Dropbar Bike Conversions

[Aushiker]

Hi

I am thinking of converting a road bike (currently riding a recumbent with e-assist) and I note that most conversions that are of road bikes are of flat bar bikes and conversions of drop-bar bikes seem few and far between.

I am curious as to why flat-bar bikes seem to be more popular. I am guessing mounting a throttle comes in to play here. Other reasons?

Thanks
Andrew

 

[Chris Nolte]

Hi

I am thinking of converting a road bike (currently riding a recumbent with e-assist) and I note that most conversions that are of road bikes are of flat bar bikes and conversions of drop-bar bikes seem few and far between.

I am curious as to why flat-bar bikes seem to be more popular. I am guessing mounting a throttle comes in to play here. Other reasons?

Thanks
Andrew

Mounting a throttle and electronic cut-off brakes are difficult but not impossible. We recently fitted a Bionx D Series to a Surly Straggler. I can get you more details on fitting the throttle and the cut-off brakes if you'd like. We had to cut the throttle housing and for the brake cut-off we installed the sensor inside the brake hood. It was a lot of work but the end result was really clean and fast.

 

[Aushiker]

Thanks Chris. I currently use a Hidden Brake Wire Sensor so whilst not as neat as your approach will probably do the trick. If I go down this path I may take you up on your offer re the thottle; will need to decide it I need it as I don't really use it now other than to test the motor is working so maybe I can go without it.

Food for thought.

Andrew

 

[Chris Nolte]

Your sensor seems to be a little less involved though. I might try something like that next time. The throttle setup was pretty simple we just cut the housing at a point where it wouldn't interfere with the wiring and it gave us enough give to slide it around the thicker parts of the bars.

 

[Aushiker]

Your sensor seems to be a little less involved though. I might try something like that next time. The throttle setup was pretty simple we just cut the housing at a point where it wouldn't interfere with the wiring and it gave us enough give to slide it around the thicker parts of the bars.

Thanks. That sounds simple enough.

Looking at Gumtree (our equivalent I guess to Craiglist) there is a 2009 Giant Defy 1 on offer for an asking price of $500 which seems a pretty good price. It looks like it might work well as a donar bike. My first bike was the Giant CRX-1 which is the flat bar "equivalent".

 

[Chris Nolte]

Looks sharp! Good luck with it. Are you going to run a Bionx kit?

 

[Aushiker]

Looks sharp! Good luck with it. Are you going to run a Bionx kit?

No. I will transfer over my Bafang BBS01 to this bike. The BBS01 is currently on my Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT. Sound like a reasonable idea?

One aspect I will have to consider is mounting the battery ... rack or downtube. This bike will be used for a long commute (42 km each way) and in a hot summer so have access to sufficient water as well having some carrying capacity is important. Will need to think that one through. I like the idea of a downtube mount to keep the lines a bit cleaner but.

Andrew

 

[Aushiker]

Well I made my decision and a purchase today ... picked up a 2009 Giant Defy 1 for AU$475 which is about US$400 (one above). My commute is 42 km each way and the return (and often the morning leg) is into serious headwinds so I feel that the dropbar will be the better option. I guess I will find out

All this leads to my second question ... mounting the battery, which in my case is a Samsung 36V 10S 6P 29E cells 16.5Ah frame pack battery from Paul at EM3EV.

I need access to water on my rides and my preferred option is to access the water bottle on the downtube which would mean mounting the above battery on the seat tube using the water bottle cage braze-ons (I assuming sufficient space at this point in time).

Would this be a good idea or a bad idea, e.g., to much weigh on the braze-ons and hence mounting at less of an angle on the downtube or staying with a rack mount. Thoughts?

Andrew

 

[Aushiker]

Chris just spotted this review of a conversion you have done and curious about the battery mount. Do you know how it is working out? Is it bolted right through the frame?

Andrew

 

[Chris Nolte]

Andrew,

This bike had braze-ons there. It's the Surly Big Dummy that we fitted with a Bafang kit. It worked out great. I would recommend mounting the battery on the downtube and using another solution for the water bottle cage(s). They make a mount the Triathalons use where you can mount two bottle cages behind the saddle.

Let me know if I can help further.

Chris