I said this a year after the TREK Super Caliber came out. All the ppl that I knew that bought that bike said it really had no suspension but griped well on Rooty, rocky climbs. I wanted to do this but my budget was not taking the risk. But I am so stoked to see you on your ride review! Yes and I agree in 3-5 years we will be sold on this concept.

@bicyclestation

5 ай бұрын

This bikes even a step further then the supercaliber hahaha.

Lael Wilcox has been riding the tour divide for years on a drop-bar Specialized Epic hardtail. She inspired me to build a Felt Doctrine hard tail MTB frame I had laying around into a drop bar gravel crusher. It’s been my favorite “fast dirt” bike I own. More and more all I use rigid gravel bikes for is just the smoothest gravel roads. The new World Cup is the perfect platform for this, love it!

I changed from gravel to mtb. It was hard getting used to 760mm wide bars coming from 440mm drop bars. My wrists would hurt a bit. Solution break out the hacksaw and cut the bars down to 550mm wide. That worked great especially just riding paths, road and minimal gravel.

I just bought an Epic Evo Comp (Got a 35% discount.) and installed 700x47 Pathfinder Pro Gravel tires. I'm not a dropbar person but I did cut the flatbar very narrow. Wide bars just didn't feel right on a gravel bike. This is my dedicated pavement, gravel, and easy singletrack bike. I'm loving it! So smooth and comfortable. I wanted an Epic World Cup but it was out of my price range.

Your videos keep getting better & better. Unique. Awesome build!!!

Planning on doing the same thing with my Cannondale F-Si Hi Mod - thing is crazy light already at 9.4kg in an XL. Will definitely be a head turner with a drop bar lefty MTB 😆

@bicyclestation

5 ай бұрын

The lefty is so cool haha

I’ve done exactly this to my supercaliber. With GRX. Absolutely best thing I’ve ever done. With dual lock out too.

No one understands how funny the tri-flow lube bit was

@bicyclestation

5 ай бұрын

It’s honestly a shame. Our humor is just to advanced

I have also done mtb to gravel conversion and i needed fast forward seattube because otherwise it would really hurt to ride. So you might also want one of those.

This bike is Absolutely amazing man !!!!

Luv it. Looking forward to riding reports.

This has inspired me to convert my trek roscoe to drop bars. I'm not racing or anything, just a guy looking to have fun. Thank you so much for the inspiration!

I did this with a 2011 Trek Hifi Pro (full suspension) back in 2018. I did a few gravel races with it. It turned an otherwise great riding cross country mtb into a completely different animal and was much more comfortable to ride over long distances. It was too heavy to be competitive under anyone. I have an Epic WC myself now and have been considering doing the same.

This is totally the way to go, been thinking about exactly this build myself. But... Geo is quite awkward (really low/small frame to get correct drop bar reach and bar drop); then even the Epic BB is quite high with low sag; finally, chainring size is limited. A shame, 'cos it's a better solution than the dodgy Diverge. But yes, this will be sold to us in 5 years as the way to go, but its just too expensive for an imperfect home-build.

I think it’s cool that your dad lets you borrow his shop to put road bicycle handlebars on the mountain bicycles

@treyshepard1717

4 ай бұрын

My dad’s the best!

I would totally buy one

Awesome!

I can't wait for my own drop-bar WC. Do you guys think one could just size down to avoid the stem issue?

@treyshepard1717

5 ай бұрын

I would definitely recommend getting a smaller frame than your normal MTB

@MrVrob8

5 ай бұрын

And how big of a chainring could you fit?

I think this is what Lauren’s Ten Dam is using this for Tour Divide this year

So what is the best way to go with the brake calipers if you go with AXS brifters?. i have level ultimates on my epic now. Do you have to switch to road calipers?

I put pathfinder’s on my World Cup Epic and my Roubiax Sl8 is a lot better in my opinion both bikes kick ass though. By the way, I have the World Cup in that color way as well and a matching SL7.

I love it

Cool bike. Dropper seat?

6'5" 300# on an XL Salsa Fargo, I went with Richey Venturemax XL 52cm bars and a thudbuster seatpost rides like a ☁️ bars are wide enough for me but might be technically too big for sanctioned races, I think the limit is 46 but that might be road/CX

I also experimented with 460mm and 520mm drop bars for gravel and with a wide flare, with 520mm it looks much nicer and more aggressive

Uhh... Downhill Gravel... time that another Comet hits Earth.

I have a 2000 Rocky Mountain Element T.O, do they make like 700mm drops?

Solid guys. Maybe get a trek supercaliper and do the same dropbar thing and then do a comparison

@blackandtan.0075faster

5 ай бұрын

The two bikes look alike but that’s where it ends.

@treyshepard1717

5 ай бұрын

The trek wouldn’t work because the rear shock has to use a lockout but there isn’t a good way to put a lockout on drop bars

I have a 2016 epic World Cup I’m ab to do this to. I’m using the stock bar from my tarmac. No one down here has one so I’m gonna do it.

@bicyclestation

2 ай бұрын

You’ll love it

The natural evolution of every form of cycling slowly morphing in to mountain biking is almost complete…couple more years and you guys will discover narrow flat bars, then wider riser bars, lol

@bicyclestation

4 ай бұрын

The biggest problem with riser bars is that the stack heights on bikes keep growing. It will be interesting to see what happens

@RookYZRM1

4 ай бұрын

@@bicyclestation Haha, I knew you'd say that. There isn't an easy name for "wider bars with up and back sweep and minimal/no rise". I haven't really noticed stacks rising in XC/Race oriented bikes, trail and enduro sure, but unless you're going from 27.5 to 29, or increasing fork travel they're pretty stable. -10deg stem and +5mm riser has been my go to for a while now.

What size is the frame and how tall is Trey?

@treyshepard1717

5 ай бұрын

I’m 5’11” with a taller than normal saddle height. The large is too big for a drop bar MTB we found out. It works but it’s long

You will need much wider bars. Like at least 46.

Go Tomac !

What brakes did you use?

That build is something else. Would benefit from a dropper post and wider handlebar.

@bicyclestation

5 ай бұрын

100% agree. Trey is a lame roadie and wouldn’t listen lol

@jasonisaac1

5 ай бұрын

Poor Trey, lol. That explains the saddle height to stem height.

Swap the tyres for contis race king protection. At least theoretically they have lower rolling resistance than any gravel tyre.

@bicyclestation

5 ай бұрын

The Burts are just as fast

You must be a world class gravel racer running Tour de France 'road' saddle to bar drop on a mountain bike. Will look for you at Leadville on that thing. PS. saddle to bar drop on the flat bar bike shown is more traditional

@bicyclestation

5 ай бұрын

Both Trey and I have had multiple professional bike fits done to find out the measurements that work for us. I think what you’re seeing isn’t that we’re extraordinary flexible or extra fast. Honestly the stacks on modern XC bikes are just insanely tall.

Running the front brake line through the steerer tube is a really great idea. Um, don't do that.

Like the bike,but 38cm off road? Prob better with a 42-44 on the drops….40 on the hoods. But let’s face it,nothing new in cycling! When racing MTB’s in 1980’s I remember John Tomac on his Drop bar downhill bike and a certain Charlie Cunningham drop bar build of Jacquie Phelan ,met with much interest on the U.K. race circuit ( one race in Southern England a friend of mine got a ride on her bike- then was accused of messing with her gears😬)

or hey, there’s the Diverge STR.

@bicyclestation

4 ай бұрын

I think we’re going to do a comparison between the two. But yea I hope specialized just makes this as a bike you can buy

Bars are too narrow, otherwise super cool!

Done all wrong. Need higher stack and wider bars with short stem

@bicyclestation

3 ай бұрын

Idk how you can say we did a bike fit wrong. On mine I left the stem the same as it was with a flat bar and the won a 200 mile race. It definitely fit right

Um... seems obvious that a 12k FS race bike geometrically designed to win world cup xc races is not an ideal everyday or as you put it, utilitarian mtb. I don't see it as a negative just a bike that fits a niche.

@bicyclestation

4 ай бұрын

When comparing it to other bikes being raced in World Cup races it definitely is

Be a man and put the flat bar back on😂

$12,000 bike and adds triflow to lube the chain. whack.

@bicyclestation

2 ай бұрын

That was a bit lol. Trey don’t ride a bike with out waxing the chain

you not inventing anything did this 20 years ago ninier has one

@bicyclestation

5 ай бұрын

That’s the joke.