Converting flat bar'd bike to drops

kenmc

I have an FCR2, which is a flat-bar'd road bike, which I was thinking would be nice to be able to switch the flat bars for drops occasionally, but with the ability to go back to the flats also. The handiest would obviously be to replace the whole bars/shifters/brakes at a time, so I could swap them out, but is there going to be issues with the shifter and brake compatibility?

Prowetod

I am wondering somthing similar, I have a road bike with drops,could you change them to flat handlebars? Thanks in advance.

niceonetom

kenmc wrote: »

I have an FCR2, which is a flat-bar'd road bike, which I was thinking would be nice to be able to switch the flat bars for drops occasionally, but with the ability to go back to the flats also. The handiest would obviously be to replace the whole bars/shifters/brakes at a time, so I could swap them out, but is there going to be issues with the shifter and brake compatibility?

it wouldn't be any problem to convert it to drops if you were willing to buy the right STI shifters (tiagra?) and that would be totally compatible. it's not a quick job though (lot's of replumbing in all those cables) so swapping back and forth as the mood strikes you is out. i dunno about Giants but some flat bar hybrids have different geo than their drop bar cousins; longer top tubes to make up for the shorter reach of a flat bar. that means you might be a bit stretched out if you put drops on and use the hoods.

ecocork, you could probably do the same (only in reverse) there's trigger shifters that'll do the same job as drop STIs.

i'm sure a quick swap set-up is possible, but it might take some lateral thinking and involve bar end shifters.

blorg

I did this with a Specialized Sirrus. V-brakes are not compatible with STI levers so these had to be changed. The most expensive part of the whole thing is the STI levers- they are not cheap. Original front derailleur (2200 if I recall) wasn't working too good with my 105 shifters so that got swapped also. Total cost including fitting was around €300. I did find myself stretched as niceonetom suggests and so swapped the stem for a shorter one around a year later.

Swapping back and forth is not really an option, and I would consider an entry level road bike as an alternative.

Flat-bar in reverse should be easier- ecocork, if you'd like a cheap parts option to go flat-bar I have the original stem, bars, shifters, brake levers and v-brakes from my Sirrus.

Or the two of you could just swap bikes ;-)

Ghost Rider

In the "Post images of beauty" thread, there's a photo of a Giant FCR1 that has drop bars:

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/25498/46318.JPG

Mr. Skeffington

Thats my FCR 1 in the picture, the conversion was easy:

Required materials:
1) Dropped bars
2) STI shifters
3) Bar tape
4) Set of inner & outer gear cables
5) Set of inner & outer brake cables

Took about 1 hour to do and if you wanted to change back it to the straight bars after it would take about 25 minutes. You would have to understand how to properly adjust your gears and brakes though, and correctly tighten the bars.

As mentioned in other posts, v brakes would not work correctly with STI shifters, and if the bike is a little long you may need to get a shorter stem but in my case on the FCR the stem length was very nice.

I dont use my flat bars any more so eoccork if you wanna make me an offer for a kit to perform your conversion from dropped to straight I have all of the needed materials to do the work, and all of the bits are brand new, the bike was only ridden with flat bars for a couple of days.

And kenmc if you would like the same straight to dropped conversion done and you live in Dublin I could do it for you, I was a bicycle mechanic in a number of Dublin shops who now works as a Mechanical Engineer and I could do it for less than the 300 euro mentioned above.

kenmc

thanks for the offer, it's going on standby for a while though as I'm heading off travelling for a bit in a month.
Might consider it again when I get back
K