Donated racing bike; advice please.

[Andy in Germany]

These are the brake levers on the Tri/Racer:

The name was familiar so I checked...

And sure enough, on a very cheap child's bike in the depths of the store:

It makes sense, though; they fit and they do seem to work.

Cantis use standard pull, only V-brakes are different.

So to be clear, I can safely use Canti levers for a flat bar conversion? (I'll test it before selling it, don't worry.)

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Looks like the drop bar has been chopped and flopped, cut down and turned upside down.

 

[cyberknight]

right bodge job , not sure what way to go with it given
slx shifters are mtb
kids brake levers
chopped bars

 

[Milkfloat]

A pair of these cover both long and short pull. https://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-tiagra-flat-bar-brake-lever-1? Not sure it is worth the investment though as you also need a flat bar.

 

[Ian H]

It's a cheap road/touring bike chopped about to be a budget triathlon machine (or a pretend one).

 

[Ajax Bay]

Strip for the few parts of any use. Trying to get this in a fit state to sell (as a safe ride with flat bars) will cost more than its selling price, imho. Even the calipers are right on the limit of their drop (see yellow tyre image).

 

[Andy in Germany]

A pair of these cover both long and short pull. https://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-tiagra-flat-bar-brake-lever-1? Not sure it is worth the investment though as you also need a flat bar.

I've got a pile of flat bars, that's no problem.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Strip for the few parts of any use. Trying to get this in a fit state to sell (as a safe ride with flat bars) will cost more than its selling price, imho. Even the calipers are right on the limit of their drop (see yellow tyre image).

Why would that be, do you think? Have they swapped the 105's to replace longer armed brakes?

 

[Jameshow]

A pair of these cover both long and short pull. https://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-tiagra-flat-bar-brake-lever-1? Not sure it is worth the investment though as you also need a flat bar.

Were they not cheap recently??!

 

[Ajax Bay]

It's possible. The bike would not have come with 105 calipers and maybe wannabe triathlete liked having '105' for bits of the set. You can tell if there's a risk of tyre/block interference.

 

[Big John]

I've worked on a lot worse and I'm not exaggerating. It all depends on how large your stock of 'bits' is. You do need a little knowledge of racing bikes though and what works with what. That would be done up at our place and sold probably as a pub bike or a commuter. Put some ordinary pedals on it. Obviously there are parts you'll need that will cost you, such as cables, brake blocks, outer cable, bar tape but if you've got a trade supplier like we have then those shouldn't cost too much.

 

[bikingdad90]

Brake blocks are on upside down in the picture I noticed.

You could most likely sell the removable Tri bars for about 20€ to offset the cost of the flat bar and some brake levers.

Chuck the bodge job bull horn handlebars.

If you went down the drop handlebar route do you have any bar end levers that you could install?

 

[Andy in Germany]

Thanks for all your thoughts.

I'll have another look today; I need to get bikes into the showroom quickly, and I don't want to spend much on this because we won't get a lot for it, the frame is far too battered.

I'll check to see if we have a replacement tyre and some brakes that would fit better/compatible levers; if not it will become a parts source and I'll move onto the next generic MTB...

 

[Andy in Germany]

I had a look but nothing was there. The bike has therefore made the first step towards becoming a lot of cans. The chainwheel was seized on and when I lifted the frame alone to take it to the skip it was a right lump; it must be high-ten steel, so I felt vindicated in scrapping the thing.