St. Charles, Defiance, Augusta, Marthasville area is extremely flat.

So, your stock 27x1 1/4 should be just fine.

Look at where the pads are mounted on your callipers. If they can be moved down by 1/2" or so, then you'll be able to mount 700c wheels, which will give you good clearance, and quite a variety of tire choices. Do you have some spare wheels to try out? Some people have carefully extended the slots in the callipers slightly.

Anyway, have you been on the trail? Is it local to you? I'd tune up your bike and take it as-is, go for a good long ride, then decide what needs too be changed or updated.

If you are talking tires and handlebars, go for it.

If you are talking about things like changing caliper brakes to something else, frugality needs to go out the window. You'll quickly price yourself way above what you can likely find a more suitable used bike for.

My 1-1/4 tires are well suited for any sort of rail trail, and really most conditions short of what you'd want a MTB for. They get ridden frequently on rough roads. I've got the 1-1/4 Paselas on two of my 27" bikes, and would have them on the third except there isn't clearance for anything bigger than 1-1/8. They ride well both on road and on gravel/limestone/clay.

I agree. I've ridden a number of miles on gravel rail trails with 28 mm or 1 1/8" tires. I'd probably pick something a little bit wider if I was building a gravel-specific bike, but those worked fine for bikes I use on both pavement and pea gravel. Not once did I think during my trail rides, "I really need some wider tires."

Depending on the particular chainrings and freewheel, splitting the difference and 1.5-step shifting when necessary can also work fine.

Here's a log chart of the ratios on a 52-42 14-16-18-21-24-28, for instance:

Are you going to do the work, or do you have to pay someone to do it?

At that weight, I'll assume you have a low-end Nishiki from the early-mid-'70s with a frame of high-tensile steel.

Do your current wheels have aluminum rims? Are the spokes in good condition? If not, I'd recommend 'new' wheels, but you may have to buy them via Craigslist or a good LBS that's been around for a long while, since I haven't seen new 5-speed wheels in a long while (5-spd hubs are 120mm wide, 6/7 spd are 125mm wide, and 8-11 spd are 130mm (most road) or 135mm (some road, most mtn) wide.

If your rims are aluminum, I think your cheapest bet is to buy an old rear wheel in good condition. That way you can mount tires for one use on one rear wheel and for another use on the other. Next cheapest is to buy an old wheelset that allows even easier swapping, though probably at higher cost.

I don't know of an easy way to change handlebars.

What's your budget? $150-$200 should get you a used bike that has a frame built with plain-gauge 531 or even butted chrome-moly steel from Tange or Ishiwata and better components than your Nishiki. Especially since you want 2 different types of bars, 2 bikes may be your best option.