Hi,

I'm new here and was wondering if I could ask for some advice.

I'm currently in the market for a hybrid type bike and have a budget of around $500, but a thought ocurred to me last night - would it be possible to convert my existing old fashioned racing bike into a more upright type of bike. I presume it's easy enough to change the handlebars, but are there comfortable tyres available to fit racing bikes? My gears are frame mounted (all 15 of them....) And also will it cost signifigantly less than $500 to upgrade?

Thanks in advance for your help,
Kieran

Well, it just depends on what exactly you have now and what exactly it's going to take to satisfy you. Is there any reason why you couldn't ride it now just as it is?

You can almost never change just one part on a bicycle. Everything is designed to work together so when you change one thing, handlebars for example, you usually have to change something else, brake levers in this case, to get it to work. For every change that you make, you may find yourself buying something else to get it to work. Now keep in mind that if you are paying retail price for all of the parts you are changing, you are rapidly going to catch up with what manufacturers pay for parts so the cost difference is likely to be less than you'd think. When you get done, you'll still have an old bike with old bike maintenance issues only with a few new parts.

A new bike, on the other, will have every single part brand new. Every single part will have been designed to work with every other part. A new bike will also come with a new bike warranty.

A new

You can do it but it may not be comfortable or have the carrying capacity. My old road bike is currently my commuter but it just isn't working out.
It has no braze-ons for mounting a rack so I have a Delta seapost mounted rack with ~25# weight limit. The brakes are marginal and sometimes I wonder if I'll stop before hitting something or when approaching an intersection when the light changes to red. Because of the fork clearance I'm limited to 700x25 tires. I possibly could mount a 700x28 but not sure. I can't attach fenders so I have SKS RaceBlades. They attach with zip-ties. When the roads are wet the front fender keeps about 95% of the water off my legs
and feet. Because of the frame geometry (and maybe because it's aluminum) I feel every bump.

So I ordered a 2005 Jamis Nova cyclocross bike. It is supposed to be here in a few weeks.

Here are pictures of my set-up if you're interested. The first two are from a few years ago. Pictures 3 and 4 were taken before the time change. I've added headlights and lots of reflective tape all over the bike.

picture 1
picture 2
picture 3
picture 4

Yeah, probably. Cheap easy way is flat bars, moustash bars or some other types as sold by www.rivbike.com and a stem change. Use thumb friction shifters,otherwise you get into compatibility problems as mentioned by RG and have to potentially change out lots of stuff.Depending on just what you have there may be flat bar MTB shifters that would work with your current drivetrain.

If you have a less racy kind of road bike, with eyelets for fenders and wider clearance for 28mm tyres, then its quite feasable to turn it into a good commuter.
An more upright position is not always better, personally I prefer an intermediate touring style position for city use (bars 2" below the saddle). There is nothing wrong with drop bars for city riding.
For gearing, the range and ratios are more important than the number. You probably know how low you need and how high you want. Low ratios give you useful acceleration from a standing start, esp on hills.
One of the best upgrade you can fit are some high quality Shimano dual pivot brakes. These are real stoppers.

Thanks everybody for all your advice,
Thinking about it I decided to keep the racing bike as it is. I went out a short time ago and bought a Trek 3700. The guy in the shop had the 04 model and the 05 model in stock. I preferred the colour of the 04 so I bought it. It was also a little less expensive that the 05 model. He said they were basically the same but since I've come back and checked, I notice a few of the components have been changed or upgraded on the 05 model. Should I consider returning the 04 model for the 05, or are the differences minimal?
Rgds KK

I live in rural Ireand and the roads are quite poor. Racing bike is uncomfortable at best, and dangerous at worst.

Thanks for the advice. It's much appreciated.

since you're getting a cyclocross, what i say won't apply t you any more.

but for those of you with racing bikes and want to put on a rear rack, you can easily do it. rear racks typically have two clamp-things that u screw in to wrap around the seat stays. using an extra set of those same clamps (which u'd have to steal out of the bag or buy from your local REI/MEC/bike shop, or by from the auto parts section of your hardware store), you can clamp the bottom part of the rack to the seat stays too. there will be rubbing between the bottom of the rack and your seat stay, so you'll lose paint in that area, but it's no big deal. this is what i do to put a rear rack on my pinarello.

as for brakes, yeah they're less powerful, but that's just cause mine are 1980s shimano ones. contemporary road brakes, like my 99 campys, can stop on a dime and send me flying.

sd

Wow holy crap I wish my commuter looked like that! Then again i'd be afraid to live anywhere. Love the dual lights up front and back. What are those front lights by the way?