Convert Boardman 29 er

clubriding67

Hi all.

I have a lovely Boardman 29er MTB bought from my former boss, and it's been sitting in the shed for ages. I want to convert it to a 'bikepacking' rig. So, thinner tyres, Cambium saddle and drop bars.

As the bike has hydraulic brakes, is there likely to be any problem with putting drop bars on the thing? And what about bike shift levers?

Any ideas, very welcome.

ovi

if you do a internet search on monstercross bikes you will get more of an idea. Try fitting bar ends and some 35mm 700c touring tyres on the wheels.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/vittoria-voyager-hyper-touring-tyre/ this tyre would work ok on a 29er wheel

clubriding67

Hi Ovi. Thanks for that. I like those tyres!

But I really and absolutely do not like flat bars. I have six bikes, and five of them have drop bars. I really can't get on with flats.

Garry H

An option.

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/handlebars/ ... nds-black/

fat daddy

It's doable .... but to keep it hydraulic it's going to be expensive

You can go the cheaper route with mech disks but with the sti's you might need to buy brake pull extenders and if you have an mtb mech you will need a device that changes the throw of the shifters

On top of that measure your top tube, flat bar bikes compensate for not having reach in the bars by having a longer TT ... you might find to get your reach you need a very short stem and bars which can make the steering twitchy.

You will end up with either a very expensive Boardman .... or a big compromise

I went through all the options myself recently and it turned out cheaper to buy another bike which would have been a better bike anyway

veronese68

Sell it and buy something better suited to what you want.

cougie

Flat bars and bar ends are lot like riding on the tops or on the hoods. All you're missing is the drop part?

fat daddy

You might want to cut 300mm off of those bars though to get the proper feel from the bar ends

Personally they are great for steep climbs, but in the flat cycling with your arms 740mm away and not in reach of the brakes doesn't cut it for me

vrsmatt

Have a look at the latest cheaper Giant Defys

They have Mechanical drop bar shifters and a hydraulic junction mounted on the stem converting the cable pull to hydro fluid movement which then flows down to hydro calipers.

I'm fairly sure somebody makes similar bits of kit that you can buy

edit

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... box-45423/

veronese68

VRSMatt wrote:

They have Mechanical drop bar shifters and a hydraulic junction mounted on the stem converting the cable pull to hydro fluid movement which then flows down to hydro calipers.

I'm fairly sure somebody makes similar bits of kit that you can buy

edit

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... box-45423/

I've got one of those, it works well. But it's still a bit of a compromise. Drop bar STIs have a different pull ratio for the gear cables I think so the mechs would need changing as well unless the flat bar shifters were mounted on the tops and drop bar brake levers used. But it would end up a bit of a lash up.

fat daddy

so we need.

parabox kit - assuming calipers fit the mounts and rotors fit the hubs
shifters
or

hydraulic shifters with calipers
rotors

or

standard shifters
mechanical calipers
rotors
brake ratio extender

and a

rear mech
bars
bartape
new cables
possible new stem
tyres
inner tubes


and end up with a bike that is a compromise on geometry for its use or for a couple of hundred more you could buy a new bike

veronese68

Exactly, hence my first comment.

fat daddy

When I was looking to "convert" my hybrid it was actually cheaper to buy a new boardman, strip the bits off the bike and fit them to the existing frame ...... then I realised the boardman frame was better than the frame I was trying to convert.

so it was just better all around to buy a new bike

clubriding67

OK, guys. Looks like it's either a new bike (my wife will kill me as I'm at s-1 ! ;-) ) or else I settle for straight bars and just thin the tyres down a bit. Thanks for the input.

clubriding67

Ordering a Surly Ogre. :-)

veronese68

clubriding67 wrote:

Ordering a Surly Ogre. :-)

I take it you are selling the Boardman due to the S-1 situation. If not, good luck.