Looking to convert my Montana Comp 1996 8 speed mtb to a drop bar with for tri training and commuting. What do I need to purchase/convert to make changes?

Cheers

Jim

I've done it before just to see as we (housemates) had all the bits lying around – several issues

– top tube is too long for a given size for drop bars/normal road length stem
– You'd need some Shimano road stis in 8 speed
– You'll be stuck with the 26" wheels unless you're running discs in which case you can get the wheels rebuilt with 700c rims and matching tyres but then you'd need either road discs (to work with the STIs) or travel adaptors

But all in all, it's a faff and you'd be much better off just getting a cheap second hand road bike.

Pretty much what he said – front mech issues too (campag ergo 9s just about work and get over this though).

Expense of stem/bars/sti/cables can be high too, unless you go SH.

Sell bike for £100, buy cheap road bike?

I know someone who did this and their advice to me was don't bother. The geometry was all wrong for drops, as mentioned above.
If you must do it and if you cannot get STIs, then you could use bar end shifters.

Ok that sounds like a no goer..back to engineering a swap/sale..thanks for the replies

Jim

John Tomac
http://www.yetifan.com/body_racer_pictures.html

Tomac's bike was designed to be used with drop bars. Still was crap offroad as I recall him admitting more recently. In fact he also said he was amazed that people copied him since he was only doing it to try and make his swap from road to mtb and visa versa easier as he was racing on the road at the time too.

I did this with my old Voodoo for commuting
Got all bits cheap from here or ebay cost next to nowt (about £70 I think but the stuff was very good quality, all pretty much as new)works fine, so dont understand what people up there ^^^ are saying, was alot cheaper than buying a comparible spec road bike!

I –
fitted Shimano Tiagra road cranks and B/B (works fine with existing XT mech) to get a higher top gear
fitted cheap Ritchey drop bars, with a 60mm 6degree stem ran with 10mm of spacers underneath they are fine reach and drop wise for the frame, cost about £8 from CRC flood sale I think
Charge bar tape to match existing saddle
Shimano Sora STI brake / gear levers – ran with existing XTR V Brakes via Problem Solvers Travel adaptors
Specialised cross top secondary brake levers for when Im fighting through traffic and not on the drops of the bars
Still have the 26" wheels as frame doesnt have disc mount but running 1" slicks on them
Bike had rigid Pace forks already
Does me for commuting and is noticably faster than same journey on my MTB
Still offroad capable to some extent with knobblies on, it – say round FtD at Cannock or Sherwood Pines, along canals etc, easy stuff it is 'interesting' off road though

Cheers Iain, interesting.. Forgot to mention the bike has canti brakes so cross stuff should work?

I did it with an old bike and used standard road levers but forced MTB shifter pods around the bars so that you shift with your hands on the top of the bars. Road bars a a bit thicker and there is the bend to contend with so you may need to put a longer thinner nut & bolt through the bolt holes on the shifter. This saves cost and actually helps with the geometry issues. You will want to get a wide set of road bars 42cm+ to give a big enough space to put your hands.

Everything else was already on the MTB, a short high stem helped.

A change of tyres and you are away.

It made a nice relaxed tourer/ cyclocross kind of bike.

I really loved my drop bar 26" bike so I say do it.

oh and its got grip shift..

I started watching this thread with interest this morning, since I'm in the same position. Was a bit put off at first but it sounds promising now. Mine's going to be SS though, so no worries about STIs. Got the bar, tape and a couple of different sized old stems already. Just waiting for some Tektro V-brake drop-levers I got cheap on ebay to arrive, and trying to remember where I put that old P2 fork. Should only be about £30 in all. Not much chance of getting an itch to upgrade on a fugly hybrid mutant either 😆

Ive done this with my old '92 Kona Explosif, am using all mtb groupset/ gearing but using bar end shifters and cantis and On-one midge bars. As its an old frameset it has a shorter top tube than modern bikes so I don't need to use a silly short stem on it to get a reasonable reach and Ive set it up so I spend most of my time on the hoods/ in the drops

£30 for the sti's, £30 for the brakes, £40 for the wheels, £5 for the stem, £30 for the bars and £20 for the fork. Job done.