Converting a 29er to a gravel bike, who's done it?

Regale me with tales of your conversions.

I have an SS Inbred 29er, currently with suspension (selling them, someone please buy) but will be going rigid.

Setup in mind:
swift forks
BB7’s
SRAM R500 levers
Cowchippers
Maybe a double wrapped bar
40c tyres (any suggestions?)

Talk to me.

You’re daft, it’s a daft idea….

Why ? What exactly are you looking to get out of it that makes any sense at all ?

I have an SS Inbred 29er, currently with suspension (selling them, someone please buy)

What how much?

Your project is a good idea btw.

I converted a cheap Charge hybrid 29er to a drop-barred frankenbike commuting destroyer.

BB5 MTB brakes, existing 9-speed MTB drivechain but with a single Superstar O/I chainring, Midge bars, shorter stem, don’t recall what roadie levers – cheap ones with brake levers but no shifters, bar-end friction shifter

molgrips YGM

The issue with using your existing frame is that the top tube and subsequently reach will be too long to be comfortable. MTB top tubes for any given size are longer than road bike ones.

I’ve done this with a stache to make 29+ mega monster cross type of thing and it’s ace, but I got a size down frame than usual to correct the reach issue. So I’m normally Large/19″ in MTB and converted a medium frame to drops. Works great.

So my advice- do it, it’ll be great, buts swap out your frame for the size down.

Yeah I had wondered about this, I’m at the top end of my frame size so hoped i might be able to get away with it. But with a 620mm ETT it may be a barge.

Why not just start with gears and gravel tyres. If the forks are air increase pressure to reduce “bounce” ? See how that rides ?

As above it will be a franken-bike but what the hell.

Yep, Trek Superfly converted with narrower bars (25.4mm clamp to achieve extra narrowness) 40c tyres, 38tooth narrow wide with stock 11-42 cassette, TRP Spyres with Ultegra flat bar levers, stubby bar ends.

Works a treat, have done some long rides which were 75% road with interesting linking cyclepath/landy track/hill track to make loops where before it would just be tarmac dead ends.

I’ve got a new road bike coming but I think the franken-gravel bike is the one bike I’m most enthusiastic about. I kept the suspension as it was only 100mm Rebas which are probably light enough and give my wrists a break.

Only drawback is lack of positions on the bars, wouldn’t be hard to rectify if I put my mind to it, just needs a short position a la the tops on a road bar, and a long position a la the hoods on a road bar, would probably require a 60/70mm stem to imitate the short position of a road bike.

Not a fan of forks, or gears for that matter. Both take up limited brain space, and for some reason with gears and forks (2 seperate bikes) I’m consistently slower overall.
Don’t get me wrong I have an FS for hooning around on and the forks on the bike in question are awesome, but I like the rigid ss thing.

I’m at the top end of my frame size so hoped i might be able to get away with it. But with a 620mm ETT it may be a barge.

Pfft. Unless the geometry sheet’s wrong, mine’s 667mm.

maybe it is, geo sheet says 24.4″ so 620mm (unless the inch is no longer 25.4mm) I haven’t taken out my tape measure though.

It’s more a comfort than a handling thing re. yge frame length, although I’m not sure how did with a short stem would handle. Your fit becomes more critical the nearer to road you go.
I have an old 26er that’ll be going gravel frankenbike when my boy gets too big for the weeride that’s currently on it.

I meant the geometry sheet for mine 😉

Anyway, I think this is along the lines of what you’re asking: MTB frame, twatty flared bars, singlespeed (well, dinglespeed in my case), tyres that roll ok on tarmac. The bars are Genetic Digests with some gel pads under the tape in the drop sections; they’re a very nice shape. Only flaw is that the centre bulge is narrow, so they’re not great for attaching things to (hence there’s a little Minoura extension thing which you can’t see, it mounts as a stem spacer and projects forward, so it’s behind the bar).

I just need to replace the mudguards with proper ones (currently in the post) and cut the steerer.

I’ve done it. Converted a Cube reaction hardtail. Put on drop bars, shimano tiagra shifters but only using r/h shifter for a 10×1 setup the other is just for braking. Fitted a pair of Carbon fibre On one forks that they no longer seem to sell…and some fast rolling specialised renagade tyres.
Its good on the road and dirt tracks. Happy to ride it on some of the smoother stuff on Cannock chase’s Monkey & Follow the dog trails.
Bikes like are compromised in lots of areas but if you like the idea of been able to carry reasonable speed on roads then dive off onto a bridlepath/trail/towpath then hit the road again they are a lot of fun 😀

Gravel-fly / Super-gravel

Since fitted a shorter stem (the bar position is still longer than my equivalent road bike would be…) and put a bigger narrow wide chainring.

The background is a great example of the rides it excels at, a long, scenic singletrack road climb up Glen Artney which then turns into a landrover track climb before traversing the foot of two munros and descending back into Callander on another awesome singletrack/dead end tarmac road.

I even got KOM on that route, probably because everybody else has only done it on MTBs, I don’t expect to hold on to that for long…

That just seems like a mountain bike with 1991-style tyres on it 😉

Anyway, I think this is along the lines of what you’re asking: MTB frame, twatty flared bars, singlespeed (well, dinglespeed in my case), tyres that roll ok on tarmac. The bars are Genetic Digests with some gel pads under the tape in the drop sections; they’re a very nice shape. Only flaw is that the centre bulge is narrow, so they’re not great for attaching things to (hence there’s a little Minoura extension thing which you can’t see, it mounts as a stem spacer and projects forward, so it’s behind the bar).

Oh wow… .that’s a bike only a mother could love !

I’ve run various monster cross things from 29ers before and currently have this, which is basically the love child of 29er and CX with a steep seat, relaxed head angle and long fork offset. Koga beachracer things by some crazy dutch folk. It’s really rather Jolly and rides remarkably like my Salsa selma 29er

Oh wow… .that’s a bike only a mother could love !

Show me a good-looking MTB drop bar conversion and I’ll show you a kryptonite unicorn 😉

That just seems like a mountain bike with 1991-style tyres on it

Haha, yep, but if you’re going to ‘gravel’ a 29er and don’t change the bars to drops then what else would you end up with?

Oh, I know. Just goes to show that “gravel” tends to be a euphemism for taking some sort of bike and making it less good at what it was originally designed to do 😉

salsa selma 29er converted into a drop bar gravel/adventure thing with hydraulics on drops before such crazy things were commercially available by making new levers/reservoirs for Magura Julies I had kicking about. If you are going to bodge, bodge in a potentially life threatening manner 😀

what size tyres are on the beachracer?

29x 2.25 front 29 x 2.1 rear on a 25mm rim.

wow, big nasties, good looking thing.

big rubber lower pressure makes a massive difference for long gravelly and cobbly/rocky days in the saddle, saves on the gazillion punctures that seen to plague cx size rubber in some events as well

Show me a good-looking MTB drop bar conversion and I’ll show you a kryptonite unicorn

Someone here posted an early 2K Cannondale F-series with drop bars some time back, it looked the unicorn’s nads.

I bet a Cannondale SX would look better though 😉

I changed my charge cooker 3 to a rigid drop bar 29er a short while ago…

my monster cross conversion here

And did this trip on it a little while ago…
Bikepacking in Sutherland

Hmmm… links don’t seem to be working…