I’m thinking of changing my hardtail 29er into a gravel style bike for commuting this winter/spring but not sure if the geo will work. Its a large with an eff top tube of 644mm,Head angle of 68 degrees, seat angle of 73 degrees, Reach is 455mm and Stack is 618mm.Currently running a 60mm stem and riser bars. Will it be too long with gravel type drop bars and if I put a shorter stem on will it be too twitchy. I have some carbon rigid forks with quite a long steerer so i can lift the stem slightly. I will have some 29 x 2.0 thunderburts on it. Commute is 70% fireroad type trail and 30% road. Any thoughts, thanks in advance.

A drop bar typically puts your hands 50-70mm further forward than a flat bar, so depends on whether you can accommodate that in your riding position? Might be worth bashing your dimensions into an online bike fit calculator to see what it throws out and compare that to how the bike would measure up?

Can you chuck a set of drop bars on it quickly and see how it feels? Or even put the MTB brake levers on as suicide levers and take it for a gentle trip round the block. At least then you can see what it’s like before investing in proper levers and the like.

I tried this with an On One Bootzipper. It was a good fit with flat bars (XL), but when I tried drop bars it was way too long.

Without going too short on the stem, it just felt too stretched out. Shame really as it was a pretty cool bike.

That’s an awful lot of top tube

Planet X used to do some short reach drop bars. Not flared tho

Re: short stem, I don’t find that it makes the geo as twitchey with drop bars as much as it does with risers, prob because riding on the hoods effectively increases the stem

That’s still an awful lot of top tube for a large tho!

https://www.specializedconceptstore.co.uk/product/16640/2020-short-reach-handlebars/

Thanks guys. Just measured the tt as opposed to geo chart and it’s correct. I’ve tried the hand position on the turbo where I can get away with perching my hands loosely on the bars. Reason for question was exactly that, even compared to a radical gravel bike ( Evil chamois Hagar) the top tube is about 20mm longer. I’ll give it some thought.

Can you just run a short stem? I’ve happily run a bigger road bike with a shorter stem in the past (free hand me down) and it was fine, I’d happily consider doing it again if I ever replaced my current road bike.

I did this with an old Scandal frame. Rigid forks and shortest stem I could find.
Rides great but the stack is short so quite a few stem spacers needed.

I’m thinking of changing my hardtail 29er into a gravel style bike for commuting this winter/spring but not sure if the geo will work. Its a large with an eff top tube of 644mm,Head angle of 68 degrees, seat angle of 73 degrees, Reach is 455mm and Stack is 618mm.

If that fits you as an mtb then I’d say it’s going to be horrible as a drop bar bike.

Personally, I think drop bar mtb is best when you use a frame that’s a bit on the small side for you.

Can you just run a short stem?

OP is running a 60mm in MTB form, I’m not sure you could go short enough for drop bar. And if you could (e.g. try 35mm) then it’s going to handle like rubbish.

having said all that…. you won’t know if you don’t try it 🙂

if you really want to use that frame, I’d stick the rigid forks in and pop a wide flat bar on.

As something that laughs in the face of fashion, how about some flat bars and bar ends or ergon style grips if you are not wanting full weirdo looks.

Won’t affect the geometry too much and will give you alternate hand positions. Maybe even in board stubbies for a sort of roadie style position.

I used to run an mtb with bullhorn bars and slicks for commuting, have few more hand options than just bar ends and worked pretty well.

I’d stick the rigid forks in and pop a wide flat bar on.

Yep this. Not really sure what drops would add as people sit on the tops/hoods of drops most of the time. Or stick some of these on if you want more hand positions https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/HBOOMKB/on-one-mickey-handlebar (which you can get pretty close to by adding some inboard bar ends…)

This can work ok but you really want a frame a size or.more smaller than you ride with goat bars.

Something like a jones loop bar copy might work. I use to use Mary bars. The forward bit of the bends was great on the road. Arms closer together with a bit more reach

Try a surly Corner bar on it

I tried same on a genesis longitude. Large frame I’m 5’10 so about 60mm stem in Mtb mode.

With a 40mm stem as short as could go, drop bars had me horribly stretched forward. Even with saddle slammed forward. Not nice at all pretty much a no from me.

Depends how sensitive you are to geometry changes, some people are like the princess & the pea, others not so – luckily for me I fit the later category and have had flat bars on road frames and drop bars on mtb frames with no real issues (apart from monstercross bikes being utterly pointless 🤣).

Works a treat on my Superfly, bar ends in the middle which are roughly equivalent to the reach of the hoods on my gravel bike (a bit shorter actually).

I’m not running a particularly short stem either, 75mm I think, so perhaps I just got lucky with top tube length. I still found it more uncomfortable on longer rides than riding my gravel bike, which I couldn’t really understand, but I think I had the saddle further forward which places more weight on the hands, so I’ll need to experiment with sliding the saddle back again.

edIt: although I should say most of my Superfly’s gravel credentials are thanks to the Vittoria Terreno semi-slicks. Super rapid but a bit floaty over loose corners and braking…

Must confess I involuntarily giggled at the prospect of a 64.4cm toptube with a drop bar.

You might need a riding position something like this 😉 :

I think thats a no then. I did have some Koga Denham bars which had bars welded on in a similar position in pic above but I couldn’t get on with the backsweep ( stealth for sale ad!!). Think I’ll try flat bars with bar ends on the inside. What kind of bar ends are they Mr Monk?

Brand X ‘Classic’ from Wiggle I think, covered in bar tape 😎

They were longer than most, was trying to replicate the reach of a drop bar + hoods of shifters. Gets close.

I think wider bars would counteract the twitchiness of a shorter stem, so I was *forced* to buy some nice cheap Ritchey carbon bars, so now I have best of both worlds, wide bars + short stem but then on the bar ends it’s more akin to the reach of a gravel bike.

Ive got a pair of salsa woodchippers hardly used if your interested. I’m not saying I bought them to try a gravel monstercross that failed but I’ve been where you’ve been 🤣.

But if I was you, I’d be looking at 600mm wide flat bars with some bar ends.

But sometimes when you’ve got an itch, only you can scratch it!