Drops to flat bar conversion

Tom Butcher

Apologies if this has been covered before - couldn't find it on a quick search.

Want to convert daughter's drop bar cross bike to flat bars for 18 months just to bring the brakes a bit closer to her. It runs shimano sora 8 speed shifters with a tiagra rear mech.

Questions are - with it being canti brakes can anyone recommend a brake lever for small hands - and is cable pull going to be an issue ?

What's the best solution for shifting again for small hands and not wanting to break the bank given it's only for 18 months ? I thought of down tube shifters but would rather stick something on the bars if it's cost effective.

Thanks for any help.

maddog 2

any 8-speed mtb rear shifter will be fine eg. LX, XT etc. and they can be picked up s/hand for little money.

you need cantilever levers really, not V-brake levers as they pull too much cable, which causes low power and a firm lever. Search for Dia Compe SS7 - comfy with adjustable reach. Shimano also do flat bar levers but I'm not sure if they are adjustable.

You could also consider Avid SD range with adjustable modulation on their 'softest' setting, eg. SD5 or SD7. These are V-brake levers but on their softest (low pull) setting they should be okay with cantis.

Other than that, a cheap s/hand bar (trimmed down), some grips and a set of bar ends and you're away. Some canny buying should have it done for under £30 I'd say.

Tom Butcher

Thanks for that - will have a look for the brake levers you mention. I'm assuming MTB shifters for the front will be 3 position indexed - would that work a double front road mech and just ignore the third position using the stops to prevent overshifting the chain ?

Would anyone have a preference between trigger shifters or twist grip ? I'm thinking twist grip is simpler for a kid - but maybe the action requires a bit more oomph and it'll be too stiff for her - never used twist grip myself.

redddraggon

Triple indexed front shifters (Sora/Tiagra and I believe 105 all are, and they happily run doubles) will do a double fine.

soveda

Tom Butcher wrote:

Thanks for that - will have a look for the brake levers you mention. I'm assuming MTB shifters for the front will be 3 position indexed - would that work a double front road mech and just ignore the third position using the stops to prevent overshifting the chain ?

Would anyone have a preference between trigger shifters or twist grip ? I'm thinking twist grip is simpler for a kid - but maybe the action requires a bit more oomph and it'll be too stiff for her - never used twist grip myself.

At 8 speed you might find some thumb shifters too.

FWIW I'd go for trigger over twist for a small hand because of the risk of shifting accidentally if you are on the twist part of the grip.

John.T

PM me. I have a pair of XT 8sp brake lever /shifter combined units for canti brakes which I no longer use. They will work fine with the rear mech. You may need a MTB style front mech as the shifter lever pulls more cable. I think there are ways round this using a road mech but can not remember at the moment.

maddog 2

3-click mtb left shifters can be made to work on a road double mech, even though they pull more cable.

- set click 3 to the big ring
- when you click down to click 2 it will try to overshift past the small ring, use the limit screw to stop this happening
- click 1 is redundant

you can get the SL-R440 left shifters which are closer to road STIs in terms of cable pull but they're not essential. Avoid SL-R770 left shifters as they aren't actually as good as their cheaper 440 cousins.