Drop bar advice

Dave_G

Hi,

First post and not sure if it belongs here?

As an ex roadie and cyclo cross rider and now an occasional weekend road rider, I have decided to buy a MTB. I have ridden MTBs in the past and always found the flat bars uncomfortable, even with bar ends – I guess I’m used to drop bars and cannot break the habit.

I’d like to know can I use drop bars on a MTB and use SRAM road break leavers with SRAM front and rear MTB mechs? Can I also use the same road brake levers on disk breaks – if so which type of disk breaks?

Final question, is can I race X country using drop bars or are there some rules that state I cannot?

I’d appreciate any advice

Dave

nicklouse

where to start.

brakes you will have to use road spec discs (sram road BB7's) as the mtb mech discs pull different amounts of cable, gears i do not see why not, but as sram do say that the road mechs are not MTB compatible you may have to change the MTB ones to road (again cable pull issues).

Now the question of using drop bars. Sorry no idea.
But i would look at some of the "alternative" MTB bars out there like On-one's mary bars....

Dave_G

Hi Nicklouse,

Thanks for the advice. A quick look at the SRAM website and I'm even more confused :shock:

So can I use SRAM double tap break levers? It looks like I can use these levers with the road BB7 disks and I would have to use a road rear mech. I'm uncertain if I could use the double tap break levers with a front mech that can handle a tripple chain set.

Thanks,

Dave

nicklouse

now roadie stuff is not my area, i would ask in the roadie know how section

Andymtb

Presuming that you intend to use the bike for off road XC purposes. I would have thought that using drop bars would shift your balance forward and prevent you from shifting the weight back sufficiently when required.
Wider bars should also increase control and stability of the bike on rough terrain.

I personally wouldn't like to have my face so close to the headset when the bike is bouncing up and down. Unless I'm missunderstanding what you want to do (happens more than I'd like..) it seems slightly masochistic!

Dave_G

Andy,

Yes intend to use the bike off road XC. I take your point about drop bars shifting my balance forward.

The only reason I was thinking about drop bars is I find them from my road and cyclo-cross days as the most comfortable - offering lots of different positions.

I have just trawled through a number of pro MTB riders and non of them appear to use drop bars. I think that tells me something - don't do it!

Dave

one_bad_mofo

I'd suggest you take a look on the US MTBR forums, loads of postings on there about using drop bars offroad. A second resource worth taking a look at is 63XC.com, where you'll find (with a bit of digging) a feature on bike set-up for drop bars on MTBs.
As for Pro riders John Tomac ran drops on the dirt for a season and it certainly didn't slow him down... :shock: