changing from road bar to flat bar

just pedro

afternoon all,just wanted to pick your brains a minute.
i have a whistle crow road bike but im wanting to change the drop bars to flat bars,anyone know the stuff id need please.
thanks in advance

rafletcher

Hmm - well bars of course. And new brake levers. And new shifters - and specific flat bar ones for road mechs, not any old MTB shifter. BUT frames built for drop bars have shorter top tubes for a given size than the equivalent flat barred bike, so swapping may not give you a comfortable position.

just pedro

cheers for the reply rafletcher,yes i know that,im set for the bars and brake levers,ive read something about the gear changers are difficult to swap over,was wondering if anyone on here had one it,im not an idiot lol

keef66

just pedro wrote:

cheers for the reply rafletcher,yes i know that,im set for the bars and brake levers,ive read something about the gear changers are difficult to swap over,was wondering if anyone on here had one it,im not an idiot lol

If I remember the start of the saga correctly, Manc33 has done it. However, in the ensuing months his ramblings have become increasingly incoherent, so the mental toll of the conversion is something you should bear in mind.

arlowood

Some info on what equipment you are currently running would be helpful to allow some more definitive recommendations and advice,

Personally I haven't done a conversion from drop bar to flat bar but after several drop bar builds, I set about building a flat bar bike for my grandson late last year. The finished article and spec is contained in this thread

viewtopic.php?f=40044&t=12991733

I did quite a bit of research beforehand to ensure that I was assembling components that would work together on a road bike frame. I can confirm that everything went together much better than I expected and he is now getting great use out of it.

I chose the Ultegra shifters because they were the only ones I could get in black to match the rest of the drivetrain. However there are cheaper Tiagra shifters that would work just as well, if it's a Shimano system you have currently.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shim ... -prod69502

Matthewfalle

It simple - I've done a few.

Remove drop bars and shifters.

Fit straight bars and new levers - I use cyclocross levers as they are cheap and tend to work no dramas.

Look for shifters from same manufacturer in roughly the same price bracket - ie groupset equivalent.

Fit and set up.

Never had a problem.

Ok, now I'm expecting loads of "this won't work, what a load of rubbish, what about pull ratios" but never had any issues.

If it all goes to pot just clean it up, repackage, send it all back.

if you're feeling flush, get matching mechs to match shifters.

Jobs a fiosh.

just pedro

ok heres the specs.

Gear System: Shimano Ultegra 20 speed with Shimano Ultegra STI shifters, Shimano Ultegra front and rear derailleurs and Shimano Ultegra 12/25 10 speed cassette.

Chainset: FSA Omega Mega Exo compact chainset with 50-34T chainrings on forged 170mm cranks.

thanks for the replys by the way

just pedro

dont want to replace my cassette if i can

just pedro

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shim ... lsrc=aw.ds

would these be suitable?

trailflow

No. They are MTB shifters.

If you have an Ultegra 6700 front derailluer ,These below are what you want
http://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/shim ... lver-52325

These are cheaper, they also need Ultegra 6700 front derailluer
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobi ... -prod69502

You dont need to replace your chain, chainset, or cassette.

Matthewfalle

Yup - as above. Brakes will be fine as well.

just pedro

thanks for the replies,appreciate the help