Changing an Airborne Titanium to a cyclocross or gravel bike

The spirit of Grav-lo-cross. No but seriously, cyclocross and gravel go here!

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frommel
Posts: 98
Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2018 8:00 pm

by frommel

I bought this beautiful 1998-ish Airborne Ti hard tail from a friend a year ago. It has a Shimano XTR groupset and Mavic rims. I replaced the very old Bomber shocks with a normal carbon fork and using it just to ride around town.

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I now want to make it fast on a budget. Thinking of keeping the wheels and replacing tires with smoother ones. Keeping the XTR groupset (which is still super smooth) but changing the shifters so that I can use a drop handlebar. But I have no idea if it is possible to use road shifters on the XTR groupset.

Thoughts?


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by Weenie


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mattr
Posts: 4671
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 6:43 pm
Location: The Grim North.

by mattr

The rear mech will work perfectly with with a 9 speed drop bar shifter. You could also go 10 speed (shifter, chain and cassette) which might be easier to find.
Front will not work well in 3x as the front mech/shifters aren't compatible, you can get it to work 2x with a little tweaking. I ran a cx bike like that for several years.
You'll have to change brakes as well. Those V brakes won't play nicely with the road cable pull. Mini Vs or cantilevers will be needed.

jemima
Posts: 270
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2011 12:36 am
Location: Perth

by jemima

Would be a nice project if you can get it to fit with dropbars.

Pretty much every old-mtb-frame conversion I've seen, the bars/steerer looks a bit weird.

And that frame already looks rather long.
Curve Grovel ti.

frommel
Posts: 98
Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2018 8:00 pm

by frommel

I may start with just changing the tires. Drop bars will become a bigger investment it seems.


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mattr
Posts: 4671
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 6:43 pm
Location: The Grim North.

by mattr

jemima wrote:
Sat Apr 20, 2019 10:30 am
Pretty much every old-mtb-frame conversion I've seen, the bars/steerer looks a bit weird.
Typically need to bring everything up and back by ~50mm. Shorter, high rise stem, short reach bars, whatever else works.

frommel
Posts: 98
Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2018 8:00 pm

by frommel

Yeah. Will look for a shorter stem. That reach is about 2in too long compared to my road bike.


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by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

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mattr
Posts: 4671
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 6:43 pm
Location: The Grim North.

by mattr

Now that would have been a bike industry April fool's i could actually have smiled at.

Except it was posted in October. :/

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