Inherited this bike from a relative that can unfortunately not ride anymore due to his health. I’ve never really owned any high end bikes in my life but I’ve always wanted to get into road bikes.
Obviously this can’t be converted into one, but after months of research and brainstorming came to the conclusion that I might as well give it a thorough shot and convert this into a gravel bike with drop bars & a 1x drivetrain in memory of my relative.
Only issue is that I don’t even know if it’s even worth trying? Not to mention that I have no clue where to even start from and if id have to swap the 26″ wheels in the process.
Would really appreciate some guidance or indication to other /r I could post this on.
by TheArray
6 Comments
I’d just keep it as is and ride it every once in a while. It’s cool as is and will always have a wow factor being a 26”
this bike is actually really awesome as is. you could probably sell the bike or part it out and buy a road bike instead. I think it would be worth keeping as is however and maybe using it to ride mtb
That bike is gravel ready by design. No need to redesign it! It’s perfect.
See if a bike mechanic can fix the broken spoke in the rear wheel and maybe a fork service. Get some ultradynamico mars 26 inch wheels, and convert that bad boy to an advent X one by with a bar end friction shifter and ride off into the sunset. You might also have to get new brakes.
I bet a careful cleaning, some light oil and new cables would have the mechs working fine. Might need to degunk the shifters too. I’d probably fix what’s broken, add some inboard bar ends and ride it like that for a while
These old bikes are very long, and drop bars make them feel longer. Work out if the bike would still fit you. That said I love the idea of a short travel full sus MTB to Gravel conversion
I don’t think it would be a very good idea to convert it to a rigid front fork if you’ve got a full suspension frame. It might be pretty weird to have only rear suspension and a rigid front fork.