Roberts Roughstuff

After over three years hanging on the garage wall, finally pulling this together. It’s a ‘97...
I had an engineering shop bore out a stuck seatpost, light t-cut of the frame and ready to build up. Would benefit from fresh paint if I decide it’s a keeper.
This will be a 3x9 drop bar build, on 26” wheels, got a Specialized RM-2 bar ready, just need to pick a 26.0 stem with the correct rise.
It’s a smaller frame than I’d usually pick for a drop bar/road build, but similar to what I’d ride as an MTB, so very much trial and error on fit.
Only just got the headset and bottom bracket in, so did some initial measurements yesterday.
Bar and stem just for a look....
I’m sure I need to drop the saddle, this is set at a road height, usually run mtb a few cm lower. I’ve not used a sprung Brooks before so that’s a bit of an experiment too.
Bar will need to be higher, so perhaps a Nitto MT-10? Any experience of those?

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I can't give any advice, but that looks awesome so checking in for updates

Ooohh.... that´s my kind of thing: eccentric, practical, all around bike that is far from the usual marketed formats. Wonderfull. Btw... from the size of the head tube that´s a tall, big bike. 21in like. Seems very well balanced w/ the stem that´s there.
I would throw a selle italia Flite on that build. It works so well on something like that.

Prodigal Son":dxj010de said:

Ooohh.... that´s my kind of thing: eccentric, practical, all around bike that is far from the usual marketed formats. Wonderfull. Btw... from the size of the head tube that´s a tall, big bike. 21in like. Seems very well balanced w/ the stem that´s there.
I would throw a selle italia Flite on that build. It works so well on something like that.

Click to expand...

Plus one for losing that saddle in favour of a Flite

Nah, a Rough Stuff bike should have a Brooks. MT-10 would be good if you need that much rise?

Bars are a huge personal choice, but whatever the bar is needs to be shallow drop and short reach - those looks like bars for a sprinter's racing bike.
For fit I would try to line it up alongside your favourite MTB, and fit it with the brake hoods roughly in the same main hand position.
Remember that higher has pretty much the same effect as closer horizontally.

Beautiful frame and very nice shade of green. That Brooks? saddle does look a bit big on it though

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Thanks for the input, really useful comments.
I see that the saddle looks ‘big’, I really wanted to use this sprung Brooks on something, but maybe it suits a level top tube where it’s not so ‘weighty’ up high. This will still be a Brooks eventually, maybe a Swift of B17, professional etc... I’ll pop a Turbo or Rolls on at the weekend and see what the visual balance is like.
Handlebars in the photo are the first drops on a 1” stem I had to hand. I’ll mock up the dirt drops at the weekend and check the height of the hoods as suggested - cheers!
Gear change : I’ve some 9-sp bar end shifters which could be where they were designed to be (!) or on Paul’s thumbies (though the Thumbies are 26.0mm so have to be on the very centre of the bars), or I’ve got some 10-sp Campag ergos which I understand can be set up to work with the 9-sp Shimano drivetrain. The ergo hoods are likely a bit more comfortable than older Shimano brake levers.
Brakes will be Deore xt canti, it’s a Royce bb, and King headset.
Cheers!

When you are sitting on it you cant see the saddle but it does look out of place for some reason. Maybe its the colour ? . Thing is...if it is comfy then so be it. Some people might feel ill looking at the adamo attack on my dropped mtb

Out of interest... what make/model are those bars? The drop looks outrageously deep. Just wondering if there is some kind of weird thing going on with the camera lens making the saddle and bars look odd but maybe they are 200mm drop!

I ran 9 speed campag ergos last year using 9 sprockets on an XT 11-36 10 speed cassette with sram 10 speed x9 rear mech(exact actuation) and a 2 speed x9 front with 50/34 rings. Worked very well indeed as another possible gear combo. Maybe you have seen the artscyclery webpage on gear combo to work out what can be mixed with what?

All the best

The stem could be long though. Looks like 120mm and top tube seems longer than the usual road bike. I would bet on a 10 or 9cm stem holding whatever drop bar you like. Btw.. i really like the lines of the conventional -17 road bike stem you placed there together w/ the dropped top tube. It looks classy and well proportioned. Old classic stems like this one give a more confortable ride than aheadset stuff. It´s easier and cheaper to sort a shorter quill stem than bars w/ shallow drop and short reach.
I would not mix ergos and shimano. Keep it simple w/ your bar end shifters.
Saddles are personal choice. I like minimal saddles but ymmv.
Again; wonderfull project.