Tires and Wheels

     I knew going into this project that one item would give me the greatest improvement in efficiency and road feel. That would be tires. Going from knobbies to slick or semi-slick tires is probably the single most noticeable change you can make in your mountain to commuter conversion. That being said, it was still going to be a compromise. I still wanted to be able to ride crushed limestone and hard packed dirt with some confidence. I settled on the Michelin Country Rock as my compromise.

    At 1.75" wide, these are not the thinnest or fastest semi-slicks available. But they are a vast improvement in efficiency while being versatile enough that I can still leave the road now and again. They were also cheap at about $17 per tire. They are virtually silent and along with the super quiet Deore 525 freewheel hubs, I'm now riding in a relaxing state of near-silence.

Brakes and cables

So the drivetrain is squared away. Lets figure out how we are going to stop this frankenbike. Having installed the rigid Surly 1x1 fork, I now had the option of a front disk brake. I'll admit that the driving force for this choice was just the novelty. I've never had disk brakes before - so what the hell. I opted for an Avid BB7 mechanical disk for simplicity and reliability.

    Besides the occasional squeal, these brakes have been great. Coming from the old cantilevers, they are a real upgrade. As I've mentioned before, I'm usually pulling a trailer with two kids. These brakes have what it takes to stop this clydesdale, and the caboose, with no problem. 

    For the rear brakes I was limited to V-brakes due to the old frame. I opted for Avid Single Digit 7's. These are still a major upgrade over the old cantilevers. They are solid and easy to adjust. 

    Both of these brakes were matched to Avid Speed Dial 7 levers. I guess the advantage is the adjust-ability of pull but I tend to just leave them in the most aggressive setting.

   This brings us to cables. This was one of my favorite upgrades to the bike. After reading the almost universally glowing reviews of the Yokozuna MTB brake and shifter cable kit, I had to get it. Everything that I read was true. They are super slippery, and the brake housing is super stiff - for better and worse. You just can't make tight bends in the brake cable. I actually had to skip a brake cable braze-on on the seat tube because I couldn't make the turn. I actually think that this has more to do with the frame being designed for cantilever brakes. see photo below.

    These cables are pretty. The finish is great and function is perfect. The kit was very generous with both cable and housing. My frame has an abundance of cable stops and I bought a bag of SRAM emblazoned ferrules to neatly start and finish the exposed cable runs.

     Cabling technique was also an area that wasn't as straight forward as just bolting components into place. There is a lot of wiggle room. I'm not sure that I did it perfectly - but everything works flawlessly so it can't be that poorly done.  

Lets talk drivetrain. I was coming from a full Shimano XT, 24 speed setup. These components had always been good to me. My biggest issue was not being able to go to more powerful brakes because of the short pull cantilever brake levers. The brake levers and shifters were contained in a single unit like this so I couldn't just replace one thing at a time.

After hearing lots of talk about 10 and 11 speed rear cassettes and derailleurs, I chose to go with a SRAM X9 shifter and rear deraileur with 10 speeds. I also made the decision to go single ring up front. 

Actually, I had decided to go 1x10 before choosing my components. It seems very fashionable these days but is also a reasonable compromise between cost, simplicity and effectiveness. Looking at gear ratio calculators showed that I wouldn't really lose gears that I actually use by going with a 32 tooth front ring and an 11-34 tooth 10 speed rear cassette. Each shift is a bigger ratio jump than before but it doesn't bother me at all. I will also say that I'm almost always pulling a trailer with two kids in it. I have yet to meet a hill that I couldn't climb - and I'm NOT a strong rider.

The choice of the X9 rear derailleur with clutch came because I didn't want to put a chain guide or bash ring on my bike to keep the chain where it belongs. The clutch system keeps the chain from jumping off of the front ring during big shifts. After hundreds of miles, I haven't dropped a chain once.

The front chainring choice was limited. The XT cranks of that vintage used 5 bolts as opposed to the modern 4 bolt cranks. I went as far as contacting Wolftooth to inquire about a fit for my old crank. They responded that there was no plan to produce a chainring in that size. I eventually found a 32 tooth ring made by a Canadian company - BlackSpire. It is called the Mono Veloce and the model number is 9432 for the bolt spacing and tooth count. I installed it right where the original middle chainring was with the 3 ring system. I did have to replace the bolts with shorter ones. spacers are also available to allow you to use the original bolts. I don't have an opinion as to which method is better. the bolts that I bought are steel and should be stronger. I'm very happy with the BlackSpire MonoVeloce 9432 chainring. It is attractive and well machined and finished.

Rounding out the drivtrain are the SRAM PG1050 11-34 tooth rear cassette and SRAM PC 1091R 10 speed chain.

After installing the Surly 1x1 fork, all of the tough jobs were over. I bought a Ritchey high rise road stem that is 70mm long and has a 30 degree angle rise. In addition to the steep stem angle, I put a fat spacer below the stem. The stem was a bit of a pitfall because, out of ignorance, I ordered one with a 31.8mm handlebar diameter. My bars, Which I was planning on keeping, were the standard MTB 25.4mm. So, I ordered some spacers, slapped them in, and used them for a few weeks.

After a few weeks, I realized that even after the high rise stem and spacer, I still wanted a more upright riding position. I also felt like my bars, which I had cut down to 23" in about 1998, were probably a little too narrow. Back then narrow bars were all the rage. After doing some reading online, I see that now wide bars are the ticket. I'm not going to be shooting the gap between trees on super narrow trails in the forest with this bike - so i decided to give the wider bars a try. This gave me a chance to do two things. First, I could get bars that fit my 31.8mm stem without the shims. Secondly, I could add a little more rise. I went with the Azonic World Force bars with a 3" rise. They seemed obnoxiously wide out of the box and I cut them down to 27". They still look crazy wide to me, but man are they more comfortable. I honestly feel like I can breathe easier with my arms spread further apart. Great upgrade!

I'm fairly sure that these bars are actually made for aggressive downhill riding. Whatever, there aren't many options for 31.8mm in a rise higher than 2". At least I don't have to worry about breaking them.  

    It is not my goal to provide a step-by-step guide to replacing all of the components of your bike. I don't have the expertise or patience for that. What I want to do is outline my steps to re-build my very outdated bike and the pitfalls that I had to overcome to complete it. Bikes have changed a lot since 1994 - but I am here to tell you that you can have a modern bike and keep your beloved old frame.

     Here were the biggest challenges to rebuilding the 1994 Parkpre Pro 825:

1. Headset - This is the single biggest reason that I didn't start this project years ago. Because the bike was so old,  I assumed that it was a 1", threaded headset. Turns out that it was threaded, but was the more modern standard of 1-1/8". So, I just replaced the headset with a standard 1-1/8th modern headset from my LBS. It is branded with their in-house name so I have no idea who made it. It says "Milwaukee Bicycle Co." so I added a little local flare right away. Here is what I ended up with. 

This was the first thing I did and the only thing that I had done in the shop. 

2. Rigid Fork - The new headset opened up many new options for the bike. So, While I was there, I picked up a Surly 1x1 fork with disk mount that is compensated to replace an 80mm travel suspension fork. The Parkre Pro 825 came with a Manitou 3. It had elastomers and limited travel compared to a modern suspension fork. The Surly 1x1 came in several flavors. I chose the shorter one (80mm) with both v-brake and disk mount options. Although I didn't do measurements of before and after head tube angles, this fork seems to be the perfect replacement. And now I can have disk brakes!!!!! Up front at least.  

Pre-build info

     I will outline the whole project on this blog. I am a handy guy, but I was not especially bike handy. Almost all of my technique has been gleaned from reading articles and watching videos on the internet. I relied heavily on online gear reviews to make gear choices.


    In all aspects of my consumerism I tend to buy products in the lower high-end realm. The parts are really good without paying the ultra premium price. This was true of most of the components that I chose for my Parkpre conversion project. The lowest end components were probably the Deore 525 hubs. That said, they are great. they are tough, have super quiet freewheel and are highly rated. So they're a little heavy......




     To prepare for the build I purchased a basic, plastic case packaged bike tool kit from a major online bike retailer. In addition to this I bought a chain link tool, a star nut tool, a cable and housing cutter and a third hand tool. I borrowed a bike stand from a friend - and it was on.

Cable and housing cutter. Of these additional tools, this is the only one that I would consider truly vital.

  The Chain link tool is very, very handy and I'm glad that I bought it. That said, there are other ways to accomplish what it does at considerable inconvenience. Almost vital.

The star nut tool is not really necessary in hindsight. Again, it was nice to have but by no means required. After seeing what job it accomplishes, I realized that I could have done this job in many other ways.

Third hand tool. Accomplished little besides f'ing up my cables. I do not find this tool helpful at all.






     Again, I'm no bike mechanic. I'm sure that if I was, I would own and use all of these tools and more, and use them all of the time. My advice is just for people doing a one-off project or maintaining their own bike. Just for reference, I changed out EVERY component on my bike, besides the cranks and bottom bracket. The only work that I had done in a shop was replacing the headset. I also bought it at the shop so it was a no-brainer.

    In the beginning there was a 1994 Parkpre Pro 825 mountain bike, and it was sweet. I have a friend whose brother was a rep for them and I got a great deal. I was 20 years old and this was way more bike than I needed. I rode the hell out of it for years. This bike was well appointed with a 17 inch "Tange Ultimate Superlight MTB" frame in a "Ti plated finish". The bike had full XT components with combination shift and brake levers, Critical Racing cantilever brakes (before V-brakes), Pullstar Hubs, a Manitou 3 front elastomer shock with a 1 1/8 threaded headset.

     I have not purchased a bike since then. I would ride the Parkpre here and there but the older and more out of shape I got, the less comfortable it was. I did make a few "upgrades" over the years. I swapped out the Zoom flat bar for a cut down Profile Design riser bar, the seat was replaced with a WTB Speed V and I've replaced the Manitou elastomers several times.

    Then I got married, bought a house and had a few kids. The Parkpre hung upside down in my garage for years. Several times I contemplated updating the bike. I just wanted to do little things that would improve my comfort and efficiency. The problem was, the bike was just old enough that most of the original technologies and standards had changed. I couldn't switch brakes because I had short throw cantilever levers on the combo XT shifter/levers and I didn't want to switch the whole thing out. I couldn't switch out forks because I had the odd threaded headset (thank god it was at least a 1-1/8). I also couldn't just switch out the stem because mine was a threaded dinosaur.


    At some point last year I decided to start looking for a new bike. We had started to trailer the kids around on the bikes and I was not at all happy about the comfort of the old Parkpre. After researching new bikes in my budget and not being very impressed, I decided to overhaul the old Parkpre from the ground up! After all, it's a great steel frame that still looks and feels amazing.

 





 So, here is my project. I didn't really take any before pictures, but I have tons of after ones. The project turned out way better than I even imagined it would. Here she is!