Converting my FCR4 to drops?

[orbital]

Hi everyone,

I bought a Giant FCR 4 flat bar road bike during the summer as I convinced myself after some test rides that drops were not my thang After what's been a few hundred miles now I'm really regretting that decision and now wished I'd gone for full blown drops. I was thinking if I could convert my FCR4 (which I really like) to drops and what I would need to do it. Would it just be a case of buying some new handlebars and THIS or am I completely over simplifying this and a lot more work would be involved?

Cheers

Dave

 

[HLaB]

Its not as simple as new handle bars I did it o my spesh sirrus

Heres my thread and photos on the topic if its any help.

 

[orbital]

Hi HLaB,

Yeah I understand I'll need new shifters and brakes do you think the ones I've linked to in my post will be OK?

Cheers

Dave

 

[HLaB]

Hi HLaB,

Yeah I understand I'll need new shifters and brakes do you think the ones I've linked to in my post will be OK?

Cheers

Dave

They should be fine I went with the cheaper sora ones but I think yours are better.

A later mod I made to mine I added problem solvers, travel agents to improve on the braking performance. STIs to Vbrakes aint good they help improve it slightly.

 

[orbital]

I think I should be OK on the brake front as my Giant has dual pivot Tektro jobbies so fingers crossed they'll be fine. I need to figure out what size bars to go for as I'm quite broad (i.e. wide ) so I think the smaller width ones would make me a bit cramped.

Cheers

Dave

 

[HLaB]

I think I should be OK on the brake front as my Giant has dual pivot Tektro jobbies so fingers crossed they'll be fine. I need to figure out what size bars to go for as I'm quite broad (i.e. wide ) so I think the smaller width ones would make me a bit cramped.

Cheers

Dave

I went for narrower bars (40cm) I think the bassic rule is the bars shoud be as wide as the distance from the middle of the ball of the shoulder to the other.

 

[orbital]

Just thought I'd update this thread now I've completed the change to drops. I must confess to being quite proud of myself as I've never done anything like this before and was quite apprehensive about doing it, but I'm very happy with the outcome. The gears seem to operate even better than they did with the stock bars and shifters and it's all very comfy to ride. So all in all a happy bunny!

Before

After

 

[just4fun]

nice 1, happy riding

 

[orbital]

Cheers mate!

 

[HLaB]

Nice Job orbital. I found my gears shifted better too when I did it to my Sirrus but have the braking issues I was hinting at, you're bike looks made for it :-)

 

[bonj2]

bloody hell that bike's MASSIVE!

 

[orbital]

LoL!