The SO has done her first TT and has got the bug. Now she's asking about converting her Avanti Blade which has flat bars to to road bars. I see three options in order of decreasing cost:
1: N+1 2: Get whole new gruppo and bars 3: Get Tiagra sti levers and some bars
My uncertainty is with 3 - will road STI brake levers work with her V-brakes OK? I seem to recall seeing somewhere that the lever travel is not right. Secondly, do you need to have a special lever if there is a triple on the front?
Option 2 isn't that much more expensive than 3 (about twice maybe) and I'm leaning towards it. Also, I could convert her to Campy and then we could share wheel sets.
The SO has done her first TT and has got the bug. Now she's asking about converting her Avanti Blade which has flat bars to to road bars. I see three options in order of decreasing cost:
1: N+1 2: Get whole new gruppo and bars 3: Get Tiagra sti levers and some bars
My uncertainty is with 3 - will road STI brake levers work with her V-brakes OK? I seem to recall seeing somewhere that the lever travel is not right. Secondly, do you need to have a special lever if there is a triple on the front?
Option 2 isn't that much more expensive than 3 (about twice maybe) and I'm leaning towards it. Also, I could convert her to Campy and then we could share wheel sets.
Been there and done that. The key issue in my mind is whether the frame is a genuine road frame (not familiar with Avanti Blade). If it's not, then it'll be a perpetual sore spot, and you are better to just go for N+1 solution. If it is a road frame, then by all means replace all the specific components as required to complete the transformation. If you are not too style conscious, you may be able to pick up specific components off eBay or similar for a good price. --
SO will still have a bike to fool around on or whatever without compromising her need for speed and giving you what for!
I fooled around with converting a commuter hybrid over to drop bars, even decided I could stick with the flat bar brakes and gear selectors combo and not go STI, and in fact it did work, the ergonomics were fine...I just thought it looked funny and went back to flat bar when I was given a very light/strong Carbon/Kevlar/Alloy-core flat bar and dropped some FIR 700cs with some old Record hubs & Campy 8speed cassette on it, it actually became a superb flat bar triple that actually had some zip. It is now my post office tripper and speeds my mail home , only now I want to train it to go get the mail on its own...
SO will still have a bike to fool around on or whatever without compromising her need for speed and giving you what for!
I fooled around with converting a commuter hybrid over to drop bars, even decided I could stick with the flat bar brakes and gear selectors combo and not go STI, and in fact it did work, the ergonomics were fine...I just thought it looked funny and went back to flat bar when I was given a very light/strong Carbon/Kevlar/Alloy-core flat bar and dropped some FIR 700cs with some old Record hubs & Campy 8speed cassette on it, it actually became a superb flat bar triple that actually had some zip. It is now my post office tripper and speeds my mail home , only now I want to train it to go get the mail on its own...
The Avanti Blade is a "proper" road bike, in many ways it resembles a traditional "touring bike" - fairly relaxed angles and lots of braze ons. It has 700c wheels.
I've gone the modification route - ordered new Tiagra STI levers and brakes and can do the rest with bits around the shed.
N+1 will probably wait until sprogs are a bit older....
