Drop bars on a mountain bike, any experience?

Thats nice RD, just the sort of inspiration I’m after. What length forks is that frame designed for (44.5?) and what size is it?

Rocketdogs Voodoo looks nice but the stretch to the drops or hoods looks massive – very aero but perhaps a bit extreme?

Jim29.

Clent, Penmachno, FoD and Kinver. 8)

Rocketdogs Voodoo looks nice but the stretch to the drops or hoods looks massive – very aero but perhaps a bit extreme?

never ridden a road bike then? looks perfectly normal to me?

never ridden a road bike then? looks perfectly normal to me?

‘cept for the weird seat angle and hoods pointing skywards…. (otherwise, RD, I like it, and it’s clearly comfortable for you!)

hello, it’s a standard voodoo wanga designed around 80-100mm forks so i used kona P2 CX forks on it with bonty select cx wheels, seemed to work nicely, used standard mtb P2’s first and the cx fitted ok but the head andle seemed a bit steep with cx tyres on, oh and frame is 19″
still have cx forks in the garage unused if you are interested

p.s. strech might look a bit odd as the bars are salsa bell laps and the flare does give an odd perspective in some pics

Where I’m coming from is that most mountain bike frames have longer top tubes than the equivalent sized road frame as the normal position for the bars is defined by a flat bar rather than the position of the hoods/drops (as demonstrated by Cotic selling two styles of RoadRat, a short for drops and a regular for mtb bars). Certainly when I fitted drops to my rockhopper the hoods where about 60mm too far forward with a normal (100mm) stem.

no dissing implied!

I have never understood the point of drop bars anyway unless you are some super wind cheating racing whippet. Tourers are always banging on about having different hand positions but I have toured on trad tourers and mtbs with bar ends and its the mtb that gets the vote every time.
If it wasn’t for the *rse I would convert my road bike to flats as I think I could count on one hand the number of times I have used the drops
[mind you I do suffer from the belly/knee/cross bar interface someone mentioned earlier!]

I use the drops lots on my road bike – fast downhill sections are much scarier on the hoods!

Seems so stupid havingdrops on MTB geometry. You are hardly going to use the drops even on mild XC trails. I never once thought oh I best ride the drops on my old CX bike. I had Salsa shallow drops too and very high stem and pleanty of spacers under it. Riding the hoods its ok on mild trails. Bar ends and flat bars I used on my other CX bike were much more practical and the bar ends did get used a lot.

Its a niche too far in true typical Singletrack style!

can you even reach the brake levers while riding the drops on that thing?

😕

I notice fewer and fewer people are reading the initial post I made before commenting.

I’m not building it up for singletrack riding with other MTBers.

I want to build it up for commuting and the occasional fireroad/Tissington Trail type ride with my wife and daughter.

I don’t want to buy another bike (CX bike or otherwise) nor swap/sell this frame and get another to replace it.

I going to build up my Dialled Bikes Love/Hate and want to know whether fitting drops will be ok for the specific purposes I’ve mentioned.

That is it. Not singletrack and for gnarly hucking type stuff.

Thank you for the helpful advice so far.

S&J, email me if you want any more info

RD’s Voodoo has a 600mm toptube so a bit shorter than most mtb’s (for a 19″), meaning it probably works ok for someone his height with the shorter stem.

sootyandjim – i think youve misunderstood, no-one is posting in response to your question, they are busy having an argument :0)

Well the effective TT of my Love/Hate is about 602mm (23.7″).

Sooty, it’ll be fine.

I ran a KHS mountain bike as a commuter for a couple of years – probably ’98 and ’99 – doing 22 mile days. It did the job perfectly once I’d got the fit dialled – much easier with a quill stem. I had cyclocross bars, levers and bar end shifters, and used XTR cantis. It looked rather weird and was super stiff (I was using Conti’s tiny 1″ slicks – not a wise choice on relatively small 26″ wheels) but worked. I put on a higher rise, shorter stem than I had with my flat bars.

Basically, go for it.

I occasionally put knobblies on mine to muck about in the woods, and while it was pretty, er, exciting, it wasn’t something I’d choose to do full time. Proper CX bikes or stuff like the singulars probably behave much better. But since you’re not doing that, I can tell you you’ll probably have a good laugh.

One word of advice; it’s fine to use an MTB stem you have lying around to get the reach and rise worked out, but definitely worth buying a ‘proper’ road stem once you’ve got the position sorted – there is a slight difference in clamp diameters on the old skool clamps and bars. Not sure about the new oversize stuff, but I’m sure a good bike shop can advise.

sootyandjim – I reckon you’ll be fine with drops and a short stem.

As I mentioned way back before the bickering started, have a look at “compact” drops, which ought to work quite well with MTB geometry – not to much forward reach to the brake hoods, and not too much vertical drop. But, in both cases, enough to get the benefit of using drops.

I’m on the lookout for some FSA Omega compact drops (they’re evidently awaitied by the importer) for my road bike. Something like that ought to do it.

And don’t listen to the kids who think that drop bars can’t be ridden off road (even on a Tissington Trail type surface). The can very effectively.

Stick with your plan and post up pics when done!

I’m wanting to do something similar but i actually want to go from a flat bar road bike. Want to put drops on it and see how i like it (or not). my problem is that the gear i have a SRAM SX5 rear mech and X5 shifters. also the brakes are tektro mechanical discs. I have seen a brake cable adjuster for using road brake levers with cable discs but what about the gear shifting? will i be able to get shifters/brake levers for drop bars that will work for these SRAM gears? Is the actuation of the road shifters the same as the MTB ones? i.e. 1:1?

will i be able to get shifters/brake levers for drop bars that will work for these SRAM gears? Is the actuation of the road shifters the same as the MTB ones? i.e. 1:1?

a. There arnt any road shifters that work with sram MTB mechs.
b. sram road shifter/mechs work on the 1:1 idea but they pull a different amount of cable compared to MTB sram.

Sooty, you’ve changed 🙁

Dango – You’re just jealous.

Still hanging around Leith Hill tower with a very clean bike, wearing too much armour and carrying a few pounds of assisted gravity?

😛

One word of advice – there is a slight difference in clamp diameters on the old skool clamps and bars. Not sure about the new oversize stuff, but I’m sure a good bike shop can advise.

MTB = 25.4mm
Road = 26.0mm
Oversive (road and MTB) = 31.8mm

In short, you’ll need a road stem with road bars.

You can get plenty of 25.4 road stuff these days.

Sooty, you aint that far off the mark 8)

Since everyone is shouting about sizes ill point out Mary + Midge bars are 25.4mm if you decide to go for one of them, so MTB stem required.

I’ve been using 25.4 stems with 26.0 bars for a while and am still alive.

for a good while, i ran normal risers (what came on the bike) and put inward curved bar ends inboard of the shifters/brakes/grips.

i had two hand positions, normal mtb wide bars, and a kind of TT narrow grip thing.

worked well for commuting

looked ridiculous

plently of road stuff is 31.8 now too. And as for riding off road on the drops i use them rather than the hoods its much safer. As for the initial post go for it nowt to lose and its great 🙂

I never once thought oh I best ride the drops on my old CX bike

You were doing it wrong then.

Much safer in the drops on a descent.

DW. Yes with ease.

I sometimes wonder whether these would be a good addition. Thinking a normal bar, normal MTB gear levers on the bar and give yourself the drops. You could either leave the mtb brake levers where they are and just use the drops for a tuck position, or fit road brake levers for the hood position and have the control from there or from the drops.

I sometimes wonder whether these would be a good addition.

Presumably in your less lucid moments, chap. What are you thinking? No, no and thrice no.

Sooty – don’t listen to the man. He’s clearly crazy.

🙂

(Though you could use them the other way round and make some extreme bullhorn risers….)

STATO – Member

will i be able to get shifters/brake levers for drop bars that will work for these SRAM gears? Is the actuation of the road shifters the same as the MTB ones? i.e. 1:1?

a. There arnt any road shifters that work with sram MTB mechs.
b. sram road shifter/mechs work on the 1:1 idea but they pull a different amount of cable compared to MTB sram.

OK, fair point, so what are the guys running drops using as shifters/brake levers?

singlespeedstu If I was doing it correctly then I would have flat bars off road. Not bars which are narrow as hell, bent and made for riding on tarmac.

Not bars which are narrow as hell, bent and made for riding on tarmac.

The Midge bars in my pics are none of the above. 😉

They also feel a lot nicer in the hooks than on the hoods. 8)

It’s odd this. Out on the road I see a lot of people who don’t ever really use the drops. I’m not saying “people who don’t have drops on their mtbs don’t know what they’re doing”, but a huge number of casual roadies who have drops on their bikes don’t know what to do with them. In particular you see a lot of overbraking downhill and a lot of teetering in sharp bends because people are on the hoods. I use my drops a lot on the road, and think the Karate Monkey in stu’s pic in particular looks like it’d suit me very well indeed. 🙂

Drop bars are great on he road I have to say. But no one can honestly say they are better off road. trying to hook a front wheel off the floor to get over minor rocks, roots or ruts is a nightmare with even the widest drop bars. The simple reason being they were never made for it. They can be used for riding placid CX, but any form or technical riding is a ball ache I found.

I’ve done technical riding in the drops on my Solitude.

I’ve done technical riding in the drops

Me too Mike. 😀

Seth.

You not being able to do it doesn’t mean it can’t be done.

You should see some of the stuff that one of our local bike club girls is capable of riding on a crossbike. Never mind a big fat tyred dropbar 29er. 😀

*Any excuse to post this pic again* 😉 😆