This is a 2011/2012 bikesdirect/motobecane SS MTB with solid axles.
It’s been sitting as a cruiser for awhile now and since I like to tinker I was wondering what recommendations you all have to convert this into a drop bar gravel bike.
Can I buy a new/used gravel bike? Yes.
Do I like a challenge and want to see if this is possible/plausible? Also yes.
If it doesn’t work at least I’ll have a good story.
Thoughts?
by BingingOnBojo
5 Comments
Single speed? You can find non-shifter brake levers and the bike is already disc and not particularly long, so just buy bars, brake levers, and calipers and you should be able to make it fit.
Not as sure about a geared bike. There’s a hanger there, but I’m not sure what axle setup would work. You could do a bolt-axle internal geared hub though, like Shimano Nexus or Alfine.
You could also ride it mostly as-is too, no rules that you can’t ride gravel on flat bars. I’d upgrade the brakes to hydraulic and make sure the contact points work for you, but otherwise just ride.
I would find a different bike to start with.
if you want to convert it to a gravel bike with drop bars, id get some drop bar levers and some wide bars with a shallow drop. Something like ritchey beacons + TRP RRL’s take that for a spin and see how you like it. If you decide you want gears an IGH like gravelpi suggested would be the way to go.
That’s got a derailleur hanger so you can run a geared drivetrain no problem. I’d get a drivetrain, new gravel tires and call it a day. Check out R/xbiking
Figure out how big of a chainring you can fit. If you can’t get a decently fast ratio it probably wouldn’t be worth the effort.