Okay, listen... I'm a metal fabricator, artist, home builder, and now trike/bike touring (around the country) devotee. I did NOT once cringe while watching your build. In fact, I was cheering for you the whole time. Well done, brother!
@@BruceChastain It's definitely an adventure; meeting great people; seeing the land, vegetation, and people change at 10 miles an hour; tenting under the stars/meteors; seeing every sunrise/sunset... In a word it is rewarding.
Friend, this build is inspired - I love that you re-purposed a frame that you love. And that hack for lowering the rear caliper was genius - you get maximum kudos from me!
Cool. The only thing spoiling it is the crazy bar angle which seems to be necessitated by the old style bars which have too much reach. I was always taught working in bike shops that the top of the bar should run parallel to the ground, or as close as possible and the lever hoods in line with that.
Road bike have right geometry for speed. Mtb bike have booletproof geometry for dirt. So , this is just mtb with some mods for road use but you can never going like on real road bike...
Lucas dos Anjos Compre um quadro velho de MTB de alumínio e colocar rodas aro 27 (tipo Caloi 10 mas dar para comprar aros aero deste tamanho). Vai ter que furar o quadro e garfo para colocar os freios e vc vai ter uma bicicleta para deixar TODO mundo comendo poeira!!!! Eu sei porque já fiz e com rodas grandes e pneus finos ate os caras de aro 29 vão passar vergonha. :) Eu uso em estrada de terra e em pista e te garante vai ficar bom gastando muito pouco.
@@SchytexGraphics it's because everything in Brazil is expansive hahahaha. But the road bikes are not popular. Sometimes a road bike cost as much a car, and in general the people buy a car.
Lol when you had that silver riser stem on there I was thinking "I would have flipped that upside down." Didn't expect you to do it. That front fork brake caliper was pretty nifty.
So inspiring ! making the forks fit with the shimmed out headset bearings, and the rear brake mod were just brilliant to see............Thanks for posting this video.......awesome ideas, awesome result
Exactly. I turned a Schwinn Moab into a fixie and I have had this bike now for 20 years and it just refuses to fail. Balanced and quick and not too squirrely in the front end which now has a carbon fork by the way. Excellent choice!
@@BruceChastain I had the rear end thinned from 135 to 120 mm and replaced the rear dropouts. And the rear triangle has got about six pieces of Columbus steel in it strengthen it. I also ground off all of the cable guides. It's been rebuilt a few times and currently has a different set of handlebars on it and a slightly longer stem.
yeah that's the way it goes sometimes with these old bikes, they get sort of re-worked every now and again, but that's sort of the fun of it. I'm thinking about turning this one into a gravel bike later this year. I'll surly make a video on it.
@@BruceChastain you should. My original fork was steel. I swapped out the shock on the first day and i ran 700's on it many times. Plenty of clearance. What is cool is how tight the frame is and how balanced it is. And of course they are weldable... Your bike looks great by the way. A classic original.
as a fabricator I applaud your use of resources and creativity in solving problems. As a bike builder this made me cringe. Final product is pretty cool. Well done.
@@BruceChastain my issue was i had a fixed but I never really liked it. I discovered later that the problem was that because I had a brake I never learned how to really ride a fixed. My 26 conversion forced me to ride it right and now I am in love.
I did a similar thing with a 1987 Rockhopper... its turning into a gravel bike with Jones bars. Its so great to keep a machine you have memories with going for a long time in a new incarnation. thanks for making the video.
I gotta say good job on making the spacers to downsize head tube. I make some of my own parts too, and see in you a kindred spirit, one who spends a lot of time cutting, filing and sanding.
Hey Bruce, I see you are not afraid to do your own thing, I love it. We love it. Wanted to share one of my little custom touches with you. I'll start by saying I believe electrical tape has no place on a bike. I don't like finishing tape on bar wrap or zip ties holding cables. That said, I start my wrap at the top of the bars. I get some guff from purists, but who cares. I also dislike cable under the bar wrap, so most bikes I build up now I internally route brake cables through the bars. I've done it on vintage bars and modern. Haven't had any problems. On my touring style road bike, I made my own quill stem adaptor so as to facilitate modern stem and bars on an old steel frame. This old touring frame had cantilever brakes, so I decided to go one step further and route the front brake cable not only through the bars, but also the stem. Drilled hole in bottom of stem and installed a barrel adjuster to terminate housing. Bare cable then exits stem directly in line with cantilever. My rear brake cable runs through bars to front center, exiting a hole in bar and through a hole in bar clamp. It's pretty clean. I'll find a way to send you photos. See ya.
DUDE! Forget AZ the bike guy, cuz you got it going on! I really really really enjoyed that build conversion! Was in suspense the whole time. Loved the hammered ovalized tubing for the brake mount front extension and the angle grinder touch on the brake cable, super extra points for that one! And the stem looks cherreh! 💯👍 ENJOYED!
You could have avoid some work and destroing that seatpost with some long range calipper allthough its an impresively cheap and functional solution The headset work is cool but hammering the cups in is bad idea. You can easely make yourself a press with a threatered rod some whasers and nuts and a piece of wood or nylon. All in all, well done.
@@BruceChastain Look up the Tektro R559 caliper brakes. They are longer than standard road brakes to fit bigger tires and fenders. Those might be long enough to not use an adaptor. How has your adaptor set up worked so far?
The bike as my avator/emoji! This was a 2001 Mongoose Pro Massif 3x9 MTB Ti that I rode and rode and rode, had GR8 FUN! I ❤ed this bike, super quick/super fast! Problem: I wore out the 26er V-Brake Mavic Crossmax rims, I wore out the XTR M952 Crankset and Octalink V1 bb, I wore out the rear XTR cass. and they don't make these vintage parts anymore, EVERYTHING NOW is 27.5/29er Disc brakes! I have beat road bikes on my 26er Ti! My Ti frame does not support disc brakes, I have tried adaptors but they REALLY DON'T WORK! I have been plotting to upgrade it to a Cross Hybrid with a flat bar, mtb crank and rear cass., but with a carbon fiber 700c fork, road bike wheelset, canilever brakes, etc! The Ti frame is very lite and practical! I loved this video, gives me an idea of additional tools I might need! Thanks! 👍👍👍!
I like modification just like this one. I have tride converting a standard road fork a threaded to threadless by using a set post from a child's bike which is exactly the same diameter 25.4 mm. I also change the headset to threadless type. Now it's super duper 👌 😍 nice like a natural one.
Nice work, I'm glad you got rid of that angled stem, that hurt my eyes!. I did a similar thing to my mountain bike, only i turned mine into a TT bike. ;-)
I have no idea why you received 223 dislikes. At the end of the day, you thought out side the box to solve your problem to make a bike thats suits you, instead of having two bikes not working for you at all. You salvaged a bike that makes sense for you. The cost saving must have been really good too! Bike shops nil, you 1
This is kind of fun just to show how much modifying is possible, and sometimes a little even makes sense, but 68 degree headtube angle and super long chain stays? That's going to handle like a cruise boat. You can usually find used frames of at least the right shape for free in the trash if not a few dollars at a garage sale.
yes I'm replying to a 6 month old comment - the head tube angle looks like it came out pretty darn close to that of a standard road bike since the front end was lowered by changing out the suspension fork. Great job! I've hacked up every bike I've ever had and I love seeing other people's unique/customized bikes.
Looks very pretty! The problem is the geometry of a MTB frame with road forks = scraping pedals when cornering and a twitchy too steep head tube angle. You probably could have found an actual road frame on eBay that would handle better and cost under $100, but to each his own...
yep don't disagree about the road frame, and might have been easier than adapting this one. As for the geometry, I don't know if it's "right" or not, but I've been doing a good bit of riding and it seems to work alright. But actually I'd like to do some detailed measurements and see how far off it is from a real road bike.
Nice work. I also have a 1992 Giant ATX 770 that I've been thinking about converting to a road bike. I'll probably stick with the original fork and headset and just change the stem and pick a nice drop handlebar.
This is the proof that we don't need to follow the current marketing dogmas. I did the same recently. Being longer between axes and having a lower bottom bracket, the bike is very stable on descents.
i did something like this as well, went from mountainbike to gravelbike. Pain in the ass to do, but cheap as fuck and could never ever afford a cannondale gravelbike, so i did it myself. And i was hell of a fun.
I forgot how heavy those old Rockshox were at 187, the old Headshoks were 1300+ so a little over a pound lighter! Which is quite a bit of weight in CX, even back in the era of 50-80mm travel, when bikes routinely weighed 23+ pounds. I’m glad they are not that popular (they make excellent front suspension on city-whips, where you encounter pot holes, trolley-light rail-train tracks, small curbs, jutting road cuts or In the early 1990’s Cannondale had been working on demand for a beefier urban commuter, and answered that call with 700 cc wheeled MTB-looking frames. They must have sold fairly well; they kept on developing with front suspension forks they gave the customer 15 to 20mm of travel. “Gravel” biking started to gain popularity as well, and some of those frames had front suspension. Then in 2000 along came the Big Bad. The Bad Boy: 26” mtb frame, straight mtb bars, 700cc wheels w/disc brakes, hardtail in the back 70mm travel Fatty Ultra up front. The paint job was very different all black, what they call “all-stealthed-out” 23 years later.
thanks a lot for the nice comment. Why not, go for it. If you get started I'd love to see how it goes. Also I love rockhoppers, so that could be a really cool result. The key is to just keep an eye out for cheap/free road bikes for parts.
Yeah, that's what I need- parts!. It's got a nice army greenish paintjob and would so slick with black components. I've done it up as a MTB with a few new parts but think the frame could work well as a road bike.
you"re doing what i been wanting to do with my 2005 specialized hard rock mountain bike so far i completed installing modern road bike handle bars break handles and breaks new rear derailleur my bike shop said the couldn't put those type of forks on my bike so im stuck and frustrated with having shocks that's all i have to do now is put rigid forks on it i'm hoping i don't have to do what you did in this video just find some forks that fit the riser and down tube that's it
As you said in the intro, "I've been a lot of places with this bike". And with this conversion you've just done, you could possibly even make a touring bike from it! I'm just saying...but I think that would've been a great idea if you want to travel in the future.
hey there thanks for watching. I'm actually here on the island of Majorca Spain with the bike, check out my latest video, I talk a bit about the planning, and I hope soon to post another on the results.
Nice! Sorry if I missed out, just found about your channel recently. Because of the conversion, of course! I also plan on doing some trips to where I haven't been before, but not outside of my country. I still have too much to see in my country until I discover others! Your improvised ideas really impressed me, by the way! Cheers!
I turned my old FS 26er into my road bike. I just put on slick tires and a 42t chainring. Sure I'm averaging 12mph instead of 17 like roadies do but that's fast enough for me. I like the comfort of FS even when I'm mostly on asphalt and it gives me the option to hit a trail here and there if I want.
What? Im averaging 14mph without any mods on mtb bike while traveling between work and home. Only have semi slick tires, schwalbe hurricane sport 26"x1.9 and some cheap bontrager 26"x2.0 tire on the front. Got even cheap front suspension. You running what tire pressure? I got almost all maxed out on pressure, rear 4.7bar and front 4.1 bar. Hence why i wonder how your average is only 12 mph when you can easily do 14 or even 15 if push a little and good weather conditions. My bike is by no means light too! It weight freaking 33lbs by itself and i got added few pouches with tools etc. I wonder what speeds and averages i would reach if i had real road or at least cyclocross bike...
5 лет назад
@@fulldnbboy I average 16 on my fuel ex 8. It's a light 3 mile ride from my house and it's mostly flat but still 16 mph for that ain't half bad. Just gotta push it
@ 16 probs easy for me too if only 3.5 miles. But im doing between home and work around 13 miles. Aint pushing 16 mph on such lenght on mtb without at least getting slimmer and lighter tyres. Already running slick tyres but they are quite thick cause got some alternative roads too which goes through forest and not pure asphalt road. 16mph aint too shabby anyway on mtb.
Very nice work! I want to do something similar so I wanted to ask you, was it a 26" wheel frame? and did you use 700c wheels? If you did that, what size of tires you use? A lot of questions tho but Im really interested on what you did here hehe
Yes Pancho is was a frame meant for 26" and yes I did use 700c wheels. The tires were 23c, but there is plenty of room for larger. If you do build such a bike please do let me know how it goes.
Nice to see more video from you man. Thanks for continuing to post. Did a price check on 'if I price checked replacing everything that connects to the frame minus wheels and front fork" it turned out to be (to me) a lot of money ($300, and that is knowing I probably lacked a lot of things like bearigs and tools and such.) Any suggestions on a comfort cruiser style bike with a quill stem? I like the upright posture and i don't really do anything other than easy riding. I just want to make what I have the best iteration of itself it can be given it was a gift from my folks and a bit of a leap of faith given my horrifically bad eyesight.
hey there Andrew, thanks for the nice words. As for just a normal upright bike, assuming you're on a small budget, what about the kent ridgeland that I have some videos on, is that bike available where you are?
@@BruceChastain well my folks got me a huffy parkside as an early Christmas present, and it's... Ok? I don't want to say bad things about it since it is doing what I need atbthe moment. I'm just trying to figure out how to make it nicer without breaking the bank. So far what comes to mind are: Replace the shimano flat face with a 7/8 speed that can accommodate either Shimano megarange to have better low gearing or Go with an eight speed subrace, which would mean swapping the shifter out too. Beyond that? Already replaced the seat, and even though the replacement was inexpensive it already feels nicer than the foam spring seat there. Beyond possibly doig somethig silly given my vision is horrifically bad (and cateracts on top of excessive myopia) like replacing all the bearings with better quality ones when the bike gets a full service I dunno. Use case would mostly be fields, light trails, and road. Nothing insane. I like the upright riding posture. Just me tryig to make what I have the best it can be. I specified quill stem because that is what the parkside has. Full rigid frame, quill stem. Swept back bars. It is an odd duck. Kinda annoyed that they label the special edition when the only change is paint. No upgraded components. No perks? Just sage green instead of black. Not even a classy chromed headtube badge.
i recently did a Frankenstein road bike build featuring a MTB frame but i used one with disc brakes and compared to this is was wayyy easier haha! i choose trekking bars and rigid disc fork ^^ its prolly more a cyclocross/gravel than a pure road bike me thinks....
How its work on the road... I just make same thing now... Mtb aluminiu frame and rigid fork whit discs... I have almost all parts to build it... But some ppl say wil nit worg proparly because frame is frim mtb...
ZeBen84 No it's a mountain bike. And if you ride something like this and were sold a racing bike by the shop you purchased it in we'll get yr money back. Most racing bike today are not racing bikes there mountain bikes. There all produced on the one assembly line.
@Geraldine Geraldine.............because YOU are so much cleverer than everyone else and the ONLY one able to see through such an obvious attempt to 'defraud' everyone out there in internet land???SMH
greg taylor Buy it if it makes you happy, yr the one that will be sorry not me. I have a traditional racing bike from Italy. I didn't buy into the rubbish that the Americans were building in work shops in Taiwan and China.
Being a do it "yourselfer" myself, I was wondering, do you ever worry about bending your frame when you hack off headsets or hack off other things? Seems like you have to hit it pretty hard sometimes. Great video!
I liked this video a lot man, i love to do these things :D I would have painted the whole frame and fork first though, with primer and then some glossy metalic paint ;)
Okay, listen... I'm a metal fabricator, artist, home builder, and now trike/bike touring (around the country) devotee. I did NOT once cringe while watching your build. In fact, I was cheering for you the whole time. Well done, brother!
Thanks man! Around the country, tell me about that.
@@BruceChastain It's definitely an adventure; meeting great people; seeing the land, vegetation, and people change at 10 miles an hour; tenting under the stars/meteors; seeing every sunrise/sunset... In a word it is rewarding.
Friend, this build is inspired - I love that you re-purposed a frame that you love.
And that hack for lowering the rear caliper was genius - you get maximum kudos from me!
wow thanks a lot Ed!
Bruce, apart from the bolt maybe just maybe it would be super strong if you added steel epoxy on it and then fasten it with a bolt. Great work.
Cool. The only thing spoiling it is the crazy bar angle which seems to be necessitated by the old style bars which have too much reach. I was always taught working in bike shops that the top of the bar should run parallel to the ground, or as close as possible and the lever hoods in line with that.
You did it! Im from Brasil and here the road bikes cost as a car. Is very nice to know that is possible to change some parts and get a good road bike.
Road bike have right geometry for speed. Mtb bike have booletproof geometry for dirt. So , this is just mtb with some mods for road use but you can never going like on real road bike...
Lucas dos Anjos Compre um quadro velho de MTB de alumínio e colocar rodas aro 27 (tipo Caloi 10 mas dar para comprar aros aero deste tamanho). Vai ter que furar o quadro e garfo para colocar os freios e vc vai ter uma bicicleta para deixar TODO mundo comendo poeira!!!! Eu sei porque já fiz e com rodas grandes e pneus finos ate os caras de aro 29 vão passar vergonha. :) Eu uso em estrada de terra e em pista e te garante vai ficar bom gastando muito pouco.
Is it because cars are really cheap in Brasil, or are bikes really expensive?
@@SchytexGraphics road bikes are really expensive, especially in view of low wages and bankster austerity policies.
@@SchytexGraphics it's because everything in Brazil is expansive hahahaha. But the road bikes are not popular. Sometimes a road bike cost as much a car, and in general the people buy a car.
Lol when you had that silver riser stem on there I was thinking "I would have flipped that upside down." Didn't expect you to do it. That front fork brake caliper was pretty nifty.
thanks Devianb, yeah but that stem flipped was pretty extreme :)
I'm just about to convert an old mtb into a bmx and was on the lookout for other crazy people. So glad I found you haha.
you found the right place!
So inspiring ! making the forks fit with the shimmed out headset bearings, and the rear brake mod were just brilliant to see............Thanks for posting this video.......awesome ideas, awesome result
wow thanks for the nice words, glad you enjoyed it! feel free to subscribe for more.
Exactly. I turned a Schwinn Moab into a fixie and I have had this bike now for 20 years and it just refuses to fail. Balanced and quick and not too squirrely in the front end which now has a carbon fork by the way. Excellent choice!
cool. happen to have any pics of that Schwinn, would love to see it.
@@BruceChastain I had the rear end thinned from 135 to 120 mm and replaced the rear dropouts. And the rear triangle has got about six pieces of Columbus steel in it strengthen it. I also ground off all of the cable guides. It's been rebuilt a few times and currently has a different set of handlebars on it and a slightly longer stem.
yeah that's the way it goes sometimes with these old bikes, they get sort of re-worked every now and again, but that's sort of the fun of it. I'm thinking about turning this one into a gravel bike later this year. I'll surly make a video on it.
@@BruceChastain you should. My original fork was steel. I swapped out the shock on the first day and i ran 700's on it many times. Plenty of clearance. What is cool is how tight the frame is and how balanced it is. And of course they are weldable... Your bike looks great by the way. A classic original.
as a fabricator I applaud your use of resources and creativity in solving problems. As a bike builder this made me cringe. Final product is pretty cool. Well done.
thanks! I totally understand where you're coming from.
why cringe?
@@7Frosty7maybe, the installation of the bearing on headset. He didn't use proper/correct one.
And, his tools too.
Thanks Bruce. This video inspired me to breath new life and purpose into my 2003 Marin Hawkhill Mtb (now customised road version)
really cool, would love to see a photo. you can post it on IG with tag @Bruce_Chastain
I did the same with my old miyata mtb. Converted into a gravel bike. Great video. Well done!
thank you Laszlo!
I did something similar to my old 26" Minelli. 27" front 700c rear fixed gear. Lots of fun. Fixed gear resolves brake alignment issue
Yeah I was thinking about going fixed when I ran into that break issue lol. but I already have a fixed gear bike and didn't really need another.
@@BruceChastain my issue was i had a fixed but I never really liked it. I discovered later that the problem was that because I had a brake I never learned how to really ride a fixed. My 26 conversion forced me to ride it right and now I am in love.
he interesting story. happen to have any pics of the bike?
@@BruceChastain I'll dig and see what Ive got
Respect for you listening to company flow, I heard big juss in there. 5:32. I'm doing the same to a 08 Kona dew deluxe up to a 11 speed. Nice work.
dang sharp ears! I could barely even hear it! thanks man
@@BruceChastain I'm a underground rap nerd
I did a similar thing with a 1987 Rockhopper... its turning into a gravel bike with Jones bars. Its so great to keep a machine you have memories with going for a long time in a new incarnation. thanks for making the video.
cool a real classic! I was thinking this might make a good gravel bike too, lots of clearance for larger tires.
Turned out really cool, food for thought and inspiring great work all the best Andy
Thanks Andy!
I loved this video. What a amazing project! Thank you, it's an inspiration for me.
thank you so much M Ahmed!
I gotta say good job on making the spacers to downsize head tube. I make some of my own parts too, and see in you a kindred spirit, one who spends a lot of time cutting, filing and sanding.
you can do a lot with a metal file.
Hey Bruce, I see you are not afraid to do your own thing, I love it. We love it.
Wanted to share one of my little custom touches with you. I'll start by saying I believe electrical tape has no place on a bike. I don't like finishing tape on bar wrap or zip ties holding cables. That said, I start my wrap at the top of the bars. I get some guff from purists, but who cares. I also dislike cable under the bar wrap, so most bikes I build up now I internally route brake cables through the bars. I've done it on vintage bars and modern. Haven't had any problems. On my touring style road bike, I made my own quill stem adaptor so as to facilitate modern stem and bars on an old steel frame. This old touring frame had cantilever brakes, so I decided to go one step further and route the front brake cable not only through the bars, but also the stem. Drilled hole in bottom of stem and installed a barrel adjuster to terminate housing. Bare cable then exits stem directly in line with cantilever. My rear brake cable runs through bars to front center, exiting a hole in bar and through a hole in bar clamp. It's pretty clean. I'll find a way to send you photos. See ya.
I've also started reverse bar tape to avoid tap, I'm converted :)
DUDE! Forget AZ the bike guy, cuz you got it going on! I really really really enjoyed that build conversion! Was in suspense the whole time. Loved the hammered ovalized tubing for the brake mount front extension and the angle grinder touch on the brake cable, super extra points for that one! And the stem looks cherreh! 💯👍 ENJOYED!
wow thanks man, glad you liked it. Seems to be getting positive response in general, maybe I'll do some more like this in future.
You could have avoid some work and destroing that seatpost with some long range calipper allthough its an impresively cheap and functional solution
The headset work is cool but hammering the cups in
is bad idea. You can easely make yourself a press with a threatered rod some whasers and nuts and a piece of wood or nylon. All in all, well done.
hey there jl, what do you mean by "some long range calipper".
About the cups, yes I was praying with each hit...
@@BruceChastain Look up the Tektro R559 caliper brakes. They are longer than standard road brakes to fit bigger tires and fenders. Those might be long enough to not use an adaptor. How has your adaptor set up worked so far?
for me hammering a headset is not a big problem, since the most important thing for me is bb and both hub, I'll be careful with those things
@drumist101 So far so good. I ride it most days to work and recently I had it in Mallorica spain. No problems, I haven't even had to tighten anything.
Nice video with practical solutions to issues that arise when doing modifications. Good skills
thanks Mikmerl
I wasn't hopeful that it would look good...Damn! Nice ride.
Thanks 👍
The bike as my avator/emoji!
This was a 2001 Mongoose Pro Massif 3x9 MTB Ti that I rode and rode and rode, had GR8 FUN!
I ❤ed this bike, super quick/super fast!
Problem: I wore out the 26er V-Brake Mavic Crossmax rims, I wore out the XTR M952 Crankset and Octalink V1 bb, I wore out the rear XTR cass. and they don't make these vintage parts anymore, EVERYTHING NOW is 27.5/29er Disc brakes!
I have beat road bikes on my 26er Ti!
My Ti frame does not support disc brakes, I have tried adaptors but they REALLY DON'T WORK!
I have been plotting to upgrade it to a Cross Hybrid with a flat bar, mtb crank and rear cass., but with a carbon fiber 700c fork, road bike wheelset, canilever brakes, etc!
The Ti frame is very lite and practical!
I loved this video, gives me an idea of additional tools I might need!
Thanks! 👍👍👍!
have any pics of that project? I'd love to see it?
@@BruceChastain Work in progress, thank you!
Will do, when I'm threw!
Bike stand costs more than everything in that room put together!
it wasn't really cheap
www.mec.ca/en/product/5048-284/PCS-10-Home-Mechanic-Repair-Stand
I like modification just like this one. I have tride converting a standard road fork a threaded to threadless by using a set post from a child's bike which is exactly the same diameter 25.4 mm. I also change the headset to threadless type. Now it's super duper 👌 😍 nice like a natural one.
How didto you covert your Threaded fork to Threadless fork?
@@c3dc3d89 I guess he welded the seat post tube on the threaded fork to make it threadless fork.
You turned an old mtb that was a waste of space into a sweet road bike. Nice! Good work!
thanks!
Cristi Jelly it's not a road bike it's a mountain bike. If you but wings on a 🐖 pig does that make it able to fly?
@@taichihead42 if you say...
@@taichihead42 if you're able to put wings on a pig I'd say teaching it how to fly is not too far from your abilities
Dude. I love this stuff. Do-it-yourself home engineering. Awesome .
Hey thanks so much Shane. You obviously get where I'm coming from on this build.
Great job man, really great idea, I love how original you are, I thought I read the title wrong at first
hey thanks a lot Daniel! What did you think it said?
Nice work, I'm glad you got rid of that angled stem, that hurt my eyes!. I did a similar thing to my mountain bike, only i turned mine into a TT bike. ;-)
cool. I think this could even be a decent TT bike, it's not that light anyway.
I have no idea why you received 223 dislikes. At the end of the day, you thought out side the box to solve your problem to make a bike thats suits you, instead of having two bikes not working for you at all. You salvaged a bike that makes sense for you. The cost saving must have been really good too! Bike shops nil, you 1
Haha thanks Power!
This is kind of fun just to show how much modifying is possible, and sometimes a little even makes sense, but 68 degree headtube angle and super long chain stays? That's going to handle like a cruise boat. You can usually find used frames of at least the right shape for free in the trash if not a few dollars at a garage sale.
yes I'm replying to a 6 month old comment - the head tube angle looks like it came out pretty darn close to that of a standard road bike since the front end was lowered by changing out the suspension fork. Great job! I've hacked up every bike I've ever had and I love seeing other people's unique/customized bikes.
i hope my bike will look like this, i'm already starting my 26er MTB Converting to 27 Roadbike, and this Video gives me Hope. 😁
best of luck man, would love to see the result!
@@BruceChastain i'll show it to you, when it's halfway done
Woah. Nice workaround with the front break mount
Thanks Yaroslavl!
Brilliant stuff! Basically it's a Frankenstein bike!
Thanks Dave!
Looks very pretty! The problem is the geometry of a MTB frame with road forks = scraping pedals when cornering and a twitchy too steep head tube angle. You probably could have found an actual road frame on eBay that would handle better and cost under $100, but to each his own...
yep don't disagree about the road frame, and might have been easier than adapting this one. As for the geometry, I don't know if it's "right" or not, but I've been doing a good bit of riding and it seems to work alright. But actually I'd like to do some detailed measurements and see how far off it is from a real road bike.
I can not believe what I just saw.
don't know if you mean that in a good way or bad way. either way thanks for watching!
@@BruceChastain Jess just going to say that
Great video! Very good restoration/mechanic work!
Thanks!
I don't even know how I got here, but i'm glad I did... Damn, that's a great hack'd bike! Cheers, mate!
thanks Miguel!
One of the videos i enjoyed the most on RUclips, great project! Congrats!
wow thanks Tiago
Man this build is so lit also currently working on a build like this thank you so much for the inspiration much love from Philippines
thanks so much GC!
Nice work. I also have a 1992 Giant ATX 770 that I've been thinking about converting to a road bike. I'll probably stick with the original fork and headset and just change the stem and pick a nice drop handlebar.
thanks a lot Turgut.
This is the proof that we don't need to follow the current marketing dogmas. I did the same recently. Being longer between axes and having a lower bottom bracket, the bike is very stable on descents.
I bought a 2000 Jamis rigid mountain bike to do something similar but ended up liking it and kept it for trail riding.
I'm sort of having that with my 1995 GT I recently bought, it's such a cool MTB I don't think I should mess with it.
@@BruceChastain Aren't these terrible problems to have? LOL!
i did something like this as well, went from mountainbike to gravelbike.
Pain in the ass to do, but cheap as fuck and could never ever afford a cannondale gravelbike, so i did it myself. And i was hell of a fun.
Cool. I’d like to give it a try with some other frames types later.
I loved your job man, congratulations!
thank you!
Love it! One of the best youtube videos.
Haha thank you Amira!
I'm been thinking about doing this very same thing to me old GT MTB. I think I am going to now. Holy chrome that thing looks good.
Thanks a lot! And good luck, let me know how it goes.
Hi! Probably the same solution for my old GT Zaskar. Good luck!
Inspiring! Neat solution for the rear brake.
thanks James!
Nice work man! Smart ideas for the fitting new parts ;)
Thanks a lot Marko!
That is some seriously cool bit of work, it ended up being a gorgeous bicycle
Thanks a lot man
A great conversion you have some great videos, will spend a lot of my spare time catching up, loved your cycle chap with Richard Lake.
thank you Michael!
@@BruceChastain I have seen a couple of articles that it is possible to convert a normal bike rim into tubeless with the use duck tape
I forgot how heavy those old Rockshox were at 187, the old Headshoks were 1300+ so a little over a pound lighter! Which is quite a bit of weight in CX, even back in the era of 50-80mm travel, when bikes routinely weighed 23+ pounds. I’m glad they are not that popular (they make excellent front suspension on city-whips, where you encounter pot holes, trolley-light rail-train tracks, small curbs, jutting road cuts or In the early 1990’s Cannondale had been working on demand for a beefier urban commuter, and answered that call with 700 cc wheeled MTB-looking frames. They must have sold fairly well; they kept on developing with front suspension forks they gave the customer 15 to 20mm of travel. “Gravel” biking started to gain popularity as well, and some of those frames had front suspension. Then in 2000 along came the Big Bad. The Bad Boy: 26” mtb frame, straight mtb bars, 700cc wheels w/disc brakes, hardtail in the back 70mm travel Fatty Ultra up front. The paint job was very different all black, what they call “all-stealthed-out” 23 years later.
You can use 27" roadbike wheelset instead of add an extention for the brake.
Really? Might have been easier
but his alternative solution is cheaper and functional...
8:52 so clean, keep up the good work 👍🏻
haha thanks Rifky!
I'm impressed keep up the good work. thanks for the vids
thank you Jeebus!
Nice work using parts you had on hand. Shimming the headset and stem may not be real good long term solutions, but hope it works out for you
Submit this to GCN! You have a winner!!!
great idea! I'll try
they already did something similar but with better components
DO IT DO IT DO IT
Agree, just relive or renew the paint works
Thats the real DIY spirit! Awesome!
thanks a lot BB
Wow, I can’t believe what I saw. Very resourceful!
Thank you! Cheers!
Very cool brake and headset work.
thanks John!
That is soooo cool! Makes me want to convert my old Specialized Rockhopper... Nice job.
thanks a lot for the nice comment. Why not, go for it. If you get started I'd love to see how it goes. Also I love rockhoppers, so that could be a really cool result. The key is to just keep an eye out for cheap/free road bikes for parts.
Yeah, that's what I need- parts!. It's got a nice army greenish paintjob and would so slick with black components. I've done it up as a MTB with a few new parts but think the frame could work well as a road bike.
you"re doing what i been wanting to do with my 2005 specialized hard rock mountain bike so far i completed installing modern road bike handle bars break handles and breaks new rear derailleur my bike shop said the couldn't put those type of forks on my bike so im stuck and frustrated with having shocks that's all i have to do now is put rigid forks on it i'm hoping i don't have to do what you did in this video just find some forks that fit the riser and down tube that's it
you can buy spacers for the head tube. I should have done that, but I just want to get something done like right away.
Nice 👍. The headset would be my only concern down the road. Looks like a fun bike!
mine too, just the other day I was descending down a mountain, thinking what if I've weakened the fork somehow and it suddenly cracks. But it didn't.
@@BruceChastain I think the fork is OK and safe, I just think you might get some creaking from the cups. Cool bike : )
thanks man. I'll post back here again if I run into any issues like that. Over all I'm hoping to keep improving on this bike, stay tuned.
I have same 3ttt bar like in your video, good job!
thanks man
I loved this video, I have specialized Rockhopper 1994 and i want tranform un a gravel bike and you video Is perfect, and brillant! Thanks for idea
Wow thanks! Would love to see how it turns out.
Great Idea and it works. Beautiful vintage RB. God Bless You
thanks a lot Laurentius!
That rear brake caliper mount solution was brilliant. Get it done with what you got engineering. You got a new Subcriber.👍🏽
Thanks a lot Hammer!
This sounds like the most awesome channel on youtube. I had to describe on the name alone
Thanks GF!
As you said in the intro, "I've been a lot of places with this bike". And with this conversion you've just done, you could possibly even make a touring bike from it! I'm just saying...but I think that would've been a great idea if you want to travel in the future.
hey there thanks for watching. I'm actually here on the island of Majorca Spain with the bike, check out my latest video, I talk a bit about the planning, and I hope soon to post another on the results.
Nice! Sorry if I missed out, just found about your channel recently. Because of the conversion, of course! I also plan on doing some trips to where I haven't been before, but not outside of my country. I still have too much to see in my country until I discover others! Your improvised ideas really impressed me, by the way!
Cheers!
@@simpilothr6653 thanks a lot man!
Nice engineering skills....the bike turned out great
Thanks 👍
I turned my old FS 26er into my road bike. I just put on slick tires and a 42t chainring. Sure I'm averaging 12mph instead of 17 like roadies do but that's fast enough for me. I like the comfort of FS even when I'm mostly on asphalt and it gives me the option to hit a trail here and there if I want.
nice
What? Im averaging 14mph without any mods on mtb bike while traveling between work and home. Only have semi slick tires, schwalbe hurricane sport 26"x1.9 and some cheap bontrager 26"x2.0 tire on the front. Got even cheap front suspension. You running what tire pressure? I got almost all maxed out on pressure, rear 4.7bar and front 4.1 bar. Hence why i wonder how your average is only 12 mph when you can easily do 14 or even 15 if push a little and good weather conditions. My bike is by no means light too! It weight freaking 33lbs by itself and i got added few pouches with tools etc. I wonder what speeds and averages i would reach if i had real road or at least cyclocross bike...
@@fulldnbboy I average 16 on my fuel ex 8. It's a light 3 mile ride from my house and it's mostly flat but still 16 mph for that ain't half bad. Just gotta push it
@ 16 probs easy for me too if only 3.5 miles. But im doing between home and work around 13 miles. Aint pushing 16 mph on such lenght on mtb without at least getting slimmer and lighter tyres. Already running slick tyres but they are quite thick cause got some alternative roads too which goes through forest and not pure asphalt road. 16mph aint too shabby anyway on mtb.
Really nice job. Great work!
Thanks a lot!
Love your videos man!
I appreciate that!
Very nice work! I want to do something similar so I wanted to ask you, was it a 26" wheel frame? and did you use 700c wheels? If you did that, what size of tires you use? A lot of questions tho but Im really interested on what you did here hehe
Yes Pancho is was a frame meant for 26" and yes I did use 700c wheels. The tires were 23c, but there is plenty of room for larger. If you do build such a bike please do let me know how it goes.
Did something similar with a steel frame mtb I had, long drop calipers solved the brake reach issue. It was great until I crashed and broke the frame
dang too bad about that.
Nice to see more video from you man. Thanks for continuing to post.
Did a price check on 'if I price checked replacing everything that connects to the frame minus wheels and front fork" it turned out to be (to me) a lot of money ($300, and that is knowing I probably lacked a lot of things like bearigs and tools and such.)
Any suggestions on a comfort cruiser style bike with a quill stem? I like the upright posture and i don't really do anything other than easy riding. I just want to make what I have the best iteration of itself it can be given it was a gift from my folks and a bit of a leap of faith given my horrifically bad eyesight.
hey there Andrew, thanks for the nice words. As for just a normal upright bike, assuming you're on a small budget, what about the kent ridgeland that I have some videos on, is that bike available where you are?
@@BruceChastain well my folks got me a huffy parkside as an early Christmas present, and it's... Ok? I don't want to say bad things about it since it is doing what I need atbthe moment. I'm just trying to figure out how to make it nicer without breaking the bank.
So far what comes to mind are:
Replace the shimano flat face with a 7/8 speed that can accommodate either
Shimano megarange to have better low gearing or
Go with an eight speed subrace, which would mean swapping the shifter out too.
Beyond that?
Already replaced the seat, and even though the replacement was inexpensive it already feels nicer than the foam spring seat there.
Beyond possibly doig somethig silly given my vision is horrifically bad (and cateracts on top of excessive myopia) like replacing all the bearings with better quality ones when the bike gets a full service
I dunno. Use case would mostly be fields, light trails, and road. Nothing insane. I like the upright riding posture. Just me tryig to make what I have the best it can be.
I specified quill stem because that is what the parkside has. Full rigid frame, quill stem. Swept back bars. It is an odd duck. Kinda annoyed that they label the special edition when the only change is paint. No upgraded components. No perks? Just sage green instead of black. Not even a classy chromed headtube badge.
It seemed to be boring, but I can't stop watching it! Nice Build!
Thanks Stephen
It looks sleek and fast flexible great build
thanks Mr T
i recently did a Frankenstein road bike build featuring a MTB frame but i used one with disc brakes and compared to this is was wayyy easier haha! i choose trekking bars and rigid disc fork ^^ its prolly more a cyclocross/gravel than a pure road bike me thinks....
sounds nice. I can image starting with disk breaks really makes it easier.
How its work on the road... I just make same thing now... Mtb aluminiu frame and rigid fork whit discs... I have almost all parts to build it... But some ppl say wil nit worg proparly because frame is frim mtb...
Great video! Enjoyed the film and music.
thanks Jakub for the nice words!
Really cool transformation!
Thanks
Well done! Great fabricating!
Thanks a lot Karl!
Well, nice work indeed! I just change my tires of my Btwin Rockrider 500s to a 1.50
I like the rockrider 500. Be interesting to see it with road tires.
@@BruceChastain I'll make a video soon, also I'll change my front fork because the original is to heavy
Very very good!!! Is fantastic!!
thanks Stefano!
Is this the new 2020 Giant TCR ;) ?
ZeBen84 No it's a mountain bike. And if you ride something like this and were sold a racing bike by the shop you purchased it in we'll get yr money back. Most racing bike today are not racing bikes there mountain bikes. There all produced on the one assembly line.
@@taichihead42 I guess you didn't get a pun.
Milan Babic Just trying to warn people not to buy this rubbish.
@Geraldine Geraldine.............because YOU are so much cleverer than everyone else and the ONLY one able to see through such an obvious attempt to 'defraud' everyone out there in internet land???SMH
greg taylor Buy it if it makes you happy, yr the one that will be sorry not me. I have a traditional racing bike from Italy. I didn't buy into the rubbish that the Americans were building in work shops in Taiwan and China.
Being a do it "yourselfer" myself, I was wondering, do you ever worry about bending your frame when you hack off headsets or hack off other things? Seems like you have to hit it pretty hard sometimes. Great video!
In general I worry about everything when Hacking up my bikes, but I just try to be reasonably smart about it.
And thanks for watching / commenting!
Fair play mate, I normally pass on these conversions cause there bodge .. this however was very well done. Should be proud of that effort .. cheers
thanks BK
U r a true believer... Great work...
Thanks a lot Debashish!
Impressive machine work and calculations. Creative and a very good job. @ first...what is he hammering? Great fit too.
thanks a lot!
Nice build looks way better as a road bike
Thanks Christian. And I agree
You need to get a Problem Solvers Cross Clamp which allows you to use a bottom-pull road derailleur on the top-pull frame.
yes thank you're right. As it is now it doesn't shift great on the front.
@@BruceChastain You can also pass this off as a 90s Giant TCR.
@@BruceChastain Is the bb shell 68 or 73mm? If 73, you can have 2.5mm shaved or faced down on each side to bring it down to 68mm.
my only question is why not just keep the front suspension and just change the wheels and put a set of drop handle bars on ?
GIANT for life!!
It's a Taiwan brand isn't it?
Yes taiwan brand!
This is an awesome vid
thanks man!
Awesome and impressive video! I think it'll be nicer to respray or polish (or change) the black stem to silver, just my opinion.
thank you! Actually I've swapped it to a polished aluminum one now, that along with some other details will be in an upcoming video.
I liked this video a lot man, i love to do these things :D I would have painted the whole frame and fork first though, with primer and then some glossy metalic paint ;)
Thanks ADCF! I’m actually thinking about doing a 3.0 version with that same frame, this time I’d give it a good paint job.
Nice work dude! Well done!!!
thanks man!
Wow! This made my day!!
Thanks! Glad you liked it!
lots of work, came out nice. congrats
thanks a lot JR