Hello, I am a novice in the bicycle world so please forgive my ignorance.
I've just bought a bicycle for commuting around my city (a Trek Mountain Track 820, it looks like from the 90s) but I'm not a fan of the handlebars it has on it. I wanted to potentially swap them for handlebars like the picture I've attached, I'm not sure if they have a specific name.
Is there any reason I couldn't or shouldn't do this? Thanks!
by infinite-dark
6 Comments
Drop handlebars (as pictured) and flat handlebars (as would typically come on a 90s MTB) are generally component-incompatible. There are some exceptions, but for the most part, flat bars and drop bars use different components, so by switching from one to the other, it is very often required to also replace shifters, brakes, cabling, etc.
Not at all impossible, though. Plenty of drop bar conversions to old 90s MTBs are floating around out there; quite a popular choice for commuter bikes, in fact. Easier to give you more specific advice if we know exactly what you’re working with, though.
You’ll have to buy the bars plus find levers that’d be compatible with your derailleurs.
Likely would cost you more than the bike is worth.
If it currently has flat bar (MTB style) bars, then it almost definitely has grip or thumb shifters and flat bar brake levers. I assume it does, given your description. To move to drop bars, you’re looking at a much bigger project. New shifters/brake levers at least, and potentially new drivetrain components or brake calipers too.
If your bike already has drop bars and brifters, and you just want to swap to something like this to increase the rise, that’s pretty easy. But it doesn’t sound like that’s what you mean
A Trek 820 from the 90’s would have flat bars, and the bars in the photo are drop bars (with a flare and riser).
Depending on when in the 90’s your bike was made it could still have a quill stem with a 25.5mm bar clamp diameter. You would probably need a stem with a 31.8mm bar clamp diameter for the bar pictured, and then a quill adaptor to fit the stem to the fork.
The brake and shift levers will need to be changed to ones that fit on the drop bars as well. With that you’ll probably need all new cables and housing as the routing with the drop bars are probably longer. And then you’ll have to readjust your derailleurs and brakes.
Also, if the brakes are v-brakes (also known as linear pull brakes) it could be harder to find drop bar brake levers that pull enough cable to work with them. So you could also need a ‘travel agent’ cable pull adapter.
With bar wrap tape, it might cost you a couple hundred USD to make the conversion. But it’s doable. No real reason not to.
Is there a problem or issue you are trying to solve in doing this?
If you don’t want to have to swap components you could get Surly’s [Corner Bar](https://surlybikes.com/products/corner-bar) or something like it.
If you don’t want to swap a bunch of components, you can use the surly corner bar or Jones H bar or similar.
If you want drop bars there are a few considerations. Road and MTB brakes usually have different pull ratios (long pull =MTB, short pull= road). In my scenario, I got levers that were long pull brake levers, and got bar end shifters. This allowed me to keep the mtb brakes. If you want to use the brake/shifter combo, you need to make sure it’s compatible with both your brakes and shifters.
Drop bars/ hoods will also move your hands forward by like 50mm, so you will likely want to get a shorter and/or more angled stem to offset that.
It’s a fun project and overhauling that bike was a great learning experience