Drop Bar Ritchey Ultra

[dirttorpedo]

So I've been wanting to do one of those cool drop bar conversions to a mountain bike and finally got a stem and bars. I went with nitto dirt drop stem and a set of Soma Portola bars. I grabbed some shimano 600 levers & microshift bar ends from my parts bin to finish off the cockpit. Its pretty fugly and the photos are terrible. only ridden it up and down the street - definitely interesting ride. I'm looking forward to tossing some bar tape on and taking it for a longer ride.

 

[Prodigal Son]

The drop bar conversion thing is about riding it as a mountain bike w/ fat tires on steep trails. Then you realize you may not need a susp fork or bar ends since you can move around the bike much better. Give it a try: it´s a lot of fun.

 

[grantoury]

I love that look. Looks as though it could do a long tour as well. Is that a pump peg on the seatstay?

 

[dirttorpedo]

I love that look. Looks as though it could do a long tour as well. Is that a pump peg on the seatstay?

Yes it is. I believe someone said you could order them with one as a small customization. I love the look of it, but there is no way I can fit any of my frame pumps in there so I'm thinking it is sized for one of those mt. zefal sized pumps that were popular BITD for mountain bikes.

 

[grantoury]

Very cool.

 

[dirttorpedo]

Very cool.

Thanks. This reminds me I need to take some better photos.

I've also taken it on some slightly longer rides in the neighbourhood and I'm liking it so far - the drop bar brake levers / vintage canti & Ubrake work very well together. I think I should get rid of the fenders and mount some proper knobbies on it.

 

[Prodigal Son]

I would lower the brake levers, significantly if you ever going to ride on trails. I have a similar set up on a bike. Ride it from the drops unlike a road bike where most of the time we hang on the brake hoods.

 

[dirttorpedo]

I would lower the brake levers, significantly if you ever going to ride on trails. I have a similar set up on a bike. Ride it from the drops unlike a road bike where most of the time we hang on the brake hoods.

While I haven't taken it "off road" yet, that lever position works well from the front of the drops / hooks and gives me an on the hoods position for more casual / hammering the flats riding. I think its pretty similar to how Jacquie Phelan configured her bike BITD. Anyhow I can pull the tape off and adjust if it proves to be sub-optimal after further testing.

I need to do a bit more adjusting on the rear wheel and think through the tires before I give it a real field test on single track.