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Need to flat bar a Cannondale with a 2/9 setup.
Sora shifters are very expensive so was thinking about seeing the rear mech to an MTB 9 speed and associated shifter (??) Would a double front mech (MTB) work with a road double chainset?
Sora shifters are >£80!!
9 speed mtb and road stuff is cross compatible, so any mtb shifter will work. Front mech has slightly different cable pull but can often be made to work.
A cheap friction thumb shifter for the left can work well, have a search on eBay, there’s often some cheaper make shifters on there.
Microshift 9 speed shifters will work
Sell it and buy a hybrid?
Road bikes make really good money second hand, and flat-bar hybrids don't seem to, so you are likely to be able to upgrade at a neutral cost!
The length will change, road bike bars are longer so with flat bars will feel shorter. Might be fine depending on you intend to do with it.
Find someone who wants to drop bar a MTB?
in my search for something flat barred yet gravelly, i found out most manufacturers add abut 50mm to the length to run flat bars.. just consider that whentrying it out, you might be better off with a size up road bike
A mate of mine flat barred his genesis day one alfine.
Carbon dh bars, a shimano trigger shifter, zee brakes.
He fitted a 20mm shorter stem.
Changed the character of the bike immensely, it’s perfect for him now.
Common advice would be ‘you’ll need a shorter stem’
So I’m gonna say try and see, only you can decide.
No advice on shifters tho, sorry
Road bikes make really good money second hand, and flat-bar hybrids don’t seem to, so you are likely to be able to upgrade at a neutral cost!
This. Also what Alan said about sizing. For most riders, drop-bar normally requires a shorter top-tube than does a flat-bar. Take off the drops and you’ll potentially be looking at a speccing a long stem for flat bars to get the same riding position/beyond twitchy (delete as applicable).
Of course this can depend on whether your bike is correctly-sized for you at present/what riding-position you’re looking to achieve?
I don’t ‘get’ road bikes with flat bars as they seem like a twitchy worst of all worlds thing. But I do like monstercross, so obv not averse to frankenbikery...
I have Rival 11 speed on my gravel bike (10-42 cassette) and was toying with flatbaring it. Sram make a specific bar shifter to suit the rival rear mech which I bought from a german website for not much money (25 euros IIRC). I still haven't fitted it mind 🙂
While doing my research I seem to recall hat the Rival 11 speed has the same pull ratio as old 9 speed MTB derailleurs. To that end I was thinking of experimenting using a 9 speed XO rear mech I still have to wrk with the Rival flat bar shifter on a short range 11 speed cassette (11-40 for example). Just because I have the bits to do so. However, I haven't got a spare bike to trial it on yet so cannot tell you if it will work sorry 😁
I did it with my Genesis Croix de Fer. I used a 20mm longer stem and it's fine (although I do have little T Rex arms!) I went to 1x11 at the same time (it was originally 2 x 10) and used Shimano XT and SLX stuff.
This is probably dumb, but is the cheapest way not to get some flat bullhorn bars, stick the existing shifters on the bullhorns - kind of like a TT bar, then put grips/tape on the flat bit? Could always the additional brake levers for the tops.
Common advice would be ‘you’ll need a shorter stem’
No it wouldn't. Common advice will be, you'll need a longer stem! The reach on a like-for-like drop bar bike is shorter than a flat barred.
As above the cheapest would be a bull bar conversion, getting around the too short for flat bar frame and using most of your current components. But I suspect this is not what you were envisioning...
A tiny bit more info might be needed. Are we adapting a bike for a relative here?
9 speed mtb and road stuff is cross compatible, so any mtb shifter will work. Front mech has slightly different cable pull but can often be made to work.
The Sora front mech we had just refused to play ball. I ended up buying Sora flat bar shifter.
Cheapest way we did it was secondhand bar, grips, bar ends, brake levers, rear shifter and a new Sora front shifter.
Absolute cheapest if you can't get second hand would be some friction thumb shifters. No indexing by will work fine and let you decide whether you like the flat bar thing or not. Then you can decide whether to buy some fancier shifters or go back to drops.
My hack bike has friction thumbies as it's a mish mash of bits old, newer, cheap, second hand etc. and they work fine. Just a bit old school relearning how to feel for a gear rather than click and trust.
https://www.velovitality.co.uk/collections/transmission/products/falcon-friction-shifters-inc-cables
It's not much more to buy these (i've used them to convert my OHs Ridgeback touring bike to flats and they work fine)
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1X-Altus-M370-9-Speed-Shifter-Trigger-Set-SL-M370-3X9-with-Inner-Cable-X5K8/203129538320?