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Poor man's road bike???

2K views 13 replies 10 participants last post by  Mr Pig 
#1 ·
This is probably a really dumb question but...

Several year ago, I bought a used Trek hybrid/commuter. It' a "Metrotrack 750", has straight bars and a rear rack. The tire size is 700x35(?) I think. It got me into biking and is overall a decent bike I suppose for general exercise.
Now I have a Specialize Rockhopper Comp for mtn biking but still ride the Trek on the road for exercise when there isn't time to go trail ride.

The question is, would there be any advantage to switching out the handlebar to a typical road bike bar, remove the rear rack, maybe upgrade to a pure road tire so as to make this more of a road bike setup rather than its current setup? The only advantage I could envision is body position/aerodynamic improvement but I'm realty not convinced that would accomplish anything.

My plan is to save some peso's and eventually find a decent used roadbike to ride for training and when time doesn't allow hauling off to the trails. But in the meantime?
 
#2 ·
Depends on what you want out of it. Putting road tires on the Trek will make it a decent road bike. Making the other changes will likely cost you as much as picking up a vintage road bike. The old road bike will have down tube shifters but they can be upgraded to brifters when you have the money or see a used deal.
Watch the local buy and sell and you'll find a deal.
 
#3 ·
Just buy a used road bike now.

Purpose-built drop bar bikes have significantly shorter top tubes than hybrids. While there are a few exceptions, most of us couldn't get the same bike to fit right with both drop bars and flat bars. And by the time you buy tires, drop bars, and controls, you could have had a road bike.
 
#4 ·
There is no reason why you can't do that if you want to spend the time and money.

Drop handlebars are a $30 to $50 cost. Maybe a little more If you want a randonneur style.

In addition to the bars, you will need brake levers, shifters, and probably a road stem. The toughest piece of the puzzle will be the shifters and you have a few choices.

I don't know if it is 7 or 8 speed, but you can get new brifters around $100. They are on the low end, but I hear they work fine. Older ones go for more or are typically worn out. You will probably want an inline cable adjuster.

You can go with bar end shifters. 7 or 8 speed are pretty expensive, $75, unless you go with older Suntour friction.

You can go with a stem mount or a downtube clamp, depending on the diameter. These can be index or friction. Sunrace makes some that are okay or you can piece everything together by buying the clamp separately and then Shimano shifters, maybe $60 depending on what you find.

Stems typically run from $20 to $50 depending on what you want.

So for a few hundred you can convert it over. If it were me I'd go with brifters or maybe bar ends so I could run cyclocross tires on it if I ever wanted to take it in the dirt, and not have to remove my hands from the bar.

John
 
#5 ·
Watch Craigslist for cheap parts. I did exactly this with a Trek PDX- I liked that it had disc brakes and toptube cable routing, so I bought it (cheaply I might add) and converted it over using CL finds.

I paid like $150 for the whole bike, and added:
drop bars and stem for $25 or 30
older Ultegra brifters for $50
bar wrap for like $15 (?)
9sp cassette for $25 (ultegras were 9sp).
all new cables x4 $15

The road shifters didn't pull enough cable to pull the FD all the way through the 3 rings, but that's fine, who uses a 26T ring on a road bike? It is a piece of the puzzle that 'isnt right, though'. It doesn't bother me, I just adjusted it to use the middle/big rings.

Since then, I've added some Performance house-brand tires (Metro or Gotham, depending on my gravel-bike intentions)
BB7 road calipers (splurge, because they were 65 for both ends on Amazon.)
a used Fi'zi:k saddle that I found for $35 on CL.

I commute on this bike 3-4 days a week, 8-10 miles each way, and do a little 'gravel biking' for fun.
 
#6 ·
1. drop-bar shifters are expensive. probably cost-prohibitive. you can get Tourney 7 speed lever/shifter combo pretty cheap, but only cheap relative to something like 105 shifters. I don't know of any 8-speed road shifters out there. if this bike has cantilever brakes, you will be fine. if it has v-brakes, you will need to switch to canti brakes or have the v-brakes with a Problem Solvers Travel Agent. (those are not worth the trouble in my experience.)

or you could go the route of bar-end shifters, which are easier to set up and significantly cheaper. that is what I have now- cyclocross bike with v-brakes, v-drop brake levers, and 9-speed bar end shifters. I have a 2x9 gear setup but I have been using the rear shifter in "friction mode" lately.

2. adding a drop bar to a bike that fits you with flat bars is going to make the bike feet waaaay too long. putting drop bars on a mountain bike is a tricky pursuit, usually involving the use of a frame that is at least one size "too small" for the rider. if your flat-bar hybrid fits you well with flat bars, it's going to feel ginormous with drop bars and you will destroy your back trying to ride it like that.
 
#7 ·
in the meantime, but some lightweight 28mm road tires on your bike. chances are, a hybrid like that has wide-ish rims that will not work well with a tire narrower than that. also, add some bar-ends to the handlebar to give yourself an extra hand position for long rides on the road. that is the main advantage of drop bars from my experience- additional hand positions.
 
#8 ·
Thanks for all the replies. Sounds like it's going to be a little too involved to be worth it. I didn't even think of changing cables, shifters etc. I figured I could put the drop bar on, reattach everthing and be GTG. Should have known better.

I believe I'd be better served to find a decent used road bike, buy it and sell the Trek to someone to recoup some of the cost of the roadbike.


The secret is, I'm not sure I'll ever get there as there is always another mtn bike to "upgrade" to!
 
#12 ·
#14 ·
I was out riding this morning with two friends, a loop round the local back roads. They both have road bikes and he's fat old me on a MTB with slicks! Who cares? So no, I can't keep up with them going down hills, or if they push it on the flat, but sod it. I like the bike and hey, I'm having to work harder than them to get to the same place which is fine by me. If I wanted it easy I'd take the car, right? ;0)
 
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