After the stem on my Saeco (the red guy in the back) broke as I rode across some old trolley tracks downtown a few months ago, I decided my mountain bike, which wasn’t getting too much action, deserved a solid conversion. I’ve been intrigued about the possibilities of cyclocross bikes lately, so I figured I could aim towards that ideal.

With stunning symmetry

The obvious key upgrades were the controls: handlebar, shifters, and brakes. After much deliberation, I decided to go with the fancy handlebars you see above, the Midge, by On-One. Since I have disc brakes, I was basically forced to try out the Diacompe 287V Levers, which work pretty well, but don’t offer nearly as precise braking as a standard long-pull mountain bike lever. On the other hand, the action is unquestionably better than the Saeco’s Ultegra levers. I do wonder whether Avid’s road brake calipers are any good.

Superbike!

As for shifters I followed the cheaper route and bought a pair of Shimano DuraAce bar-end plug shifers off Ebay. Getting used to them wasn’t bad at all, and shifting isn’t really a problem, especially in the city where quick shifting is rarely needed (wave to the fixies). My only complaint is that they tend to brush against the walls since the Midge bar ends angle out a little bit.

Close-up of the Midge

Up front

Unfortunately the lock-out shock canister cost an absurd $250.00, so my 1998 Cannondale F3000 retains the Fatty Ultra shock; at least I can pump the shock so that the ride is plush, but as rough and ready as an Audi S4.

Component breakdown

Interestingly, the F3000 frame weight (~ 1550 g) nearly matches that of the modern Cannondale Optimo and Trek XO cyclocross frames. So I’m not too concerned there…unfortunately the suspension fork weighs a ton.

So looking at this a bit more systematically, here are my best estimates of the weights of every component on my bike. Yes, very weight-weenie of me.