the unofficially cool MTB drop bar thread

Hey there , I'm new here and I d' like to post a picture of my recentley build project.I was able to buy a very cheap, buth nearly new GT Avalanche and I used it to build my own 26"semi gravelbike with drop-bar.
 

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Hello All,
Amazing builds here and some fantastic info.

Drop bar mountain bikes are my current thing, and I've built up several.

This was a NOS mid/early 1990s Shogun frame from the German brand--somehow related, I think, to the Prairie Breaker Shogun through suppliers, but not the same. It had a 1 1/4 inch headset, and I couldn't find a good stem with the correct rise and reach, so I used the quill of a crmo 1 1/4 stem, which is 28,6mm, as an adapter for a 1 1/8 threadless stem. Worked well and gave me a lot of stem options.

IMG_20210529_085655_010~2_1.jpg

Shifting was a 1x8 system controlled by a 6 speed XT thumbshifter in friction mode, mounted on a Deore thumbie bracket (steel, reshaped to the correct diameter).

IMG_20210522_105646_607~2_1.jpg
 
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I grew up in the Rough Stuff era, so dropbars on an offroad bike were a given. This is my Dawes Cougar mtb (531ST) modified into an 1980s gravel bike if gravel had been thing back then. (i.e. it's my Rough Stuff Bike)

I used the parts I thought Dawes would have used if they had built a bike like this, e.g. nos Ideale saddle, S-A hubs, alloy rims, North Road bars, wing-nuts on the axles instead of QR (didn't have a set for the front when I took the pic), GB forged stem, etc
Dawes Cougar.jpg
 
I grew up in the Rough Stuff era, so dropbars on an offroad bike were a given. This is my Dawes Cougar mtb (531ST) modified into an 1980s gravel bike if gravel had been thing back then. (i.e. it's my Rough Stuff Bike)

I used the parts I thought Dawes would have used if they had built a bike like this, e.g. nos Ideale saddle, S-A hubs, alloy rims, North Road bars, wing-nuts on the axles instead of QR (didn't have a set for the front when I took the pic), GB forged stem, etc
View attachment 604525
I am a big fan of this style bar, I think it gets the hand position just right and lets you use 22.2 bits. I have actually never had a bike with flat bars, either swept back or drop.

Pic here from the wrong side, sorry, and this has since been converted to full drops:

IMG_20200615_103056236.jpg

And yeah, the whole gravel thing is so innovative, it's just mind-blowing.
 
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