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A friend of mine hopped over to the big island today for a bit of work this week. He mentioned to me that he took his gravel bike and will climb Mauna Kea tomorrow before coming back. This got me to thinking about outfitting my XC bike with a rigid fork and possibly drop bars to create a gravel bike for that kind of ride in the future when I will travel there for be it for work or fun. The fork swap would be super straight forward but the bars would be more of an adventure as I would need shifters, hydro quick release, and shifter cable. But once that is set up the swap back and forth from flat bar to drop bar would be pretty straight forward. And honestly I could even set the same mechanical mtb shifter on the tops of the drop bars a-la climbing shifter set up and just get brake levers. I'm really just thinking about swapping the bars for comfort and is not really a requirement for me. Just trying to reduce the weight and get rid of the front travel.
Anyone have any experience doing this? Any suggestions for rigid forks to should look into? I am trying to find specs on the headset dimensions. This is a 2020 Specialized Epic hardtail.
If it was me, I’d go with the rigid fork first and then do a few rides to see how the flat bars felt. You could even add some bar ends and tt bar extensions to give you a couple different hand positions. That way you save yourself some work and money if you end of liking it like it is. I don’t know where you live and what the gravel is like though. I live in TN and a lot of the gravel climbs are short and steep with steep descents, so there’s a lot of places where the flat bar would actually be a benefit over the drop bars.
I just put a Whiskey #9 carbon rigid fork on my Scott Scale hardtail and put on some of the fastest rolling MTB tires, Continental Race King Protection, and this bike really flies on gravel/hard pack. To get aero with the flat bars you could add some inner bar ends like SQlab Innerbarends to use during flat stretches of road/gravel. The Whiskey fork saved me 2 pounds over a suspension fork and it is surprisingly compliant.
Two things to track with such a swap: fork height and handlebar reach. Swapping to a rigid requires a specific axle to crown height and especially on old 26ers it can be quite short. Being off by a couple cms really affects handling. Mtbs already have long frame reach and short stems. Drop bars can add another 70-90mm, so be ready for a very short stem or stretched out cockpit.
i turned an old 29er into a monster cx/gravel bike. as others have mentioned, make sure the fork is correct specs, and you will likely want a shorter stem if you go drop bars. yours sounds like a more difficult situation though, and agree that flat bars may be best to start. for mine, i used trp hylex brakes, and the xshifter 1x with 11-42 cassette, 40t front ring. also got flared bars, which are definitely an improvement over regular road drops.
I also did mauna kea about 11 years ago, but had to use my scalpel mtb, because it was the only bike i had with me. probably worked for the best, because the altitude + cinder/unpaved section is absolutely brutal. i can't believe anyone can ride that on road tires let alone cx, it was one step away from uphill beach sand. good luck with your project, you'll want mtb climbing gears for everything past the visitor center. and check to make sure it is open, it was closed a year or so ago for native/cultural reasons.
sorry just realized it was your friend friend doing mauna kea.....duh
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jflan: Apr 24, 21 18:08
Yes, those are two things that I would have overlooked and would have added time and frustration to the swap. I'm running a 120mm -22 degree stem right now so I should have some wiggle room with reach. Hopefully a much shorter stem won't begin to diminish the handling.
Yeah he had a "time" on Saturday. He started waaay early and finished around 1000. I don't think he was as prepared as he would have liked to have been. He told me that he froze out at the top. It was around 30 F at the summit. It was a spur of the moment thing for him so I'm sure next time will be planned out better and hopefully include me. I have heard that the gravel section can vary greatly from perfectly doable on fat road tires to you'll need a mtb. That is the main factor that I want to convert my hard tail. Throw on some 2.0 Schwalbe G-One Speeds and a rigid fork and I have a climbing CX bike. On a side note I really want to ride Mouna Loa more now. That landscape is insanely gorgeous!