I've been slowly turning my KHS chromoly mountain bike into a commuter bike with the Specialized Armadillo tires and some bulletproof tubes. The bike was given to me by a friend moving out of town. I've noticed on my commutes to work that I love this tire/tube combo, that the RST shock is sticky and near worthless, and the drive train may not be too long for this world. So......I've been thinking of turning the bike into a ghetto cross machine and upgrading all the components slowly out of hand-me down parts from my mountain bike as I upgrade it.

I was thinking of using WTB's Mountain Road drop bar with some bar end shifters:
http://www.wtb.com/components_txcdrop.html
Cane Creek SCR-5 Brake Levers
and maybe a Surly Long Haul Trucker 26 Inch Fork
http://www.surlybikes.com/forks/images/LHT.jpg


Any thoughts or suggestions? I'll even welcome, "DON"T DO IT".

I suppose it'll work. You will probably have to get a shorter stem but given the current stem, you have a big of wiggle room.

Not sure you should use the LHT 26" fork. Surly makes a 26" suspension adjusted fork that will be better for your geometry. The LHT fork will drop your front end height a couple inches. Troll Ebay for steel suspension adjusted forks and you just might find one for cheap.

Remember this will be a bike chock full of compromises for racing cyclocross. Still, it would be fine for getting your feet wet to see what it's all about and also make for a fine commuter.

About the bar ... seems like a lot of scratch to put into "this" bike. Just troll around for some cheap short reach/drop bars. The WTB's look nice but I think your guiding principle should be on the cheap.

About the bar ... seems like a lot of scratch to put into "this" bike. Just troll around for some cheap short reach/drop bars. The WTB's look nice but I think your guiding principle should be on the cheap.

Thanks for the advice Gripped, I didn't think about the fork not being suspension adjusted...I was just liking the idea of the front rack braze-ons.

I agree with you on doing this bike "on the cheap". I think I could get the TWB pretty cheap though, along with the brake levers.

I've been reading up on friction bar ends a little and saw some real cheap ones on Ebay.

I'm planning on buying a real cross bike this season as well, so this will just be a commuter/ pit bike.

I suppose it'll work. You will probably have to get a shorter stem but given the current stem, you have a big of wiggle room.

Not sure you should use the LHT 26" fork. Surly makes a 26" suspension adjusted fork that will be better for your geometry. The LHT fork will drop your front end height a couple inches. Troll Ebay for steel suspension adjusted forks and you just might find one for cheap.

Remember this will be a bike chock full of compromises for racing cyclocross. Still, it would be fine for getting your feet wet to see what it's all about and also make for a fine commuter.

About the bar ... seems like a lot of scratch to put into "this" bike. Just troll around for some cheap short reach/drop bars. The WTB's look nice but I think your guiding principle should be on the cheap.
Chucksbikes has 42cm Malones for $12.50...

HTH,

M

Not to be a doubter...

...if you add up the "upgrades", changes, etc, you might seriously consider buying a lower end Cx complete. Everything fits, is compatible, is rideable, and in the end saves you money and gets you riding something that is more than ghetto.

Not to be a doubter...

...if you add up the "upgrades", changes, etc, you might seriously consider buying a lower end Cx complete. Everything fits, is compatible, is rideable, and in the end saves you money and gets you riding something that is more than ghetto.

While I do share the financial concern, I'm talking about spending less that $200, maybe closer to $100.

Now, I think a local pawn shop happens to have an old (70's or early 80's) Bianchi Volope (sp?) that fits like a glove for very cheap. 7 speed Suntour components, original Bianchi tires, and the weirdest shifters I've ever seen...............I did think about trading in the KHS and an old pistol I have on it....................................

Oops, just called that pawn shop and the little Bianchi is gone. I snoozed, lol.

Don't do it. I ended up spending about 300 bucks converting a mtn bike to a cross bike last year. While it was fun, it wasn't worth it.

If you go with SCR-5 levers your gonna need travel adjusters, You're also going to need a new stem that fits drop bars.

Bar end shifters weren't for me. Too hard to get to when you need it.

here's an article.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech/2002/features/frankenbike.shtml

Don't do it. I ended up spending about 300 bucks converting a mtn bike to a cross bike last year. While it was fun, it wasn't worth it.

If you go with SCR-5 levers your gonna need travel adjusters, You're also going to need a new stem that fits drop bars.

Bar end shifters weren't for me. Too hard to get to when you need it.

here's an article.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech/2002/features/frankenbike.shtml

Hmmmm Preparation H comes along to save me from a pain in the ass, who would have thunk it? :D

My mom just picked up a single speed bianchi for $500 NEW. I forget the model. it's perfect for commuting and as a spare/pit bike. has rack/fender eyelets. steel and looks amazing. for $500 it has some sweet parts on it. sell the KHS for $200 and you're about half way there...

My mom just picked up a single speed bianchi for $500 NEW. I forget the model. it's perfect for commuting and as a spare/pit bike. has rack/fender eyelets. steel and looks amazing. for $500 it has some sweet parts on it. sell the KHS for $200 and you're about half way there...

Its called the San Jose and it looks like a pretty nice bike. There are things more in my financial reach as far as cross bikes. Unfortunately Bianchis aren't one of them.

Well, it looks as if I may just continue this bikes evolution as a commuter but not as a cross bike. I still have my eye on the K2 Enemy as my CX to be bike.

there are a lot of 29er rigid forks, get one of those. This Salsa one is only $95.

http://www.speedgoat.com/images/products/119030-t.jpg
http://www.speedgoat.com/product.asp?part=119030&cat=160&brand=216

I say go for it, i did something similiar with a road bike and turned it into a crosser. projects are fun.

j

there are a lot of 29er rigid forks, get one of those. This Salsa one is only $95.

http://www.speedgoat.com/images/products/119030-t.jpg
http://www.speedgoat.com/product.asp?part=119030&cat=160&brand=216

I say go for it, i did something similiar with a road bike and turned it into a crosser. projects are fun.

j

Wouldn't a 29'er fork totally jack up my geometry? Even worse a 26"er with a 29'er for and drop bars? How ugly might that be?

a 29er is the same size as 700c, just more room for wide tires and suspension corrected.

I was assuming you had enough room in the rear to squeeze a 700x32 tire in the rear triangle.

if not, then yeah you'll need a 26" rigid fork thats sus corrected, and then run some narrow 26" knobbys.

http://www.speedgoat.com/images/products/FK0005-t.jpg

http://www.speedgoat.com/product.asp?part=45800&cat=160&brand=245

My mom just picked up a single speed bianchi for $500 NEW. I forget the model. it's perfect for commuting and as a spare/pit bike. has rack/fender eyelets. steel and looks amazing. for $500 it has some sweet parts on it. sell the KHS for $200 and you're about half way there...

http://www.bianchiusa.com/06_san_jose.html

Wow - I'm glad you pointed the San Jose out. I'd been thinking about getting a combo CX frame & fork from Nashbar for $300, but this looks like a much sweeter deal.

There's a review over on MTBR with a lot of good info about it:

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=180020

I checked some things out while I was at work today and the ghetto cross seems even more afforable than I thought. The drivetrain may take a little work but thats the case whether it gets the cross treatment or not.

How likely is it to get a 700c wheel and rigid fork combination to match the height of a 26" and suspension fork? No geometry problem then is there. Hmmmm.

Ron

How likely is it to get a 700c wheel and rigid fork combination to match the height of a 26" and suspension fork? No geometry problem then is there. Hmmmm.

Ron

Do you know of such a fork Ron? I realized that the whole thing can be adjusted ala the 96'ers........Matter of fact I think that would make this franken-cross even more interesting if I were able to find a fork available to do such a task for me....a 96'er Ghetto-Cross that would be awesome.

How likely is it to get a 700c wheel and rigid fork combination to match the height of a 26" and suspension fork? No geometry problem then is there. Hmmmm.

Ron

Wait a minute...you made me think of something to check out....the reason that I was discouraged from using the Surly Long Haul Trucker fork in the 26" was that it would be short, right? Why not use the 700C model that is 20mm longer but has the identical 1 1/8 threadless?

Granted this is getting into completely foreign territory for me but it sounds like something I should explore.


Edited to add: Talked to Surly and my head shop tech.....Surly said it was do-able but uncharted waters. My head bike tech and I crunched some numbers and found that the 700c Surly LH fork with a 700c wheel on the bike would come out very close if not identical to the current suspension/26" wheel height....so Ghetto Cross 96'er may be in the works.....Just have to come up with some cash for mods.

Any suggestions on shifters?

have you looked here for other forks:

http://www.interlocracing.com/forks.html#steelforks

I used to roll my Manitou HT as a singlespeed crosser. Popped on a CX fork with 700c wheels front and back and kept my angles about the same.
A 700c CX fork + 700c wheel and 32mm tire = approx. the same as a 3" suspension fork with 26 x 2.1 tire.

As to the guys post a while back, a 29er fork WILL most likely jack up your geometry. They're at least 10 -15 mm higher than a cx fork.

I jumped to this reply without really looking at all of the previous posts. Excuse my redundancy if there is any.
-Sean

Edited to add: Talked to Surly and my head shop tech.....Surly said it was do-able but uncharted waters. My head bike tech and I crunched some numbers and found that the 700c Surly LH fork with a 700c wheel on the bike would come out very close if not identical to the current suspension/26" wheel height....so Ghetto Cross 96'er may be in the works.....Just have to come up with some cash for mods.

Any suggestions on shifters?

This could get interesting. I've been thinking to do a single speed 96'er mtb like this, which is where the idea came from. You can fit a full size mtb tire in many cross forks.

Anyway, on to shifters .... How many speeds ya got? If it's an 8 speed and your rear der is a decent shimano, go to probikekit.com and score some campy mirage 9s shifters and hook 'em up hubbub style. That got me through last season. I think chucksbikes.com has some bar ends for cheap. Shimano Sora can be had pretty cheap on ebay, but I don't trust most stuff that can't be repaired from there.

Ron

I used to roll my Manitou HT as a singlespeed crosser. Popped on a CX fork with 700c wheels front and back and kept my angles about the same.
A 700c CX fork + 700c wheel and 32mm tire = approx. the same as a 3" suspension fork with 26 x 2.1 tire.

As to the guys post a while back, a 29er fork WILL most likely jack up your geometry. They're at least 10 -15 mm higher than a cx fork.

I jumped to this reply without really looking at all of the previous posts. Excuse my redundancy if there is any.
-Sean

No sweat man, thanks for the reply.
As you probably read I finally figured out what you had posted about the 700c wheel.
Now I just have to figure out how to continue without dropping major coin.
Your thoughts? Mainly shifters.

Your options are (in order of $$):

Singlespeed
Kelly Take offs
Bar ends
Paul Thumbies
STI

Dont forget to show us the steed when your done!

Instead of running drop bars, Try a Moustache Bar. Nashbar is blowing them out for 19.95.

Instead of running drop bars, Try a Moustache Bar. Nashbar is blowing them out for 19.95.


Well my original idea and one I actually may still stick with would be to use these bars with some PD century aerobars. That would solve the shifter problem too....grip shift.


http://www.deltacycle.com/images/items/ergo1.jpg
http://www.profile-design.com/2006_product_pages/images/century_06.jpg

TT-CX? :D