The Hybrid Theory

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Andy84

Veteran
Location
Croydon
I’m getting a bit bored of constantly cleaning my bike (someone should have told me not to get a white one!) so I have a plan, B) however I require the help of the technical geniuses of cycle chat.:sad:

I have an old mtb frame that’s been sitting in the shed for a few years now, I have cleaned it up a bit and have put my 700c wheels from my Tricross on it just to see if there would be enough clearance, they fitted (just about).

4695058831_a305ded979_m.jpg



It’s got me thinking, can I make something similar to this?

(found image on a google search)
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I’m thinking flat bar – single speed commuter, and keeping the Tricross for the weekends, and longer rides.


I know I can’t use the old brake set up, but the forks and the rear triangle both have these holes


4695059909_54a0aff80e_m.jpg



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So my first question is, does that mean that I can fit a pair of road brakes like these?

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/shimano/tiagra-4500-brake-calliper-ec008096#features


shimano-tiagra-4500-brake-caliper.jpg



And then, are mtb (flat bar) brake levers compatible with the road brakes?

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/shimano/m770-xt-v-brake-levers-ec008661

shimano-m770-xt-v-brake-levers.jpg



Even better would be if I could use the additional small brake levers that came with the Tricross, although some people have refered to them as 'suicide levers'.


Assuming I can use one of these types of levers, can I just buy a single speed wheel set like this?

http://www.parkersofbolton.co.uk/p-1689-700c-flip-flop-single-speed-fixie-fixed-wheelset-black.aspx


As this is now starting to add up a bit, I think I'll use the Specialised Borough tyres that came of the other bike.

Is there any reason why I can not keep the triple chain set and current bottom bracket? There doesn’t seem to be any play in them. - I'm thinking that I could ride it on the different size chain rings to decide which gearing ratio best suites me.

Then the last question, how would I know what size chain I need, or do I just buy one and take some links out until it ‘fits’?


Any comments / suggestions will be greatly appreiciated. I dont want to spend money on all the bits to then find out it's not going to work!
 

battered

Guru
What a great project. It will be great.

I can't answer all your questions, but there will be a lot of technical trouble on the way. This is of course part of the fun.

You are going to face a lot of issues with brakes and so on. It may eventually come down to getting a frame builder to braze on some brake hangers, or you may end up fabricating some bracketry. You won't know any of this till you start, all I know is that your chances of getting it all to work out of the box with a load of stuff you bought sight unseen is zero.

The easy bit is the BB and chainset, no bother. As for your chain, easy. Buy one, chop off the spare links, fit it.

The rest? That's going to be hard. Break it down to a series of steps and tackle each one in turn.

Great project though. Did I alrerady say this?
 

TheDoctor

Europe Endless
Moderator
Location
The TerrorVortex
First things that spring to mind are :-
Brakes. You can use standard road brakes through those holes. You'll need ones that are a 6mm nut fitting, or you can drill the holes out and use allen key mounted ones. I'd go with the 6mm nut myself (in fact, I have, on my 531 frame). Simpler that way. You'll need to measure the drop and get brakes to suit.
Levers. Cross levers work fine. Got them on my SS. Or any flat bar lever EXCEPT ones for V-brakes. You need levers for Cantis - they have the right cable pull for road brakes.
Wheels. You'll have an OLD of 130mm or (probably) 135 mm. Most fixie / SS wheels are 120mm, so you'll need to add some extra spacers either side.
I've used something like this to go SS - it all goes on instead of the cassette, if you have a cassette rear wheel you can use.
 

battered

Guru
Withn your wheels watch out for your spacing. MTBs have wider rear stays (135mm?) so you need an axle designed for this. IIRC roadies are 120mm axles so you need to fix this, maybe spacers will work but I'd sooner get an axle the right size to start with. Not sure about forks so measure these up first.
 

RecordAceFromNew

Swinging Member
Location
West London
A couple of additional observations:
1) Can't see clearly from the photo, but as I understand it you are planning to build it into a single speed, you will need to check what rear dropout the frame has. You might want to go through this.
2) The allowable chain size(s) will be dependent on the width of the rear sprocket you end up using. Subject to chain tension adjustment above I don't see why you couldn't use your existing chainset and add/remove chain links to change initially.
3) If the distances from the centres of the brake mount holes are approximately 49mm to the centres of the rims' braking surfaces, then normal dual pivot road brakes should fit.
 

mcshroom

Bionic Subsonic
Just an observation. It looks like it would be a fun project, but wouldn't it be easier to build it round 26" wheels?

I'd be tempted to do the rest the same but use cantis or v-brakes from the existing bosses rather than braising on new.

I'm sure your plan would be far more fun though :ohmy:
 

battered

Guru
As far as I can see it has the old 80s style diagonaldropouts so chain tensioning will be OK. You may need a half-link, a SRAM PowerLink or similar but it's unlikely.
 

g00se

Veteran
Location
Norwich
Just about the 'suicide' levers - the tricross, like the doctor said - will have cross (or interruptor) levers. Suicide levers were mechanical extensions on the regular levers.

I'm not sure i agree with the Doctor in that the cross levers will work on their own though - they operate by pushing against the existing cable housing and not touching the cable itself (happy to be corrected though). There are lots of similar looking regular levers though.
 

g00se

Veteran
Location
Norwich
oh yes - in that picture you found on google, those handlebars are 'On One Midge' bars.
 
OP
OP
Andy84

Andy84

Veteran
Location
Croydon
Hi guys, thanks for all the replies. Am at work at the monent so can not look through it all. But will have proper read through tonight.

Andy
 

youngoldbloke

The older I get, the faster I used to be ...
Andy84 said:
I’m getting a bit bored of constantly cleaning my bike (someone should have told me not to get a white one!) so I have a plan, :tongue: however I require the help of the technical geniuses of cycle chat.:blush:


Just to get back to the OP for a moment ..... how is this going to solve the problem of cleaning the white bike - other than you will not be riding it so much when you have another - but won't you have two bikes to clean then ......? :smile:
 

battered

Guru
Perhaps the new one will be powder coated in "Monkey sh** brown" (copyright Tom Waits circa 1975) and then he won't mind the dirt.

As for 26" wheels being easier, of course they would be, but where's the fun in that? :-). I'm enjoying my 26" wheels though, I seem to have a loft filled with fairly well worn examples of the breed that came to me for nothing and I'm doing my best to wear them out. It's tough going but I recently managed to bin one cheap rear wheel and an old front is looking a bit thin, with a bent spoke, so I may be able to legitimately throw that out soon, after a few more hundred miles. I like this free (re) cycling.
 
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