Changing an Airborne Titanium to a cyclocross or gravel bike
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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.
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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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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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.
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.
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