Converting Boardman Hybrid Comp to drop handlebars?

kevinharley

I have a Boardman Hybrid Comp 2012, which I like to think of as a flat-bar road bike with mech disc brakes ... but which I think I'd like to become, even more, as a drop-handlebar road / cx bike with mech discs, so I'm considering a conversion.

The details / spec of the bike as it is currently:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... PLPz1#tab2

Spec:

■Brake Type: Mechanical Disc
■Chainset: FSA Velo alloy compact crank 50/34T
■Forks: Alloy with Cro-Moly Steerer
■Frame: Lightweight 6061 triple butted aluminium frame
■Frame Colour: White
■Frame Material: Alloy
■Front Brake: Avid BB5 mechanical disc brake 160mm rotor
■Front Mech: Microshift
■Gear Shifters: SRAM X5
■Gears: 16-20
■Gender: Mens
■Handle Bars: Boardman 31.8mm alloy low-rise
■Headset: FSA 1 1/8 Aheadset
■Hubs: Formula 32 hole Q/R disc hub
■Number of Gears: 18
■Pedals: Wellgo alloy body fitted with toe clips & straps
■Rear Brake: Avid BB5 mechanical disc brake 160mm rotor
■Rear Mech: SRAM X5
■Rims: 700c Alex double wall black 32 hole disc rim with CNC braking surface
■Saddle: Boardman black with cro-moly rails
■Seatpost: Boardman 350mm x 31.6mm black alloy
■Stem: Boardman black alloy 31.8mm
■Tyre size: 28c
■Tyres: Vittoria Zaffiro 700x28c rigid black
■Wheel size: 700c
■Approximate Weight (KG): 10.75
■Frame Size: 19-20
■Cassette: 11-26T
■Exact Frame Size: 19"

I initially thought it would be a relatively straightforward and inexpensive conversion, but I popped into a LBS, and the guy Ummmed and ah'd and tutted, and told me it would not be cheap! He said that SRAM don't make STI shifters for a 9 speed casette, and that you can't mix Shimano and SRAM. He said I would either need to get Shimano STI shifters and a Shimano 9 sp rear mech, or get a SRAM 10sp STI shifters and a 10 sp cassette. Is he right? Are there any other options? On top of that would be new gear and brake cables, drop bars, bar tape etc.

I'm happy to trawl ebay, and the classifieds on bikeradar for secondhand gear, but wanted advice about how possible the conversion would be, and the best way to do it.

Cheers guys!

nicklouse

Cheaper to get a new bike. As you would also need STI compatible calipers.

So STIs, mechs, calipers, and maybe chain and cassette and a mech or two. Then bars, new cables (all) and tape.

MichaelW

You can fit clip-on aerobars to flat bars for a more time-trially hybrid but it is unsafe for cx.
Trekking style butterfly bars have handhold options with your style of bar controls.
Drop barends are a fugly solution and you lose touch with your controls.
Drop bar conversion is not easy or cost-effective.

MisterMuncher

In general, though, how practical/sensible an idea is such a conversion? I've been toying with such myself.

My main bike is my Cannondale Bad Boy, refitted with 105/FSA drivetrain, with R700 flatbar shifters. All other things being equal, and ignoring momentarily the money aspect (I've a pair of 105 STI's going begging, could flog the R700s and hydraulic brakes) , would sticking on drop-bars pay a noticeable performance/Comfort dividend?

My other thought is this: Is this an idea best considered when Drop-bar shifters incorporating hydraulics start to appear?

night_porter

I have done this and if you are careful and buy slightly used parts it shouldn't be too expensive.

However the bike shop is right about mixing SRAM and Shimano but a 9 speed Shimano rear mech can be bought new for £18.

I watched Ebay for a few weeks and found some bars complete with tape, Tiagra shifters and inner cables from someone who had converted the other way. I think I paid £70 and everything was nearly new but he could not get on with the drops. This would make your changeover less than £100 with the option to sell your existing shifters, bars, levers and grips to offset it.

My hybrid had mini V brakes so they worked fine with the pull of the Tiagra levers and I am sure that your disc brakes will work too especially as they are mechanically operated. I also learned a lot about setting up gears and stuff while doing it.

To me this is a much cheaper option than changing your bike!

SaintMark

Quite fancy having a go at this conversion on my Specialized Sirrus. I reckon you could do it for about £200 using new parts and doing the work yourself. Bar end shifters might be an option over STI. Whether it's worth it or not is another question. If I saved my £200 and sold the bike for, say, £200, I'm still a way short of what I would need for a new bike of equivalent spec.

It would also be worth checking what sort of ride you'll end up with - length of top tube is often much shorter on a flat-bar bike so you'll still end up with quite an upright bike. Drop bars might actually ruin the ride.

t4tomo

Sell it and buy a second hand CX bike if this is what you want.

cookdn

Just had a similar discussion with Mrs Cookdn. She fancies drop handle bars on her 2009 Trek 7.5 FX hybrid. It has a Shimano Deore LX MTB groupset and V-brake calipers. I guess Tiagra Triple 9 spd shifters would probably work paired with mini-v brake calipers but seems like a lot of hassle and expense. She can purchase through bike-to-work so I am trying to persuade her down the CX route with a new bike.

Best regards
David

jejv

cookdn wrote:

Just had a similar discussion with Mrs Cookdn. She fancies drop handle bars on her 2009 Trek 7.5 FX hybrid. It has a Shimano Deore LX MTB groupset and V-brake calipers. I guess Tiagra Triple 9 spd shifters would probably work paired with mini-v brake calipers but seems like a lot of hassle and expense. She can purchase through bike-to-work so I am trying to persuade her down the CX route with a new bike.

Why does she want drop bars ?
What does she think the benefit might be ?

If it is a practical question of a more comfortable and more aero riding position, that reduces wrist and arm strain, then it is possible to be "on the hoods" with MTB controls. There are swept-back bars which allow shoulder-width grips with better arm/wrist/shoulder comfort than straight bars. That would be a much simpler and cheaper option. There's a continuum of valid riding positions between sit-up-and beg, and on the drops.

But a deeply unfashionable option. To roadies, you now have a hybrid with weird bars, and to non-cyclists, you have a bike with weird bars that doesn't look like a road bike.

Drop bar conversions can be done, I've done it twice, and we know someone else who has done it to the same frame.
You end up binning just about all of the drivetrain, brakes, and controls. There are a lot of details to sort out. How are you going to adjust the front mech ? Will the front mech work with the brifters ? If a new front mech is needed, will it work with the chainset/BB length ? How will you adjust the brakes ?

What do you want this bike to do ?
If you really want a road/CX bike, just buy a CX/road bike, and sell what you have.
If you want a more versatile bike, converting the trek to drops might make sense.

Bits of my questions:
http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f ... 5&p=343051

The Rookie

night_porter wrote:

My hybrid had mini V brakes so they worked fine with the pull of the Tiagra levers and I am sure that your disc brakes will work too especially as they are mechanically operated.

BB% are available in road pull or linear pull, if the current ones are linear pull they WILL NOT work with road brakes and will need replacing.

mpdouglas

Have you really thought through the implications of the different geometry of your Hybrid - Boardman hybrids have a v. long top tube. A quick check of their website shows that the Top Tube lengths of their Road, CX and Hybrids are as follows (all Med size, Comp model):

Road: 555mm
CX: 555mm
Hybrid 590mm

35mm extra reach to the drops will have a significant effect on your positioning. You could maybe compensate with a really short stem but then you'll have a really twitchy steering setup.

tonye_n

mpdouglas wrote:

Have you really thought through the implications of the different geometry of your Hybrid - Boardman hybrids have a v. long top tube. A quick check of their website shows that the Top Tube lengths of their Road, CX and Hybrids are as follows (all Med size, Comp model):

Road: 555mm
CX: 555mm
Hybrid 590mm

35mm extra reach to the drops will have a significant effect on your positioning. You could maybe compensate with a really short stem but then you'll have a really twitchy steering setup.

Yeah... but what most people don't consider when comparing the reach of hybrids vs drop-bar bikes is that the hybrid will have much wider handlebars. For instance the boardman hybrid will have bars about 58cm wide.
A standard drop-bar will be about 42cm wide.
Therefore although the hoods of a drop-bar will take about 3cm you further in terms of reach, this is the same effect as when you are on the grips or even bar-ends of a wider flat bar.

'mpdouglas' is right about most manufacturers using a longer head-tube for their hybrids compared to the equivalent drop-bar model.
But what I am trying to say is that if the reach of your flatbar is fine for you at the moment, then converting to a drop bar is not likely to make the reach any further.

mpdouglas

A reasonable theory on first consideration. But - I just went out and measured my Boardman hybrid. I can;t compare it to my road bike because it's on a truck on its way to Lands End for Ride Across Britain.

Max bar width on the Hybrid is 53 cm but the centre line of my wrists are 45cm apart when holding the bars conventionally (would be much more if holding the bar ends). Whilst road bars would be marginally narrower than this, the hoods are further forward than the flat bar - they must be 5-6cm forward of the end of the stem? So the extra top tube length, plus the extra reach to the hoods could make it quite a reach.

You do make a good point but I'd still encourage thinking carefully/trying it out with borrowed components before spending money on such a conversion. Could easily end up with something a bit weird/uncomfortable.

tonye_n

mpdouglas.... Agreed. But your flatbar at 53cm must be one of the narrowest for any hybrid. If it came stock like that, then it is probably a proper road bike with flat bar rather than a true hybrid.

http://www.boardmanbikes.com/hybrid/hybrid_comp.html

I once had a Ridgeback flight bike which was a road bike in every way, just with a flatbar. This was 54cm for the bars, and is the narrowest I have seen.. Non-custom build.
Most Specialised, Giant, Boardman hybrids have at least 56cm bars (or even 58cm).
Old style shimano hoods (5600, 6600 etc) would increase the reach by 2cm. New style (5700, 6700) by 3cm.

So if you currently use a 10cm stem, you just factor in the cost of a shorter stem if you encounter any problems with reach. 90cm would do.

tablatom

Hi, my first post here.
I just bought a Boardman hybrid team.
After a month of riding it everyday i saw a Boardman CX team.
I thought about changing to drops, but for all the hassle and money, there are CX teams on eBay going cheap.

So,
one day i will buy a second hand CX team from eBay.

I bought the Hybrid Team in new condition for £340 from eBay.
So you might get lucky too.

I have a just put tioga-powerstud-6-barends
and some Conti CX speed 35c tyres on, so as far as i am concerned, my Hybrid team is a Hybrid/CX - Hybrid
These 2 additions have really transformed the Hybrid team.

cooldad

If he hasn't got lucky in the last four years, he probably never will.