Am I crazy? Turning old full suspension frame into gravel monster

[EB]

It will be pretty challenging to source a new fork with a straight 1 1/8" steerer, especially for a 26 inch wheel. So assume you will need to find a used fork, and probably need to get it rebuilt.

[AngryScientist]

I wouldnt do it. you'll probably spend more than you want to and at the end of the day you'll have a wierd full suspension 26er drop bar thing.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by Alistair

Generally, you can size down to get the length right, but these older mountain bikes tend to have short HTs/low stack, which is exacerbated with a drop bar. Thus the high-rise stems linked above.

I'm guessing anything with disc brakes and suspension will have a bit more stack than the 80's/90's stuff with boner stems or bullmoose bars.

[prototoast]

The reason to do it is if you want to go on group rides and have lots of people ask you questions about your bike.

The reason not to do it is th bike will probably suck and you'd drop more money into it than just getting something new that functioned better.

[ickymon]

Come on Viking go for it!!!...besides winter is coming

[ColonelJLloyd]

I wouldn't.

[Jdm]

I'd price out everything you need to buy/replace and then decide since this won't be a cheap project. If you did this 10 years ago, it probably wouldn't cost that much. Now with vintage bikes being hot, I wouldn't be surprised if you needed to spend many hundreds or maybe over a thousand dollars to build something nice and reliable.

[p nut]

Couple of thoughts:

- You can probably use 650b fork if you can’t find a 26” fork.
- Find a donor bike to buy. I did that on an old project and cost came out to $80 for the build.

[mtbmoose]

I’ve found that my older (2012) Niner Jet9 29er works great as a mixed surface bike. I’m running it with a Schwalbe Racing Ralph/Racing Ray tire combo and find that I don’t give up much against the gravel bikers I’ve ridden with. I run it with the original flat bars as I’m comfortable with that hand position due to a bunch of trail riding over the years. I frequently do rides on it from 25-50 miles and 2000’-5000’ of elevation gain over pavement, gravel and trail. And as long as I remember that I’m running lightweight race tires, I can ride most of the singletrack in my area. Running it with a dropper post allows for even more flexibility.

So, one vote for repurposing an old mountain bike for gravel use. Even better if you can find an early XC race 29er fully or hardtail.

[Bob Ross]

What's the difference between a "gravel monster" and a mountain bike? Just the drop bars?

[eurodude]

To be honest - that is a really good question

Originally Posted by Bob Ross

What's the difference between a "gravel monster" and a mountain bike? Just the drop bars?

[Hilltopperny]

Originally Posted by Bob Ross

What's the difference between a "gravel monster" and a mountain bike? Just the drop bars?

Geometry and capability. The Moots Baxter that I just sold to a forum member is basically a drop bar all terrain bike. It is awesome and far better than any MTB conversion to gravel that I have tried. The stack is much higher and the bike was specifically made for things like The Great Divide to handle just about anything.

Taking an old MTB and converting it to ride different terrain has way more compromises and gets pretty expensive from my experience. I built up a really nice old Serotta titanium hardtail MTB, but I had a segmented steel fork built for 27.5 and carbon wheels built up for it as well. It was more a labor of love and rode nicely, but not as nice as my modern gravel bikes.

Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

[vespasianus]

Originally Posted by Bob Ross

What's the difference between a "gravel monster" and a mountain bike? Just the drop bars?

Pretty much.

[Alistair]

Originally Posted by Bob Ross

What's the difference between a "gravel monster" and a mountain bike? Just the drop bars?

Very generally...

Gravel bike = drop-bar road bike with clearance for 40-50mm tires

Monstercross = drop-bar mountain bike with clearance for 50mm+ tires

Mountain bike = flat bar with clearance for 2.3"+ tires

Lots of gray area between categories.