Hybrid bar conversion

Pocketandy

I have a Charge Grater 4 [http://www.wiggle.co.uk/charge-grater-4-2016/]It has flat bars. It has a SRAM 1x11 Rival drive train and Shimano M445 hydraulic calipers with 160mm rotors mated with Shimano M445 levers. So a SRAM/ Shimano Mash-up. Its a great bike. I've recently got a road bike with drop bars ( A Genisis Equilibrium 20, 2017) . I've found I really like the drop bars. The Charge is great, especially for a winter commute through London's streets. I'd like to convert the Charge's bars to drops. I have found 1x11 SRAM levers but the question is am I going to have to swap out my calipers as well as the brake lever / shifter ? or can I have a SRAM brake lever on my Shimano callipers. Thanks in advance

timothyw

Unfortunately this is not going to be possible (or easy) for a number of reasons.

- Shimano hydraulic brakes use mineral oil, SRAM use dot4 oil - they are not intercompatible.
- You could probably use your existing calipers with Shimano hydraulic shifters, but this would of course mean replacing your derailleurs.
- the geometry of flat bar bikes is fairly different from drop bar bikes - you will probably find by putting drop bars on that it has too much 'reach'.

I'd suggest some kind of halfway house conversion instead - such as bullhorn bars - which might make it a bit more nimble/comfy on the commute, otherwise the better bet is to sell it and replace with something closer to what you want.

Pocketandy

Brilliant! That’s exactly the response I needed. That’s very helpful. Thank you

The Rookie

You can use mineral oil in a DOT system part, not the other way round....but the piston (lever and calliper) may not have the right area ratios to work properly.

You could look at using one of the cable to hydraulic adaptors.

Or just sell the Shimano brakes complete and buy full SRAM.