Drop Bar Converstion

pete8uk

This is my first post, but I've been reading watching this forum for a while. So I know this is a common topic, but I'd really like some advice on my potential project.

I’ve found myself getting much more into ridding this year, and want move into the world of drop bars (having owned mountain bikes & hybrids previously). I ride a 10 mile commute a day, and go for 50+ mile rides most weekends.

The bike is the flat bar version of a Cannondale road bike, here’s what it’s got:

Frame Synapse Flat Bar
RearCogs Shimano 105, 12-25
FrontDerailleur Shimano 105 Triple, Clamp 34.9mm
RearDerailleur Shimano 105 Long Cage
Shifter Shimano R770 RapidFire Plus
Handlebar Cannondale C3 flat, 25.4mm
Brakes Shimano R650 long reach

Full spec here:
http://www.cannondale.com/gbr/eng/Produ ... at-Bar-105

Here’s what I think I need (with estimate on price):

Shimano 105 STi 10sp Triple 5603 - £190
“Compact” Road Bar - £40
Stem (same spec as handlebars) - £40
Bar tape & plugs - £10

Will my existing gears/derailleurs/brakes be combatable with the new setup? Have I missed anything I’ll need?

And, is this worth doing? My estimate is £280 of new gear, and the bike was worth £900 new (bought around 8 mths ago). Would I be better off selling it and buying a new road bike? The numbers seem to suggest not, but is this drop-bar-hybrid creation of mine going to be any good?!

Thanks for your help

markshaw77

As the gears/deraileurs/brakes are all road groupset items, the conversion should be relatively easy (a lot of flat bars have V-brakes or similar which complicate things)

The one thing you are missing is a cable set - you will need new outers at a minimum, but probably new inners too. A good complete set like Jagwire Racers cost only £20-25, so not too pricy

For new prices on the rest of the gear, your budget seems about right, but if you are willing to buy via eBay or the classifieds here, you ought to be able to pick up what you need for a lot cheaper. I have recently completed a bike build (see sig) and picked up some Scott aluminium bars for £6, a Ritchey stem for £7 (you may even be able to re-use the one you have), Bar tape for £6 and a set of Ultegra shifter for £90, so you could be looking at barely £150 for the entire conversion if you want.

As for whether or not it makes sense - that's a tough one, second hand bike values are not great and the conversion in this instance is relatively straightforward, so I would lean towards that but YMMV

Either way, best of luck!

rake

im n ot sure the fork geometry would be right for drop bars although it could be ok. looks a short stem in the photo and may or may not handle well with drop bars. something maybe to find out. you dont want it to handle like a dog.

wheezee

Won't the reach be too great with a long top tube designed for flat bars?

pete8uk

Markshaw, thanks all the info. I had thought that the gears/brakes were all compatable, but good to get confirmation. And I hadn't realised I would need a complete new cable set, so thanks for the tip.

Oh, and your blog was a great read. I hope I don't end up creating quite the scale of project that yours became, but at least I have some idea of what I might be getting into :-)

I'll need to get a new stem anyway as the one I have is for 25.4 bars (i.e. MTB bars). But thanks for the heads up.

Not sure about the fork geometry or top tube though. It's a road frame, so I'm hoping it will be ok geometry. But I'm guessing!

John.T

You should get cables with the shifters if you buy new.
Fork geometry should not be a problem but top tube length may be. Measure it centre to centre and compare with similar sized road bikes, idealy Dale Synapse. You should get these from the Cannondale website. If close then you should be able to get the correct reach with stem size.

PeterBL

I would double check your front derailleur. The R770 shifters are only supposed to be used with special flat bar road bike front derailleurs, the FD-R770 and FD-R773. These use the pull ratio from MTB, but accommodate the larger chainrings of a road chainset.

If your FD is really a 105, then you would have no problems, but then Cannondale have sold you a bike with none matching components :shock:

Does your FD currently work fine? If have problems identifying it, compare the length of the arm, the cable is attached to.

pete8uk

So I've compared the geo of my flatbar synapse with that of a carbon dropbar synapse. And they're pretty similar. Top tube is exactly the same, whilst the reach is just .5cm longer. So that's given me a bit more confidence that this will work. Thanks John!

I've pasted the numbers below, for anyone who's interested....

I've also compared the front derailleur to the shimano website, and it looks like its a FD-5603 to me. It has the wider inner rail rather than the thiner rail of the FD-R773. Plus, it says Shimano 105 on the side :-)

So it seems they don't match up with the present triggers! Can't say I've had any major problems though, shifting has been ok. Might be my standards are low though, this is by far the highest spec bike I've ever owned.

Flatbar Synapse Dropbar Synapse
B. Horizontal Top Tube 58 58
C. Measured Size: 53 53
D. Seat Tube Angle: 73 ° 73 °
F. Head Tube Angle: 72.5 ° 73 °
G. Chainstay Length: * *
H. Fork Rake: * *
I. Bottom Bracket Height: 27 27
K. Wheelbase: 102.6 101.1
L. Trail: 5.4 5.6
M. Standover: 80.2 81.1
N. Bottom Bracket Drop: 6.7 6.7
O. Front Center Distance: 62 61
P. Head Tube Length: 18 20
Q. Stack: 58.4 60.1
R. Reach: 40.1 39.6

cooper.michael1

Don't buy Shimano 105 triple shifters. There is a known problem with them, if you search the forum, you'll see how many people have had to return them to Shimano after they break.

When this happened to me Shimano replaced them, but the new pair had a label which actually siad the shifter may break under load, when shifting into the big ring of the triple.

pete8uk

Thanks Cooper, I just did some searching (both on this forum and google) and found quite a few posts relating to 105 shifter problems. Always to do with changing up to the big ring.

There is quite allot of talk of it being related to a "dodgy" batch, and shimano have always replaced under warentee. How have your new set been?

And, what alternatives do I have? As mentioned, I'm new to drops, and my logic was simply "I've got 105 derailleurs & gears, so I should get 105 shifters" :-)

cooper.michael1

Hi Pete. I personally don't think it was a dodgy batch, only because when I got my new set they came with a tag explaining exactly why they break...basically that they are designed to work with both double and triple systems, and on a triple when shifting into the big ring unless set-up is perfect (which over time its never going to be) the cable tension will cause too much stress on the lever causing it to break. This to me sounds like a design fault...some people have had 2/3 warranty replacements.

It was a hassle getting a waranty replacement, during which time I was told you might not get them replaced because i installed them and i'm not 'qualified'. So I thought to hell with Shimano sold them on ebay and replaced them with campagnolo ergo levers.

I love Campag levers now and Veloce (105 quality) levers are only £80, are comfier, more reliable and give you much greater control over the front mech. To run them with an all Shimano system you just need this handy little adapter for £30. http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product-Jtek ... -19048.htm

(there are several different shiftmate adapters to see what combinations you can achieve look here http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/article-Shif ... ftmate.htm)

Other than that the advice seems to be buy Ultegra shiters, as for some reason they don't seem to suffer the same reliability issues...I still think they are a lot of money for what they are! Ribble Cycles seem to sell them for about as cheap as you can get online.