Paramemetic

I'm planning to do a cross country trek this coming summer, but since my fiancee and I will already be buying her a touring bike, I am trying to avoid buying myself a new one. Currently, it's rolling on Bontrager Comfort tires because they're a bit closer to slick, which I'll likely replace with something more narrow.

I've added some bar ends which give me drop type grips, mounted a rack, and so further. Now I'm wondering if I shouldn't replace the handlebars completely with drops and brifters. My current problem with how it is now is only that when I'm in a drop position, I can't access the brakes or gears, so I have to switch to an MTB grip and stance to slow down or speed up, essentially. That's fine once I establish a base, but it's less than ideal for any kind of road travel. If I'm going 15-20mph, say, I want to be able to stop if I need to. The downside is that brifters are expensive and I'm not sure if I want to sink that much into it.

Paramemetic

I'll be adding to this thread as I go along hopefully so that eventually it iwll be less of a "how to?" and more of a How-To. I've decided for the front I'll be mounting Old Man Mountain front pannier racks which will hold between 30-50lbs of gear. My rear rack holds 50lbs of gear, giving me a potential load of 80-100lbs gear.

I'm now considering not drop bars at all, but instead a Trekker type butterfly handlebar. This will give added hand positions as well as allowing me to keep my current rapid-fire trigger shifters and brakes.

lmzimmer

Sounds like you are on the right track. Keep posting about how the bike handles with the panniers and how you like the treking bars. I am considering doing the same modifications (more or less) to my wife's old hybrid (circa 1999-2000) which seems to have the same geometry of a hardtail mountain bike. What do you have for a seat?

Aloyzius

Good call.

I threw some slicks on my Gary Fisher Tassajara, and it has made it a great commuter. I threw on a rack, panniers, and can haul all my crap to work and back. I haven't toured on it yet, but I'm thinking I'll definitely throw on some butterfly/trekker/whatever bars when I do. They're ugly, but get the job done, and very affordably. I think they're twenty bucks from nashbar, or REI last time I looked.

It's funny how much it's changed the feel of the bike. Once very nimble on single track, it's now quite a tank. But it is surprisingly comfortable, and still climbs well, even with all the extra weight. I love this bike. I do think that unless I was doing a lot of offroad on tour, I would like to switch the shock for a steel fork. I don't know if there's a LHT fork for that size, but I would dig the front rack braze ons, if so.

Now if only I can save enough to tour in the spring, I'm good to go.

Aloyzius

Oh yeah. A B-17 is definitely high on my wish list. The seat I have feels like cast iron.

Paramemetic

I'm still using the default seat, a Bontrager Select. I don't know what I'll change it to yet.

Also still up in the air about trekking bars. I think it's likely I'm going to switch to them, though.

It looks like for the tires I'll be going with Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires.