Another one of these hypothetical projects I might do some day.

I love my El Mariachi as it is, but it occurs to me that the bike can do lots of different jobs, and I might like to be able to swap components on a whim. I thought it might be fun to be able to swap between flat and drop bars to make a kind of gravel/tourer bike.

All the cable bosses are external, and all are full length. So I could lift off the bars, gear cables, and complete brakes all together, and bolt on a drop setup. I would probably also fit some 700c wheels.

I’d need STI shifters, but they’d have to be disc, so that means either cable discs or road specific hydraulics, doesn’t it? Are road hydro stis compatible with say deore calipers? I’d have to build 700c rims onto mtb hubs, because even if I were to swap an axle on actual road wheels, the disc would be in the wrong place.

Am I insane?

Yes.

Unless you are as awesomely awesome as this chap, yes, you are insane.

If you are as awesomely awesome as Jonny T. Get to it! 😉

The top tube will be way too long.

if only they did a drop bar bike for off road use 💡

Don’t say that, you’ll make him cross.

In theory i had two wheelsets for my only mountainbike.

Now i have to mountainbikes.

It will never be in the guise you want when you want.

if only they did a drop bar bike for off road use

Like this?

I wonder what it would look like with proper drops…

if only they did a drop bar bike for off road use

If only I had the money to buy new bikes all the time, and the space to keep them…

CX’er ?

I DO NOT WANT TO BUY ANOTHER BIKE

It would be done in the name of tinkering. Profligacy is not the same thing.

It would be easiest with mechanical disc brakes and some travel agents, right? I did something similar with v brakes.

If you are suggesting leaving the calipers fitted then you’d be risking a brake bleed every time you changed the levers.

What about mechs – or are you single-speeding it?

No, removing calipers along with the levers and hose.

Mech would stay the same, would remove the cable. Inline barrel adjusters.

There are compatibility issues with MTB mechs and road shifters. You’d need to confirm you could get a setup that would handle both, or remove the mechs each time too.

Your existing wheels would be able to take a CX/gravel tyre though.

2:20 in [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbWR4uhebeY[/video] 8)

My hardtail / bike packing bike / single speed is an inbred 26er currently running bb5(or 7 can’t remember) and midge bars. Works fine.

Might need too sets of mechs too, and bolt them on/off when you swap… I do this to alternator between gears/singlespeed

May also need two stems… A shorter one for drops and possibly 2 seatposts – 1 a layback for risers and an inline for drops to reduce reach

What would be the big difference that would make all this faff worth it then? More hand positions? getting down on the drops?.

When I was young and foolish, John Tomac appeared in MBUK with drop bars on his bike. So I bodged some drop bars onto my British Eagle – stem didn’t quite fit so spread it open a bit, brake levers were too far away on the drops, so I bent them inwards.

Later, JT went back to flat bars, so I did too – now the brake levers were far too close, so I bent them back again. First descent, I pulled the brakes, and both levers snapped off.

That’s the day I learned about metal fatigue 😀

All the hassle swapping bits over could be avoided by simply having both flat bars and drops at the same time. Get rid of any spacers and bob an extra stem on there, go on, you know you want to. Stis on the drops with brake cable fed up and through some CX bar top levers mounted on the flat bar where you would put the regular MTB levers. Nokon cable outer to cope with the odd bends. BB5r or BB7r calipers should seeyou right. Post pics.

Not insane!

You will need to spend a bit of cash though.

10 speed sti levers run with 9 speed rear mechs perfectly. I would go for cable discs as they are cheap and work well. There is also no bleed faff! For bars, I love the wide flare of Salsa Woodchippers. The extra width on the drops give a real sense of security off road and on road diving into corners.

Is your el mariachi a 29er? If so, no need to change wheels.

In all reality it’s not a complicated job is it.

Shorter stem to compensate for the “extra” length of the drops, maybe a straight post to negate the reach from seat to now slightly extended bars (whilst on the drops) you could use those two finger leavers on the bars a la’ CX’er stylee and some sti’s on the bar ends (but you will knock them with your knees) cable routage is simple under bar tape.

Or you could just buy SRAM CX1 drivetrain with leavers and mechs, but thats a lot of cash .

So, if it were me, I’d buy an old CX’er off eBay for £100 and nab the parts off that, afterall it doesn’t sound like you are after spending a lot on it, so by going down this route you’ll have all the kit you’ll need (and a frame and wheels and such to sell on afterwards) There are a few Alan’s and older FELT’s on there at the moment for not a lot of cash…

As NBITF says whats the point ? If you want a more compact riding position with a few more hand positions,fit some narrower flat bars with some bar ends.

This thorn set up is what you need mate 😉

I’ve got a pair of these babies on my old MTB/commuter/road bike for years:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4q1g4mffloegb7y/10348679_10203708327447995_8830654788776788615_o.jpg%5B

Think they’re made by a company called Inov-8, who seem to make running shoes. They’re probably rare as RHS now. If you find some, don’t buy them, just tell me so I can buy a spare pair. Hope this helps :-/

My hardtail / bike packing bike / single speed is an inbred 26er currently running bb5(or 7 can’t remember) and midge bars. Works fine.

Same here. Inbred 26er singlespeed with midge bars, 700c wheels with CX tyres and bb5/bb7 MTB brakes with v-brake pull drop bar levers. Have have a set of 26″ MTB wheels I can swap in easily and a flat bar/stem setup with levers ready to go. The drop bars need a shorty stem and some height spacers though else they’re not comfortable.

It’s my everyday bike, gets used way more than my MTB or road bike.
Shown here in kiddie trailer mode

whats the point ?

Just for the hell of it. To see if one frame can be many things and be easily swappable.

If so, no need to change wheels.

The current wheels are fairly wide Bontrager Rythmn Elite, and are quite heavy. Something lighter would be more fun and not have to change tyres, faff with tubless strips etc.

A second seatpost and saddle would be good – might have to tilt the saddle forward to work better with drops, and it would be easier to swap than to fine tune.

Those of you using flared drops – do you use STI shifters or MTB levers and somethign else?

It is do-able. For years I had only one bike (see pic above) and two wheelsets – one with semi-slick tyres for commuting and road riding, one with knobbly rubber for off-road. At the weekend, the lights, reflective bits, QR seatpost rack, lock and semi-slick wheelset came off, fork got unlocked, off-road wheelset went on. Half an hour max. Totally different bike. Reverse the process after a Sunday ride, ready for the commute Monday morning.

Then I got addicted to buying bikes and in the last 6 months I’ve gone from 1 to 3.5.

Would 2nd the flat bars and barends suggestion, you can do it but going to probably be worse than flats and barends. But then again some people like it…
But one guy that didn’t was John Tomac, he said it was rubbish and only used them on advice from his coach to keep the position similar to his road bike.

It was originally going to have flat bars and bar ends, however a bar narrow enough to be comfy on the bar ends was too narrow for the huge heavy wheels, and a bar wide enough for the wheels felt odd on the bar ends.

I think you’d have to make up each bar as a bit of a “Loom”.

i.e. a complete bar (+stem?), brake and mech(s) set with lines and cabling all attached and pre-adjusted, so you unclip the lines, un bolt the current kits, bolt on the alternative setup zip tie the lines on and go…

If it’s a 1xN drivetrain that’s simpler than accommodating 2/3xN but that could still be done too if you fitted the front mech using a bolt on direct mount adaptor (Whats deal with road front mechs/shifters and MTB Chainset spacing though?).

The key thing is having a minimal number of things to adjust each time you make a swap…

But it is getting on for N+1 territory really…

Bit of an aside but look at the low cadence of the climbs in that 1990 video. When did EPO hit the MTB scene?

I think you’d have to make up each bar as a bit of a “Loom”.

That was the plan.

But you make a good point about the front mech.. hmm..

It was originally going to have flat bars and bar ends, however a bar narrow enough to be comfy on the bar ends was too narrow for the huge heavy wheels

And the even narrower drop bars were okay?

I’d need STI shifters, but they’d have to be disc, so that means either cable discs or road specific hydraulics, doesn’t it? Are road hydro stis compatible with say deore calipers? I’d have to build 700c rims onto mtb hubs, because even if I were to swap an axle on actual road wheels, the disc would be in the wrong place.

As far as I know hydro stis are only 11 speed (for Shimano). And £350 for a set. And your current rear mech almost certainly wouldn’t work. I’d not be surprised if they used standard Deore type calipers but I certainly wouldn’t be contemplating swapping hydro hoses from flat bar to drops.

Road hubs are 130mm (and obviously non-disk), so you’d need to use mtb hubs anyway (or mtb ones rebadged as cx/road disk…).

If you had a full set of gears/brakes hangin off the road bars and did a straight swap I couldn’t see if being a real faff (albeit an expensive exercise). If you had to start refitting cables to mechs/brakes etc. then that would probably push me over my threshold of annoyance and I’d be on eBay buying a new frame to fit onto instead!

And the even narrower drop bars were okay?

Hmm yeah good point.. but then I wouldn’t be doing anything singletracky, and the wheels would be a lot lighter.

As per the picture earlier, drops were used bitd so no reason you couldn’t use ’em now.

Can’t see the point TBH. What does a drop bar add? Maybe find someone who raced in the 90’s and ask them for their Spinaci’s or amazingly buy them from Planet-X Spinaci!!

For what it’s worth I used to do 40+ mile road rides at Uni on my mtb just running slicks and holding the bar either side of the stem, worked quite well and is fairly aero.

I put upside down SOMA Sparrow bars on my mtb. Wanted full drops but decided I couldn’t afford to replace the brakes and no proper drops had the same diameter.

I like them. Needed a longer stem, but had the effect of rotating the wrists.

What’s the point of the drops at all? Well they are nice for long distances, and I’m wondering if drops would be nice for really long distance – slightly more aero could make it slightly more efficient. I’d want to experiment to see.. still got my eye on the Tour Divide one day.