Roadbike To Hybrid

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Cycle Joey
Posts: 1
Joined: 23 May 2015, 2:48pm

Roadbike To Hybrid

Post by Cycle Joey »

Afternoon All,

I have recently bought a road bike, which I believe was a bargain at only £45! Ive spent more money on brakes before, so to get a whole bike is a win win! (bike is an Raleigh Airlite 100, not sure what year).

My Question is what parts would I need to convert it to a hybrid?, I have various of bikes and this being my first road bike would like to keep the ride how i'm used to and not the "race" style. I have already had a look at previous posts, but all say different things, so bellow is a bunch of links to which I think would complete the conversion. Bellow is two sets of brake levers because im not sure one is compatible with my brakes.

Image

Any feedback is much appreciated!

Stem:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/answ ... -prod66075

Handlebars
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/fsa- ... -prod76483

Gear Shifter:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/sram ... -prod41153

Brake Levers:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/avid ... -prod22387 or

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shim ... -prod34695

Tyres:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/oxfo ... prod122124
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recordacefromnew
Posts: 334
Joined: 21 Dec 2012, 3:17pm

Re: Roadbike To Hybrid

Post by recordacefromnew »

The bars and stem match but looking at it I am not 100% sure if your fork steerer is 1-1/8" (28.6mm) which the Answer Rove stem is for, or smaller. If I were you I would take off the stem cap and measure it.

I can't say whether the shifters are fit for purpose, since that X3 rear/right shifter would only work with a sram 1:1 standard (i.e. not sram Exact or Shimano) rear mech, with a Shimano/sram 7 speed block, and I have no idea what you have at the back. Also regarding the front shifter I also have no idea what make and model front mech and chainset your bike has, in particular if the chainset is a double or triple. If it is a triple the existing chainline might also help. You can use a mtb triple front shifter to drive a road front mech for a double or even triple chainset, but it is a kludge and requires a little knowledge and care in setting up.

The Tiagra R550 brake levers should work fine with the existing caliper brakes. The Avid SD7 won't - they are for V or mtb disc brakes.

Tyre is fine only if your forks and frame have enough clearance which I kind of doubt so you should check, I am also unsure why you would want to spend over £20 on a stem (which imho has little effect on performance as long as size is right) while going for budget tyres (which has huge impact on a bike's safety as well as performance).

Hope it helps.
gregoryoftours
Posts: 2234
Joined: 22 May 2011, 7:14pm

Re: Roadbike To Hybrid

Post by gregoryoftours »

You could just re use the stem - it looks like a 25.4 bar clamp so you'd have to buy a bar to suit. You definitely can't use those shifters as that bike is Shimano equipped at the back and cable pull is different. Maybe the simplest solution to save mucking around with trim issues for the road front mech/chainset would be to source some 2nd hand 7sp thumbshifters - they can be expensive but you might get lucky on retrobike or something. They last forever too. I agree also that there is unlikely to be clearance for those tyres, you might get away with 28mm tyres, and even they might rule out the use of full mudguards.
MikeF
Posts: 4339
Joined: 11 Nov 2012, 9:24am
Location: On the borders of the four South East Counties

Re: Roadbike To Hybrid

Post by MikeF »

What is your "style of riding"? The saddle in the picture is much higher than the handlebars. Is this how you want to ride? Assuming the saddle is at the right height and position for you, then you may want a stem with a higher rise eg up to 40 degrees if you are used to a more upright position.
"It takes a genius to spot the obvious" - my old physics master.
I don't peddle bikes.
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interestedcp
Posts: 380
Joined: 5 Jan 2012, 3:34pm

Re: Roadbike To Hybrid

Post by interestedcp »

Some feedback;
Be aware that racing frame geometry and "hybrid" geometry are different. The project will end up as a flat-bar racer, not a typical hybrid. So try riding it for a couple of trips while holding on the "tops"; if you don't like the handling, perhaps you should avoid throwing more money after it. Also, tyre clearance with mudguards may not be to your liking either.

Converting from drops to flat bar is a little more complicated than one would think. You will need to carefully coordinate the handlebar thickness with the brake levers, shifters and stem's clamp diameter. Also the flat bar shifters needs to match the rear dérailleur etc. So you need to be really careful when selecting components, and as you have already discovered, the information about such conversions are often lacking or contradictory.

A classic problem is that flat bar shifters often only work with mtb front-dérailleurs, and these don't officially support large road chainrings (+50T). So you may need to use special flat bar shifters like the Shimano R440 and the accompanying special front-dérailleur.

Bargains can be really expensive; put every expense on paper and you will be surprised how fast expenses are running up. If you use the Sram shifters you must replace the rear dérailleur too, and the chain and cassette (7spd), and very likely the front dérailleur. Even if it was compatible with the shifter, it may not work so well with a 7 spd drive system. And how about new cables?, and handlebar grips? All the small expenses add up, and every decision you take can cascade into new expenses.

My suggestions:
Assuming the dérailleurs and shifters are Shimano (8/9/10) speed road, and a road chainset with a 50-52T chainring, I would go for a Shimano Shimano 9 spd R440 shifter and front dérailleur. If you are lucky you may keep the chain and cassette. Be careful about clamp diameters and handlebar thickness. Not a particular cheap setup, but the shifters are very good and the setup will work assuming the above.

Another, much cheaper solution:
Simply install "Interrupter Brake Levers" like these Tektro RL 721 (the clamp diameter on these doesn't match your handlebar though):
http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/product ... -cx-levers

That way you can brake from the tops just like on a flat bar hybrid since the brakes levers work independently of the shifter brake levers.

You can also get the handlebar higher by either buying a high angle stem, and/or turning the handle bar upwards while sliding the hoods slightly forwards so they remain "flat". If you take a hack saw to the drops afterwards, you basically got a flat bar racing hybrid, but instead of bar ends, you got hoods.
--
Regards
Brucey
Posts: 44522
Joined: 4 Jan 2012, 6:25pm

Re: Roadbike To Hybrid

Post by Brucey »

It does rather beg the question as to why you bought a different kind of bike if you really wanted the same kind as you had before.....

The most expensive components on the bike are arguably the STIs and those are the parts that you are wanting to change.....

A suggestion; a cheap way to 'converting' is to get a set of flat bars with a generous curve to them ( North Road bars or perhaps On-One Mungos) and you should find find that you can fit the STIs to those OK despite the bars often being 22.2mm dia (instead of 24mm like drops) where the grips are. Look out too for the clamp diameter; it could be 25.4mm or 26mm.

FWIW if you are planning to do much more than ride down the shops you may well yet find that the dropped bars (once set in the right place, which may necessitate a new stem) are more comfortable. and allow you to ride further, faster, than you can manage on flat bars. But YMMV of course....

cheers
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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