I have a Litespeed Saber. I don’t ride much other than training for triathlons. However, there’s an early spring bike race I would like to do and want to know what the downsides of replacing the bars with drops, STI shifters, etc. is. This would occur in early winter to give me a couple of months of riding the new position prior to the race. If I am able to get into a decent road position (whatever that may be), how much does the frame geometry affect handling, etc. I have an entry level road bike that I could ride, but I really enjoy the comfort of the ti-bike.
I say go for it. When I bought my P3, I took my old tri bike (a Highway Nineteen Richter) and had drop bars and Ultegra shifters put on it. It turned out to be a nice comfortable ride and saved me a ton of money over the cost of buying a complete road bike.
I had parts laying around and did it on my Lucero for a long group ride. Everyone said it would handle like a crack whore on meth all jittery n $hit. Surprise surprise it handled just as good as any high end roadie should. Steep climbs and downhill turns not a problem. I just set my seat about 4cm back on the rails. You might even like the steepness better than traditional road geometry. Flame on.
With a 78 STA, would have to setback your seat to compensate to a 74-3 STA and play around with stem lengths.
The headtube legnth isnt bad on sabers, maybe a spacer or two, or even a stem with the appropriate rise.
With external cable routing on the Saber, you could get sexy and use the ritchey quick disconnects, which would enable you to use both fully functioning STI and Bar end setups.
You would just need 2 committed cockpits, 2 sets of disconnects for derailleurs and brakes with cables, and 2 seat post with committed saddles.
Save at least 60% of the $$$ you were going to dump into a entry level roadie.