Turning a 26er into a gravel bike

[Hairy]

5 minutes ago, Beattbox said:

It's the Tassajara frame.

Yellow and red?

[100Tours]

6 hours ago, Beattbox said:

I'll be following this thread with interest. I have an old Gary Fisher 26er which was my first MTB from 1995 and is now hanging in my garage. Don't have the heart to sell it.  I'd like to convert it to 700c wheels (I've checked and they do fit) and drop bars to start. My problem it getting the brake calipers to fit the bigger wheels. I've seen extensions for the calipers mounts online but not sure how well they work. Looking for options and ideas. 

If it has cantilever brake mounts I'd go with those? I can even send you a straight steerer tube canti-brakes only fork to match.

[100Tours]

4 hours ago, Zebra said:

any info you can share on where you SOURCED this from, and rough cost? thanks!

Amazon.com : Juin Tech GT-P Road CX MTB Bicycle Bike Disc Brake Calipers Light 4-Piston (Red)… : Sports & Outdoors

The Juin 4-pot option is available on Amazon (above). delivery takes about 10 days. They're not all that cheap though - new Shimano calipers are between R1k and R1.5k a piece, which is about half of this price. 

Edited July 6, 2021 by 100Tours

[Barry_W]

Here’s one I built using old school stem shifters and mafac centre pull brakes. It worked OK but nothing like a modern gravel bike. 

[Beattbox]

16 hours ago, 100Tours said:

If it has cantilever brake mounts I'd go with those? I can even send you a straight steerer tube canti-brakes only fork to match.

Thanks, I've still got the original fork so I'm sorted for that.

[Beattbox]

19 hours ago, Hairy on a Davidson said:

Yellow and red?

Metallic blue 

[100Tours]

On 7/6/2021 at 10:00 PM, Barry_W said:

Here’s one I built using old school stem shifters and mafac centre pull brakes. It worked OK but nothing like a modern gravel bike. 

 

Just for fun I've tried to estimate fork trail on this bike - it looks really short, so perhaps a little twitchy? I'm no expert, but I've done a bit of reading.

On a 36 spoke wheel the spoke holes are 55mm apart, so trail is maybe 25/30mm? Trail is the length of tyre at the road surface between the blue lines below. You'd like to have 45-55mm on a bike like this.

If you used a straight(er) fork - i.e. less fork rake - with a steep head tube such as this you would get a longer trail, and something a lot more like road/gravel bike handling. A straighter fork would pull the hub backward in the photo, and voila.

Edited July 8, 2021 by 100Tours

[dasilvarsa]

2 hours ago, 100Tours said:

Just for fun I've tried to estimate fork trail on this bike - it looks really short, so perhaps a little twitchy? I'm no expert, but I've done a bit of reading.

On a 36 spoke wheel the spoke holes are 55mm apart, so trail is maybe 25/30mm? Trail is the length of tyre at the road surface between the blue lines below. You'd like to have 45-55mm on a bike like this.

If you used a straight(er) fork - i.e. less fork rake - with a steep head tube such as this you would get a longer trail, and something a lot more like road/gravel bike handling. A straighter fork would pull the hub backward in the photo, and voila.

But the Pedal would be too close to the tyre.