Venge Hybrid Project
 

So, out riding my Venge today and I am finally sick of the neck pain. My neck was fused 18 years ago after breaking it. I cannot ride road bike bars for more than 2-3 hours, depending upon the day.

I got a great deal on my Venge Pro Race about a year ago, and used bikes are never worth much, so here goes a project.

I have ordered the following:

XT Shifters
XT derailleur and cassette
Paul brake levers
Enve DH bars
Ritchey stem

So, this should be interesting. The worst case scenario to me is that I have to take these parts back off and sell the bike (these are all parts that I could use with my other bikes). Best case is that I love it.

Pics to come, eventually...

M8000?

Yes

Is a flat handlebar viable on this bike?

If you mean, can it be done, yes of course.

If you mean, is the result good, I guess he'll find out. There are vanishingly few hybrids in the same class as his bike.

I considering doing the same thing with a cross bike I have.

My LBS did a similar conversion to an Sworks Roubaix and the customer loved it. So, some time in the next 2-3 weeks I will have pics and a review of how it turned out.

It should be lively. But, with bars that will start at 760, I think it will be just fine.

I'm curious to hear how the FD works. Seems like it shouldn't.

What length and angle stem will you be going with?

It is a 35 degree stem, and will be either 60 or 70, I cannot remember at the moment.

Sticking with the stock derailleur, now will the XT shifter have the right pull ratio. I have heard it will work.

A little but of luck, and there will be pics later today. The ride report will need to wait until some time next week. The build includes:

XT shifters
XT rear derailleur
XT Cassette
Ritchey Stem 35 degree by 60mm
Enve DH bars, likely cut to 760
Paul brake levers
Armadillo tires in 28, hopefully

This should be fun!

I'm not sure I understand the idea. The 760 wide bars are to make it less twitchy? But won't it also slow the bike down a lot by putting your arms so far apart?

I have these bars on two other bikes, both at 780. I am starting at 760, given the nature of this bike. I can cut them down at any time, but I think 760 is a good start point. Have to start somewhere. :)

Bookmarked this thread.

Some photos along the way....

Looks nice man :thumb:

Soundly like a fun project. Enjoy it.

Everything is working well on the rack and fit just fine. I was worried about the front derailleur function. The weather sucks this week, but I will still get out for a short 10-20 mile ride to see how things function under pressure, and most importantly, how I like her. I still have a little concern about the brake levers and pressure, but seems fine..... More pics when I get her outside on a ride.

Nice

Biggest problem I can foresee is that the frame might be too small. If a bike fits properly with drop bars, when you convert to flat bar, you end up with the primary hand position several inches closer to the seat; i.e., the default "hoods" position is generally a few inches forward of the front of your stem. With a flat bar, the default hand position in in line with the front of your stem. And this distance is often too far to account for with a longer stem, i.e., going from the 100mm stem that is often on road bikes, to even a 130 or 140mm stem, only closes about 1/2 of the distance difference. And if you have an angled stem to raise the bar position, you get even less forward correction, resulting in a cramped cockpit.

Ask me how I know, lol.....

Discovered this the hard way several years ago building a carbon flat bar road bike with a frame and parts off of ebay. Succeeded in building a sub 19lb. bike with very good components, but I didn't correct for frame size, buying the same size frame I would ride with a drop bar, and the cockpit was hopelessly cramped. I put a monstrosity 140mm stem on it and rode it for awhile, but finally admitted defeat and took it apart, sold the frame, and used the components for future builds.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=504784http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=504785http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=504786Here are some fully assembled pics. I have only ridden it around the shop, and that was great fun. Everyone who rode it loved it. Either tomorrow or Wednesday I will get out for a real ride. The brakes and rear shifting feel great, didn't get to check the front shifting. The bars might need to be cut down some more, they still feel very wide. The only issue so far, that will only be an issue at very low speed is significant toe overlap. Cannot wait to get out!

Hah, live and learn. ;)

This is a fair point, but the combo works well for some of us. With long legs and short torso, drop bars always provided too much reach for me to get comfortable. A shorter stem would help some, but you can only go so short. A smaller frame wouldn't work either, because then I'd have a foot and a half of seat post and too much saddle to bar drop. I could've run an extended stem or some other goofy thing to "make it work", but I ended up deciding drop bars just weren't that important to me. I can ride for hours on my setups with no problem, and the bars are set low enough to be fairly aero. About the same as most riders on the hoods, as far as I can tell.

Both of the bikes that I presently ride the most are sold by the makers in both drop bar or flat bar configurations, utilizing the same frame. The top tube lengths are proportioned for the drop bars, so pretty much the same thing as what's going on with Kindaslows project here.

Kindaslow: Cool project. What's your first impression of the fancy Paul brake levers? Have you used them before? I've been eyeballing them for my fixed gear bike, but at that price, they gotta be really special.