Bicycle Components for Dummies

road bike with flat bar

In the world of bogosity, there are few more bogus "information transfer professionals" than self-styled professional freelancers. This is especially true of the freelancers who wrote for the Demand Media Systems (DMS) family, including eHow.com and LiveStrong.com, dumping out thousands of ill-informed and misinformed posts per week. Among the dross moved to niches by Leaf Group, DMS¹ renamed, is an Erica Leigh post at SportsRec.com, purporting to address the question, "Can I Put Mountain Bike Components on a Road Bike Frame?" (previously housed at LiveStrong).

Let's put that question to the AN's house cyclists. The answer? a resounding, "Why would you?"

Leigh, apparently not a cyclist herself, decided that,

"A mechanic considering putting mountain bike components on a road bike frame must account for component sizing standards..."

...among other caveats. She then proceeded to spout specifications harvested from various websites, not ONE of which said a word about swapping parts between MTBs and road bikes. We would be remiss if we did not point out to Erica that the combination of MTB-like components and a road-like frame already exists; it's called a "hybrid." Duh.
Our cyclists suspect that the OQ was unhappy with the drop handlebars found on most road bikes at the time (you can get flat-bar bikes these days, and touring bikes have long been available). Swapping out handlebars would require changing the shifters and brake levers for the new configuration, a necessity that Leigh mumbled about briefly, although she seemed much more concerned about the handlebar diameter:

"Most road bikes have larger diameter handlebars than mountain bikes. As a result, you can't install mountain bike handlebars without also changing the handlebar stem into which the handlebars clamp. As the stem of road bike handlebars is often narrower than the stem of mountain bike handlebars, this can pose a considerable problem."

Erica's wrong about the diameter of the handlebars at the stem, which is standardized. She was also confused about the stem, which is a separate component from the handlebars. What "narrower" means in this context, anyway, is an unknown. And as for the shifters? Erica thinks that,

"Mountain bike levers do not usually work well on road bike handlebars due to design differences in the handlebars."

First, MTB shifters won't work on a road bars because of the diameter difference she had already mentioned and second – and far more important – they won't work because of the configuration of the lever assemblies. In closing, Erica claimed that,

"Seat posts vary considerably in size and length and are difficult to change between bike types..."

...making it pretty damned clear that Leigh had no idea what a seat post is.

There is danger in knowing so little about your topic that you think a 20-year-old website is "up to date," and that danger is earning the title of Dumbass of the Day. You're welcome, Erica.

¹ DMS, as in, "You can't spell 'dumbass' without 'DMS'!"

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