# Convert mtb to street/hybrid or buy new, looking for advise



## bikerlowell (Jul 8, 2004)

Out of the biking loop for couple years, now if getting back to it, but with a change in style. No longer have time and energy for MTB as in college days. Now married with a kid, I found myself riding more (or be riding more) on the street/park/bikepath and won't be able go on the trails often. So with this change, I can convert my current hardtail for street riding or get a new bike for that purpose. Any advice or recommendation will be greatly appreciated.

My current hardtail is a very nice custom built Cannondale CADD4 F series and relatively light ( around 22lbs). It suited me well for XC type riding, but it's slow on the street and I didn't like it on street. I was thinking to get a new set of 700c wheel and run low profile road tires and disk brake (currently using V-brake) on this mtb frame. (like the Badboy, if you speak Cannondale language.). 

So with a good new wheelset, disk brake, tire and tubes will dent my bank account for $500-700. Alternatively, I can just go out and get a new hybrid/street type bike for the same $$$. It will be heavier and will not have a good quality components as my current Cannondale. But it designed for that type of riding. So far, I like (by looking) the Trek 7.5 FX Disc and Giant Cypress LX. They are in the $500-700 price range. 

I don't know what would be a better approach? Anyone in the same situation before? I'd greatly appreciate any input.

Thanks.


----------



## rockhound (Dec 19, 2005)

I have a mtb setup with 700c disc wheels. It was geared too low, so got a 48-36-26 crank for it. That being said, I already had it set up for disc brakes.

It sounds to me like you should consider getting a street/urban/hybrid bike. Have you looked at a Jamis Coda? I like the Trek 7.5 FX, but I like steel even better.


----------



## bikerlowell (Jul 8, 2004)

rockhound said:


> I have a mtb setup with 700c disc wheels. It was geared too low, so got a 48-36-26 crank for it. That being said, I already had it set up for disc brakes.
> 
> It sounds to me like you should consider getting a street/urban/hybrid bike. Have you looked at a Jamis Coda? I like the Trek 7.5 FX, but I like steel even better.


Thanks rockhound. What 700c disc wheels did you get? Do you like them and would you recommend those?

Yes, for the drivetrain, I was thinking to go down to 1x9 in future. Now, I just want to deal with those wheels first if I do the conversion.

Thanks for refering the Jamis Coda. They looks good on Jamis site.


----------



## Call_me_Clyde (Oct 27, 2004)

*Another option*

First off, keep the Cannondale if it's going to cost as much to upgrade as it would a new bike. Ya never know if you'll make it out to the trails again. As for a street/path bike type option try this:

http://www.ibexbikes.com/Bikes/B-27-RSR-Details.html

It might be too mtb oriented for your tastes, but I own a customized version of the older B-24 and love it.

Bob


----------



## bikerlowell (Jul 8, 2004)

Call_me_Clyde said:


> First off, keep the Cannondale if it's going to cost as much to upgrade as it would a new bike. Ya never know if you'll make it out to the trails again. As for a street/path bike type option try this:
> 
> http://www.ibexbikes.com/Bikes/B-27-RSR-Details.html
> 
> ...


I still keep the C'dale even if I purchase street bike. I looked at the Ibex B-27. Yes, it's too mtb for me.


----------



## tha1000 (Aug 16, 2006)

My suggestion would be to buy a bike designed for the type of riding you want to do. No sense in ruining a perfectly good XC rig... plus the opportunity to XC will present itself as soon as you change your bike (or atleast it would in my world)


----------



## rockhound (Dec 19, 2005)

Here's my homemade "Bad Boy". It's a disc specific Marin frame with a rigid fork. Wheels are Deore hubs and Alex touring rims. If I were going to build another, I'd get some of the Salsa 29er rims. It does okay on the road. The geometry is a little steeper with that 410mm front fork...









Another option for you could be to get a 29er (like a Gary Fisher Cobia) and just run street tires on it...it would probably have better resale value.

http://www.fisherbikes.com/bikes/bike_detail.asp?series=trail-29er&bike=Cobia


----------



## acroy (Jun 20, 2006)

if you haven't yet, throw a set of 1" or 1.25" slicks on the Cdale first, using your existing 26" wheels. cost you $30. this is what i commute on - a light nice hardtail with slicks. The 26" wheels accelerate real quick, don't some rodies use 650c wheels (26") for acceleration? I'm not sure what the benefit of going to bigger wheels is.


----------



## trailville (Jul 24, 2006)

I agree with acroy, just get a set of 26" slicks or semislick tires ($30 to $40 for a set). I have a set of semislicks on my old mtn bike that I use for casual riding and it rides fast and smooth on pavement and ashpalt. I like it better than my road bike for casual riding because the semislicks give me much of the low rolling resistance I would get with a road bike, but give me a more comfortable ride (on the road I run them with 50-60 psi rather then the 100+ on my road bike). Plus, the semislicks are still capable of hitting some off-road stuff so if I see piece of singletrack branching off of the bike path, I can go if I want. I would much rather ride a mtn bike with semislicks than ride a hybrid. 

And, when you eventually get the urge to do some more serious mountain biking (and you will), you can just put a new set of nobbies on and you're ready to go.


----------



## bikerlowell (Jul 8, 2004)

Thanks acroy and trailville for slick tire ideas. I didn't think about trying them before because I always think 700c are designed for road pavement and should always better than 26" on smooth surface. May be I should give slick tires a try first.

What brand/model of the slick tires would you recommend?


----------



## siskiyou (Aug 11, 2006)

Yeah, that's what I would do. But then I've been forced into frugality by three kids and a mortgage. You might want to consider some riser bars or stem to get your head up so you can see a little better what's going on around you. Street riding requires a wider field of vision than single track and I find riding flat XC bars in town gives me a neck ache. Maybe I'm just getting old... but then again I find my kids dirt jumper pretty darn comfortable.


----------



## bikerlowell (Jul 8, 2004)

siskiyou said:


> Yeah, that's what I would do. But then I've been forced into frugality by three kids and a mortgage. You might want to consider some riser bars or stem to get your head up so you can see a little better what's going on around you. Street riding requires a wider field of vision than single track and I find riding flat XC bars in town gives me a neck ache. Maybe I'm just getting old... but then again I find my kids dirt jumper pretty darn comfortable.


I currently have the low riser bar on my hardtail and I think it's still low for street riding. Been thinking about about getting a higher rise stem or higher rise riser bar to put myself in a more upright position. I had the same pain when jumped back on the bike after few year, had the neck and wrist aches and my butts hurts. But then I got used to those or the pain went away and I love this sport.


----------



## trailville (Jul 24, 2006)

I've been using these
http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=12701

I've only put about 200 miles on them so far (I have 3 other bikes) but I've been impressed with how nice they are on the road yet they still work well off road on dry trails (do not use them in mud).


----------



## TNC (Jan 21, 2004)

*All purpose frankenbike.*

This is a Trek 930 steel hardtail...was a decently high end model in '97. It has an old Scott multi-bar, a 30-42-52 Shimano road crank, an 11-32 eight-speed cassette, XTR long cage rear derailleur, Cane Creek front wheel, XTR/517 rear wheel, Indy SL fork w/Englund air carts, Thudbuster seatpost, and Kenda Kwik 1.7 semi-slick MTB tires. The tires were a surprise. They weigh 400g, roll fast on pavement and the flats, and have some decent traction on dirt. The whole bike weighs 25lbs. The bike will fly on pavement and still work decently on trails that don't have very technical terrain. It won't replace my road bike, and it won't replace my Nomad, but it is a surprisingly versatile and comfortable bike.


----------



## trailville (Jul 24, 2006)

I just wanted to add that there are quite a few tire options that could meet your needs but they are sometimes difficult to find because the online stores don't know how to categorize them. Sometimes they are listed as slicks or semislick, but they may also be listed under "road", "city", "urban", "street", etc.


----------



## bikerlowell (Jul 8, 2004)

trailville said:


> I just wanted to add that there are quite a few tire options that could meet your needs but they are sometimes difficult to find because the online stores don't know how to categorize them. Sometimes they are listed as slicks or semislick, but they may also be listed under "road", "city", "urban", "street", etc.


Thanks trailville. After doing a little "research" on slick tires, I'm leaning forward the Ritchey Tom Slick at this time. Might order a pair with other biking needs from performance. Seems like a good tire for me to try on street riding.


----------



## acroy (Jun 20, 2006)

bikerlowell said:


> Thanks trailville. After doing a little "research" on slick tires, I'm leaning forward the Ritchey Tom Slick at this time. Might order a pair with other biking needs from performance. Seems like a good tire for me to try on street riding.


good choice, Tom SLicks have a great reputation.
I have to deal with a lot of glass, scrap metal, etc on my commute, the best luck i've had so far were Specialized Nimbus Armadillo, i got over 2000 miles before they bit the dust. more like $30/tire and a bit heavy but worth it in my case.
I used the Nashbar Slick for a long time, other than being not very flat resistant (no special Kevar or anything) they're cheap, sticky, and fast. Great riding tire. $10 each. Rode the Hotter n Hell 100 (100k for me) last year on them, averaged 21mph!
http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?...d=&pagename=Shop by Subcat: 26x1.0 to 26x1.75
I also have a nice set of Cane Creek wheels, the uber-stiff wheels feel great on the road, after 2 years and 7000 miles of use they needed truing once, and still feel fast.

welcome to the weird world of street-use mountain bikes: are ya ready? We're an odd bunch!


----------



## Too Rass Goat (Sep 16, 2005)

I converted both of our old HT's to commuters. Like others suggested, simply put some low profile street tires on the 26" rims. Also ditched the flat bars and long stems for risers. Next step is more gearing, the MTB gearing runs out real fast now that they roll faster. I'd like to put discs on them, but at that point could buy new commuters for nearly the same cost.

You can convert that C'Dale for street use for about $50 or less in bars, stem and tires...watch the sales. The Nashbar slicks others have talked about were on sale for $5 recently iirc.


----------



## rockhound (Dec 19, 2005)

Get some tires with reflective sidewalls...I like the Michelin Transworld City's.


----------



## ihatemybike (Nov 27, 2005)

You don't need to get slicks to get a good fast roll. I use Kenda K-Rads. 


Size is 26x1.95 and I inflate them to 80 front / 100 rear. I over inflate mine so I don't pinch flat while riding street and skatepark. I sure they'll do you really good at recommended pressures.

Nashbar is selling them for $8 each right now. My LBS charges me $15.


----------



## RIDE OR DIE (Jul 4, 2006)

*Have you looked into the Trek SU100 or SU200*

I too have just gotten back into bikng, but I'm just the opposite, I gave up my Trek SU200 street/urban bike for MTB-ing hers a pic of my old SU200 ($469.00) it rode great with a few minor, upgrades (a $1000 worth) but I am the more adventurous type (city riding was to dull for me, nice babes on bikes though) so I sold the Trek and bought a Klein Attitude and here are the before and after pics. I do ocassionally put my road slicks on my Klein for street riding I have a Rolf Dolomite wheelset with Bontrager Satellite plus 26 X1.5 tires on it when I just want to ride on the city streets. I'm married with 2 kids so no excuse not go MTB-ing LOL! Keep your C'dale and just get you a nice wheelset with some city slicks save your money!!!!!!!!


----------



## kp2 (Jun 27, 2006)

> I can just go out and get a new hybrid/street type bike for the same $$$. It will be heavier and will not have a good quality components as my current Cannondale.


Check out a local LBS that has Hybrids and Street bikes. Ride a few around for example Trek 3200 Hybrid and a Trek 7.3fx (not trying to push Trek, I'm just most familiar w/ their line-up). These two bikes will have different riding positions from your mountain bike. Pick the riding position that feels most comfortable to you. As far as component quality, it doesn't sound like you'll be doing the kind of riding where better components will make a significant difference.


----------



## fishtanker (Jun 12, 2006)

trailville said:


> I agree with acroy, just get a set of 26" slicks or semislick tires ($30 to $40 for a set). I have a set of semislicks on my old mtn bike that I use for casual riding and it rides fast and smooth on pavement and ashpalt. I like it better than my road bike for casual riding because the semislicks give me much of the low rolling resistance I would get with a road bike, but give me a more comfortable ride (on the road I run them with 50-60 psi rather then the 100+ on my road bike). Plus, the semislicks are still capable of hitting some off-road stuff so if I see piece of singletrack branching off of the bike path, I can go if I want. I would much rather ride a mtn bike with semislicks than ride a hybrid.
> 
> And, when you eventually get the urge to do some more serious mountain biking (and you will), you can just put a new set of nobbies on and you're ready to go.


I agree with this. I ride bike path more than anything else so i put some Mythro semislicks on my Trek 4300 hardtail. Nice low rolling resistance and i can still it a lot of trails that sometimes come up (of course i have to lower the pressure on the hairy ones).

HTH


----------



## bikerlowell (Jul 8, 2004)

acroy said:


> good choice, Tom SLicks have a great reputation.
> I have to deal with a lot of glass, scrap metal, etc on my commute, the best luck i've had so far were Specialized Nimbus Armadillo, i got over 2000 miles before they bit the dust. more like $30/tire and a bit heavy but worth it in my case.
> I used the Nashbar Slick for a long time, other than being not very flat resistant (no special Kevar or anything) they're cheap, sticky, and fast. Great riding tire. $10 each. Rode the Hotter n Hell 100 (100k for me) last year on them, averaged 21mph!
> http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?...d=&pagename=Shop by Subcat: 26x1.0 to 26x1.75
> ...


Tom Slicks are on the way from Performance. Gonna be few days before I get it. Can't wait.


----------



## bikerlowell (Jul 8, 2004)

Too Rass Goat said:


> I converted both of our old HT's to commuters. Like others suggested, simply put some low profile street tires on the 26" rims. Also ditched the flat bars and long stems for risers. Next step is more gearing, the MTB gearing runs out real fast now that they roll faster. I'd like to put discs on them, but at that point could buy new commuters for nearly the same cost.
> 
> You can convert that C'Dale for street use for about $50 or less in bars, stem and tires...watch the sales. The Nashbar slicks others have talked about were on sale for $5 recently iirc.


Converting my lovely C'dale, Tom Slicks coming from Permance and Sette Duo 2.5" riser bar from Price Point ( http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/12713-195_SETDR4-3-Parts-62-Handlebars/Mountain/Bar-Ends/Sette-Duo-25.4mm-Riser-Handlebar---2014.htm). Don't know if this will be too much rising with my 20 degree stem. Will have to wait to see.


----------



## bikerlowell (Jul 8, 2004)

RIDE OR DIE said:


> I too have just gotten back into bikng, but I'm just the opposite, I gave up my Trek SU200 street/urban bike for MTB-ing hers a pic of my old SU200 ($469.00) it rode great with a few minor, upgrades (a $1000 worth) but I am the more adventurous type (city riding was to dull for me, nice babes on bikes though) so I sold the Trek and bought a Klein Attitude and here are the before and after pics. I do ocassionally put my road slicks on my Klein for street riding I have a Rolf Dolomite wheelset with Bontrager Satellite plus 26 X1.5 tires on it when I just want to ride on the city streets. I'm married with 2 kids so no excuse not go MTB-ing LOL! Keep your C'dale and just get you a nice wheelset with some city slicks save your money!!!!!!!!


Both bikes are nice. How do you like the attitude of the Attitude on the street? 

I decided to keep my C'dale and try slick tires with 26". I think I'll be happy with this for street riding.


----------

