Hey folks.. I've got this 2000 Specialized Hardrock with a fully rigid frame that i'm converting into a "all city" hybrid. I live in the middle of a city with no mountains or trails around, so having a MTB doesn't make a lot of sense. Eventually I want to buy an old road bike since I enjoy their sporty feel but in the meantime I want to turn this MTB into something more road worthy, yet still be able to handle light off-road duty.

So far I've put on 26x1.95 slicks (Kenda K838) and added some bar ends to get some more hand positions. I also cut off 2 inches of the handlebars because the MTB bars are a bit wide for my shoulders. it changed the handling a little bit but it's worth it to have my hands in the right position. i can still go to the bar ends when i need more leverage as well.

The slicks definitely helped reduce rolling resistance, and the fat tires offer a smooth ride. I went from asphalt to cracked sidewalk, to gravel to grass and the bike handled it all very well.

I'm contemplating putting drop bars on eventually, though the new bar ends I put on yesterday allow me to get low and more aerodynamic so that might not be an issue. Adding drop bars seems like kind of a pain since I have to buy vbrake compatible drop levers and bar end shifters, neither of which are commonly sold for cheap.. you can get drop bars with regular levers and stem shifters off Craigslist for cheap but those wont work with this set up

The main thing I'm thinking about right now is the gearing.. I've got a the stock 22/32/44 triple ring on it right now, but I never even need to shift out of the 44t gear. I was thinking it might be nice to run road cranks with a ring in the 40 range and another in the 50 range, and even bought a used road crank off CL, only to find out road cranks dont work with MTBs.

I researched and found that you can get a 28/38/48 triple ring, but even then i might not even use the 28 and 38 rings. Are there inexpensive single ring cranks for MTBs that have a 44ish ring? all of the cheaper ones ive seen are riveted triple rings which obviously don't come apart. I'd rather not keep the smaller rings if i dont need them though. I havent run out of gears on the 44t ring though yet either.. so maybe i don't need to upgrade my crankset until I need more gears?

are those entry level cranksets from shimano even any good? i have the stock crankset from my hardrock which didnt get good reviews either so anything might be any upgrade

anyways, sorry for the tl;dr.. here's some pics of her that I took earlier today (click to embiggen)

Nice, clean hardtail. Should be great for city duty.

I did the same thing with a Trek 970 hardtail. She's on Schwalbe 2.0 Big Apples. The drivetrain is Shimano Ultegra 105 cranks, bb and rear derailleur. The front derailleur clamp diameter was too big on the Ultegra so the original Deore DX is still there. Also added a new bar and stem and Ergon GC3s as well as some Easton bmx pedals.

yeah i'd love to add ergon gc3s.. those things look super plush. i'm on a pretty tight budget though.. i got the bar ends you see there for $5 lol they're only 80 grams each.. when i picked it up i was amazed how light they were.

when you change the crankset do you have to change the bottom bracket? it seems like a lot of people mention that. i want to get a different crankset or at least different chain rings.. unfortunately the bolts on my chainring are seized so it wont be easy to swap them and it might be easier to just change the whole set.

Even though you mentioned that the cranks didn't get a good review, if they are working so far for you, why not just ask a bike shop to remove the two seized inner rings or you drill them out. That'll be fun...If / when you bugger it up, then you have an excuse to really "upgrade". Just buy a set of reasonable cranks to suit, and buy a single specific chain ring. That will help reduce the chain from skipping off. I'd imagine that there are loads available. All the cool kids around here are doin' it.

You can almost never swap just one part on a bicycle. Everything works together so, when you change one part, you frequently find yourself having to buy something else to make it work. My past experience has been that it pays to plan carefully for the crank swap you are contemplating. It might bolt right up but it just might be the poster child for what I just said.

If you install a crankset with a significantly larger chaianring you will obviously have to raise your front derailleur. I can't see how your front derailleur attaches to your bike. If it's one of those that has a mounting plate that is held on by the bottom bracket, you probably won't be able to raise it high enough for it to work with a 50t chainring.

The good news is that your bike has bottom pull cable routing. That means that a road front derailleur will work (maybe). Here's potential problem #1. All road front derailleurs are bottom swing. Your bike has a top swing front derailleur. That might not be a problem at all but, remember that Murphy guy, my experience has been that your water bottle mounting point is often right where the mounting clamp for the new, bottom swing front derailleur needs to go.

Now here's potential front derailleur problem #2. You have grip shifters, that's good. Is the left side indexed? Non indexed is good - it'll work just fine for sure. Indexed - maybe, maybe not. The cable pull requirement for road and mountain front derailleurs is a skosh off. That's the bad news. The good news is that years ago lots of hybrids and tandems came from the factory with road cranksets and front derailleurs and indexed mountain bike shifters so it might work as is.

If it was my bike the first thing that I would do would be to see how far I can raise the front derailleur. If it looks like it'll go 5mm or so, I'd buy a 48t chainring to match my existing crank. That'll give you a 48/32/22 crankset or, essentially, a compact double with a bail out granny that you'll probably never use. If you can find a 34 middle ring with the same bolt circle diameter, that would be even cooler.

Oh, by the way, I like your bike alot.

thanks

i think thats a good idea to go to the LBS and get them to remove the seized rings and ride with just one in front until i can get a 48 and maybe 38

@Retro Grouch, the front derailer is held on to to the frame with a band around the seat tube so it can be adjusted. why would i need to change the derailer to a road derailer? where i live it's totally flat so i could run without a FD and be fine anyways, or use one that was less than ideal. the shifter for the FD is friction, not indexed. supposedly the shifters for the rear are indexed but it's more like glorified friction with ratcheting

i like the functionality of the grip shifts but i hate the giant lumps they create right in the middle of the bars.. very uncomfortable

I recently changed the 42/34/24 crankset out on my Schwinn Sierra GS for one of the cheap Shimano 48/38/28 cranksets you can find on Amazon. Even though the new crankset is a cheap one with riveted rings, it works fine for my cheap bike. I did have to change out my bottom bracket from a 112mm to a 122mm, but I needed to do that anyway as my old one had a little play and noise. In my case, my original front derailleur was compatible with the new larger crankset, so I only had to make a minor adjustment to it. I am glad that I made the change on mine. Even though I usually cruise around on the 48t chainring, it is nice to have the smaller 38t one when tackling that big hill on my way home from work. It is at mile 24 of my 27 mile round trip commute, and by then my legs enjoy having the smaller ring on the hill.

For me, the biggest improvement in upping my crankset is that it gives me more favorable gear ranges for my two types of riding. I use the larger 48t ring when commuting. I use the smaller 38t ring when cruising with the family. My youngest daughter is tethered to my wife's Giant Sedona with one of those Trek tandem tagalong attachments, so we are quite limited in our speed. Before I changed out my crankset, I found myself wishing for a higher gear when commuting, and never finding that "just right" gear range when riding with the family.

I don't know the answer to that question. I was making use of the drivetrain parts removed from the Trek 7.7 FX.

The only reason I had to change my bottom bracket was that I needed a longer one for my replacement crankset. Both of my cranksets used square taper bottom brackets. The original crankset needed a 112mm bottom bracket for a reasonable chain line. My new crankset needed a 122mm crankset to keep the same chain line. I needed to replace the old bottom bracket anyway due to wear, so I figured that I might as well do it when replacing the crankset.

ah, ok. i think i assumed all cranksets had the same chainline. i'm pretty new to bike building.. i've always enjoyed riding them but never tried to mix and match parts before

on a side note, I was researching and I think 2000 was the last year Specialized made fully rigid MTBs.. in 2001 all the MTB line had at least a front suspension fork. So I kinda lucked out cause when I got this bike i didn't really know anything about bikes, i just knew i didnt like suspension forks so i got this one. didnt realize that suspension forks had completely taken over the mtb scene.. in the last 10 years bikes have changed a lot!

If you want to break the seized bolts loose, use a product called PB Blaster from the auto parts place. While you're there pick up a container of anti-sieze compound which you apply to your bolts to prevent them from seizing (due to dissimilar metals such as steel bolts in alu rings). I would personally leave the middle ring for when you start riding your bike to the grocery store. If you're trying to lighten the bike, go to a 1.25" or 1" tire.

By the way, sharp looking bike.

get another bike

Just so you know, I myself started along this path. I now have a bike mostly to my liking, but I've spent much more than I would have had I just bought a new bike that I wanted in the first place. At the time, my wife didn't want me to spend as much as the new bike would have cost and the more incremental costs haven't seemed as high, but they still add up over time.

thanks for the compliment and yeah i have liquid wrench but unfortunately i already stripped one of the bolts.. they are super shallow so it's hard to even hold the allen key in there

yeah, as I mentioned, I want to, but I also want to turn this bike into more of a road/city bike since I don't live near mountains or trails. plus it's fun to wrench on things and see what you can make, right?

yeah that's one thing i want to keep an eye on.. like you say it's easier to afford incremental upgrades but they can still add up over time. So far i've only spent $5 for the bar ends, and the tires I got using a little money I earned from amazon web site ads, so I'm not out very much money on this project so far.

I wanted to add drop bars but from everything I've read it's not going to be cheap. The bar ends i have now are great and so i might not bother with the drops.. though I am interested in messing with the gearing a bit.. i might not bother with the 48 gear.. maybe just removing the other chainrings will be enough

I have some stem shifters (shimano tourney I think) that weren't too bad on my rigid mtb to drop bar commuter conversion. The stem and bars I got from jenson on clearance for a total of like $30 (had to get a quilled to threadless adapter though, so that added more cost).

unfortunately i've got a 1 - 1/8" threaded headset which is apparently kind of unusual, and i dont really like the idea of using shims to use an old road quilled stem.

i just added the bar ends and shortened the handlebars this weekend so i'm going to try them out for a while.. already i could tell they were much better than just having the flat bar, and moving all of the components in as tight as possible means my arms are in a better position.

I want to get the gearing right, but as it is now already i feel like it's much more suited for the streets. I just ride it for fun and minor errand running anyways

1 1/8 threaded headsets can be a little hard to find, I was fortunate to have a really nice Shimano DX to replace the stock headset on my Trek and then used a thread less adapter.

Picked up a Truvativ Isoflow triple 28/38/48 that has been serving me well for a lot of miles... you can change the rings on this crank set and they are not pricey. Have a nice XT crank that I need to build up at some point and could rock a 50 tooth cog on this.

Also played with a Race Face triple with a 22/32/44 and with something like this you could run a tighter spaced cassette and still have some decent low gearing with closer shifts.

Another difference between mtb and road derailleurs is their shape... road deraillers have a shallower arch and follow the line of a larger chain ring while mtb derailleurs are designed to run with a max ring of about 44 teeth and mixing these affects shifting.

Because you are rolling on 26 inch tyres a larger front ring will bring your top gear up to compare with a 700c bike.

Your bike looks great and converted mtb's make great urban assault vehicles.

cool i looked that up and it looks like a good option that isn't too expensive thanks!

so if I want to run a 48t chainring I will need to get a new front deraileur, or it just might not shift "as well" ? I already barely ever shift the front gear so it's ok if the shifting is not as smooth... honestly if my handlebars wouldn't look silly with only one grip shifter, I'd be ok with going with a single front gear and removing the FD and shifter off the bike completely.

thanks, and yeah i'm starting to enjoy the ruggedness of the mtb especially with the slick tires. now if it would just stop raining so much so I can enjoy the bike more lol.. i could put fenders on but it will dry up soon enough

It won't help you, but I started down this same path -- but I realized that I was about to throw too much money into a 25 year old bike and stopped after new tires. I had a 1987 Diamondback Ascent EX -- Chrome Molly double butted and no suspension. It had big MTB tires and really wasn't good for the road. So, I had a set of Bontrager rims I wasn't using and so I threw some 26 by 1.5 street tires on there. WoW, what a difference. So I started making all sorts of plans... just like you. And then I realized. I'd throw all this money into this old bike and when I was done, I'd still want a "new" hybrid bike. So, I stopped after adding the new tires and bought a Trek FX.

I still think I could have made a cool bike out of the Diamondback -- and I may do it some day.

yeah, no matter what I do to this bike, I am still going to want a "true" road bike. I wanted to do lots of changes but the more I've researched them, the more I realized that to do a complete conversion will cost more than the road bikes i've been looking at. Drop bars for example.. i was thinking i could get them for pretty cheap.. i actually was thinking of buying an old womans road bike and using the bars, levers and shifters from one of those and selling the other parts to cover costs, but once i found out i would have to get new levers to fit my vbrakes and also have to buy expensive barcons, i wasn't so excited about the drop bar idea lol


that all being said, I enjoy wrenching and tweaking on things.. I'd interested to see how a 48t gear feels on the bike, and if i can add one for $20 or so then it's worth trying out i think. At the very least i do want to take off the granny gear and possibly the 34t gear too since i never use them. oh and maybe add some toe clips lol

it's a lot easier to come up with $10 - $20 at a time, and I'm really bad about saving money for "optional" purchases.. so if i can do little changes here and there, it's more likely to give me a bike that better suits my needs until I can eventually get the bike i "really" want. and in the meantime, i'm beginning to appreciate this bike for what it is.. it can handle a lot more varied terrain than the road bikes I want, and with the slicks it's a lot more enjoyable to ride around the streets since there's much less rolling resistance. I'm also starting to be a lot more aggressive with my riding, something that a road bike doesn't allow.. jumping off curbs and speed bumps is a lot of fun and something I haven't done since I was a kid

got this Trek 750 for my son on Craigslist for $100 and this FX 1.7 for my daughter for $250. thought I would move them up to straight bar road bikes or adult size MTBs, but then saw these used 700c "hybrids"

Dude for its intended use what you have is fantastic, or save money and buy a roadbike.
Better still if you like tinkering buy a second hand frame "high end one" and build it up from scratch, I have a pinarello roadbike but much prefer riding my hybrid.
As said above if you try to change one thing something else has to change and with a bike that old its not worth it and the cost gets astronomical, much better to build from scratch as I have done and its very satisfying.
If you take your time and look at sites like e-bay you can save alot of money and dont forget research research research and dont end up with stuff you dont need.

so i'm not really sure about the tires i got.. they look nice but i think the "balloon" style allows the sidewalls to deform a bit too much.. they give a super smooth ride when going straight but when i turn the handling gets funky.. i think i need to try a higher quality tire with better sidewalls.. these tires were only $10 each so im sure im getting what i paid for

i put a 700c wheel on the front.. was surprised by how much different it felt.. i liked the handling but not the fact i didn't feel like i could handle any obstacle. i have a 27" wheel with a fatter tire i might try for fun, but i think i need to get a better 26" front tire.. the back one is fine since it doesnt need to be as good anyways. i have a brake i could use with the 700c wheel but i think ill just get a better 26 tire eventually. right now i have 3 bikes in my size and one im trying to sell so i have plenty of bikes to mess with lol