Drop bar conversion Jamie Explorer Xr

Hello. I have a 1994 Janis Explorer XR mountain bike that I have been using for street riding. Over the last few months these rides have gotten longer and I began thinking about a road bike. But I ride some rougher pavement and a few paths and trails and many of the pavement routes I ride are littered with debris so I began looking at cyclocross bikes. But the cost and minimal weight savings have got me wondering about conversion instead. The Jamis weighs in at 26 pounds. The entry level tricross looks like it is 24.5 and it seems most entry level cyclocross bikes start at around that much weight. So in order to make it enough of an upgrade (I don't race so the weight savings for climbs is a big motive for upgrading the bike) I would need to get at least a mid level bike to make the purchase with it. That will take some saving, even for a used bike. So the idea of converting to drop bars occurred me. This would get me a more compact riding position for flats and downhills, something I have been wanting, as well as more hand positions, since my hands have been having numbing issues even with bar ends on my flat bars on rides longer than an hour. Anyway a conversion to drop bars would make sense if it is just adding the bars, integrated brake shifters (I don't like bar end shifters, down tube or stem might work, but I would prefer indexed), stem and if necessary, a front derailleur. If I need to start changing out the crankset, rear derailleur, cartridge, etc then it gets too expensive and I am better off saving that money for a new bike. The Jamis has all STX-SE components - the brake shifters, cantilever breaks, the derailleurs, chainrings, cassette. Does anyone know of integrated shifters (drop bar) that would work with 3x7 gearing? Or of resources for figuring out possible compatibilities of vintage Shimano parts? Thanks for any suggestions. Patrick Sent from my SPH-L300 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

our pal Alfeng is a specialist in those kind of conversions, he could show you some pics on converted mtb's