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Does/has anyone run road drop bars on a mountain bike?
I have a Giant XTC1 which I use for pootling about on the road...skinny tyres, bar ends etc. and the plan is to add drops, road STI 9 speed, carbon fork.
Anything I should know? What 9 speed road STI levers are compatible with MTB Shimano kit? Obviously I'd need BB5 or 7 as the calipers.
9spd xt rear mech works fine with 10sp 105 shifters.
yep got a scott that used to have that setup! - but currently got it running a homemade retroshift type thing - 9 speed bar end shifter mounted on brake lever to a XT 9 speed rear mech, woodchipper bars, steel forks... - designed to be a simple nothing possible to go wrong type bike -I had intended to use it for campus commuting and when I didn't want to take my nice bikes out - but really like the way it rides so probably will take it out more in the future.
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I did have it running sora 9 speed shifters with a deore 9 speed rear mech (below) - the easiest way of remembering what's compatible is that all shimano road (bar some dura ace) 8,9,10 speed is compatible with all 8 and 9 speed shimano mtb rear mechs/shifters. don't touch 10 speed MTB rear mechs for shimano on a drop bars set up.
My scott as is was this time last year
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I couldn't find any in the mtb diameter needed for teh hydraulic brakes on my mtb. So I settled on some inverted Soma Sparrow bars in a 48cm width. They are a bit like Midge bars, or even H bars and I absolutely love them. I have Ergon grips on the end to complete the weirdness factor. And yes I ride it like this off road. It was originally for the cheapest of cheap conversion to a cyclocross bike for a race, but I'll be keeping it (rigid fork aside).
Have you ever done anything properly Oli? 😛
I might be doing a full carbon full suspension bike soon - I'll jig that properly so does that count? 😉
Sacrilege and heresy
Raced it at Sleepless in 2006.
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PS. The bike is long gone, but the bar shifters are on my sons bike now. 🙂