Just finishing my 700c MTB frankenbike.

Will be running Midge bars and SS 😕

I know its not a new idea – far from it but I have yet to actually see one out and about.

So then if you have one post up a pic ….. as its Monday for inspiration 😆

Was mine, lovely to ride with drops, midge bars and campy gears

there was some crazy dude in the good ole US of A who had drops on his Kona Coiler FS and some other raddish bikes, dig around on MTBR and you’ll prob find him, what drop bars for AM FR gnarrr?.

for a brief while this existed. Much more fun to ride than look at. So next plan is to build a SS CX around a new 2012 pompetamine frame.
[img]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-w4urinj6BU0/TmXe82FGcoI/AAAAAAAAAqM/bid25nxOzEg/s640/IMAG0369.jpg[/img]

Do you mean :

Shiggy

preniche

thats the fella

I can’t link pictures when at work, but may I be the first to provide this

Tomac

One of my favorite mtb pictures, ever.

mine may be ready by the end of the week… just waiting for some new forks to arrive.

spec reads as:-

2002 Cannondale Caad5 SL hardtail frame
Exotic Carbon rigid 29’er fork (to get me close to the 500mm hub-crown measurement needed to compensate for the lack of headshock fork)
1×9 setup using XTR rear mech, Blackspire freeride cranks, Superstar chain device and Dura Ace bar end shifter
Avid BB7 MTN cable discs with Tektro drop levers
Midge bars

will probably look stupid, but I’m hoping for great things… i really need a comfy xc rocket to go with my Turner Flux build… time will tell!

campfreddie – Member

mine may be ready by the end of the week… just waiting for some new forks to arrive.

spec reads as:-

2002 Cannondale Caad5 SL hardtail frame
Exotic Carbon rigid 29’er fork (to get me close to the 500mm hub-crown measurement needed to compensate for the lack of headshock fork)
1×9 setup using XTR rear mech, Blackspire freeride cranks, Superstar chain device and Dura Ace bar end shifter
Avid BB7 MTN cable discs with Tektro drop levers
Midge bars

will probably look stupid, but I’m hoping for great things… i really need a comfy xc rocket to go with my Turner Flux build… time will tell!

This is not a million miles from what I have gone with.

Genesis IO
Shorter than usual forks 425mm instead of 440mm
700c wheels with road tyres for now but will be looking for some 35mm tyres
BB5 Road calipers
Road levers
Midge bars
Singlespeed.

May still go with skinny tyre’d 26” wheels as the 700c wheels might not fair well off road.

Where is the line between drop bar MTB, “monstercross” and the new breed of CX bikes that are not for racing? Or is, as I suspect, “monstercross” a made up term for odd bikes?

Where is the line between drop bar MTB, “monstercross” and the new breed of CX bikes that are not for racing? Or is, as I suspect, “monstercross” a made up term for odd bikes?

The line is where-ever the person you are talking to says so,

I called my swift above a mtb with drops as did a few others, some called it monstercross

Commutercross?

Cannondale Bad Boy, 700c wheels and drop bars 🙂

Where is the line between drop bar MTB, “monstercross” and the new breed of CX bikes

about 35mm.

less = CX
more = MX

Singlespeed_Shep – what Campag gears are you running on the Singular? 10 speed?
Is it a noraml Campag road front mech (double or triple) as i was not sure there would be enough throw for the mtb chainset

Rik, it was a right f@cking chew on, Took me a whole weekend to get it to work,

Its centaur shifters 10 speed,
chorus front and rear mechs (double front)
Fsa mtb double chainset.
ambrosio cassette, (campy spacing – shimano splined)

Due to the spacing of the cassette I couldn’t use the top three gears with the inner chain ring as it caught the tyre, so I took off the three smallest sprockets and placed a spacer behind the cassette to make it 7 speed. Set the stops.

The front mech needed a little file and different stop screws to move it in the right position.

Once done it was fine, you can use a 8 speed shimano with 10 speed campag shifters also for the same spacing. but you’d need a narrower tyre.

So next plan is to build a SS CX around a new 2012 pompetamine frame.

I built one of those (well, 2011 frame), with Midge bars. I like it a lot.

This is not a million miles from what I have gone with.

Genesis IO
Shorter than usual forks 425mm instead of 440mm
700c wheels with road tyres for now but will be looking for some 35mm tyres
BB5 Road calipers
Road levers
Midge bars
Singlespeed.

May still go with skinny tyre’d 26” wheels as the 700c wheels might not fair well off road.

I bought a pair of 425mm forks thinking that this was the right thing to do (ie. to compare with an 80mm suspension fork with 20% sag, as the original headshock fork had that level of travel,,, but obviously, being a bit of an idiot, i hadn’t factored in the fact that a headshock fork has completely different dimensions (and therefore dictates a different frame shape), hence the slightly odd move to a 29’er fork on a 26″ bike with 26″ wheels… and the brand new, unused carbon fork on the classifieds for a massively knocked-down price!

and the brand new, unused carbon fork on the classifieds for a massively knocked-down price!

Ahhh.

I did look at those.

Hmm.

Would make it a touch pimpier ….

the forks are awesome… i can’t wait for the 29er versions to arrive which i ordered this morning.

i just need to work out now whether i am going to run as planned with 26″ wheels front and rear or whether i’m really going to go ‘monstercross’ and throw a 29’er wheel up front… opinions?

drop bar 29er inbred by robertjohnkay, on Flickr

my new gryphon

Mine started life as an inbred 29er, and has morphed into a Fargo set up for commuting and touring at the moment. WIll be back as a mountain bike during the summer for some off road touring trips.

Inbred with cross tyres for the snow

Top of Conic Hill on the WHW

Fargo during Bike tour

Pompetamine Monstercross? Not much room for anything bigger than 35mm tyres in here: Pompetamine Maybe a 42 at a push…….

Another Gryphon 😀

EOS-60D_0058 by GavinBelton, on Flickr

EOS-60D_0056 by GavinBelton, on Flickr

pompetamine build not meant to be a monstercross. Just a SS CX with “off road” drops as opposed to road drops.

Loads of em – but I suspect you’ve seen most of the pics, so I’ll give you just my one favourite.

Gryphon harvest by Singular Cycles, on Flickr

Pompetamine Monstercross? Not much room for anything bigger than 35mm tyres in here: Pompetamine Maybe a 42 at a push…….

If you choose your tyres carefully 1.95 on 26″ rims fit (but with no clearance for mud, so I’m not sure why you’d want to beyond ‘I wonder if…’ which is what drove me).

Some of mine past and present.

2008_0810fodniche0056 by singlespeedstu, on Flickr

2008_0101nyd20080022 by singlespeedstu, on Flickr

2011_1105fatskinny0015 by singlespeedstu, on Flickr

I’ve had a few, starting with a karate monkey that was too large for me a couple of years ago which ended up as a commuter:

IMGP0781 by markenduro, on Flickr

Moved on to an inbred 29er with midges, no photos though, then a pompetamine (you can get conti fighter 700×42 in the back but I wouldn’t recommend it because there is not much mud room and they are shite tyres)

09072010512 by markenduro, on Flickr

09072010511 by markenduro, on Flickr

Also got a ti29er which I experimented on by fitting midges, now back to flat bars, it was ok but not ideal as it puts your weight too far forwards for serious off road action and is hard to get the front wheel up over things , looks good though….

P1010335 by markenduro, on Flickr

Salsa fargo which is absolutely fantastic

P1010340 by markenduro, on Flickr

And still have a gryphon on the shopping list, would have had one instead of the fargo but they were not in stock at the time.

IMO it is better to have a frame designed for drops rather than fitting a short/high rise stem to a normal mtb and drops as it compromises the geometry too much.

Always fancied a drop bar off road bike – probably since seeing that pic of Tomac back in the day. Damn – too many bikes for my mid life crisis….

Frank, I think this is a better pic…

Rik, it was a right f@cking chew on, Took me a whole weekend to get it to work,

Its centaur shifters 10 speed,
chorus front and rear mechs (double front)
Fsa mtb double chainset.
ambrosio cassette, (campy spacing – shimano splined)

Due to the spacing of the cassette I couldn’t use the top three gears with the inner chain ring as it caught the tyre, so I took off the three smallest sprockets and placed a spacer behind the cassette to make it 7 speed. Set the stops.

The front mech needed a little file and different stop screws to move it in the right position.

Once done it was fine, you can use a 8 speed shimano with 10 speed campag shifters also for the same spacing. but you’d need a narrower tyre.

Tell me about it cant find a decent modern option for drops, sti/ergo and mtb kit!

Running a 9 speed Campag Ergo with 9 speed Campag long cage rear mech and XT front mech.

Works fine but i’d like to move to Shimano as i’v e got small hands which dont suit campag old levers.

Everything has been done to make this as tough as possible.

Shimano 3×10 speed STI – rear Shimano 9 speed rear mech will work fine with 10 speed block but the a mtb front mech wont work.

SRAM – dont do a triple shifter, rear 10 speed sram will work with 10 speed cassette. Front mech – may but only may work with a 2×10 front mtb mech but nobody can confirm this, but Salsa seem to sell the fargo with this set up. But SRAM double taps are horrendously expensive.

Campag 10 speed – Centaur Egros with 10 speed cassette and long cage Veloce for the rear, but aagain campag have messed with the cable pull on the front so a mtb front mech will not work on the triple (it does on my old set up fine)and lots of stories of the lever gear snapping if you do try it due to the increased pressure.

Why, oh why is there not a simple set up, for a high quality (XT or Ultegra level) 3×10 STI/Ergo mtb set up without resorting to JTek cable pulleys!

Hands too small for Campag! are you a baby?

Anyway, im thinking of going for Campagnolo 11spd shifters, shimano 9sd rear mech, shimano 9spd cassette. Yup it all works apparently. Not sure what the situation is with the front on the newer campy shifters tho.

paul4stones flickr

Now with similar sized tyres which helps.

New Campag front shifter don’t have enough throw for MTB front mechs.

I don’t have baby hands I have girly hands! It’s a well known fault that old Campag ergos are no good for small hands it was one of the major reasons for the redesign to the new style.