Lynn’s Niner AIR 9 RDO — a small-frame mountain bike she rode all of last season — converted to drop bars for the Badlands Gravel Battle. The goal was simple: more confidence on fast descents. The solution was a little creative. SRAM Force wireless drivetrain, road crank stuffed into the mountain bike frame, Fox 32 fork up front, and aluminum Easton AX50 drop bars.
The Story
Why This Bike Exists
The setup came out of a conversation before the Badlands Gravel Battle. Steve, Lynn, and the boys were talking about how fast you could go on the downhills. Lynn admitted she was braking most of the way down. The idea was: what if she had suspension to take up the road chatter, and drop bars for a more confident descending position? The answer was right there in the shop — her old AIR 9.
Lynn had ridden it as a mountain bike the previous season. She’d moved to a Niner RKT for the new season, so the AIR 9 was sitting available. They decided to keep it and convert it.
Making the Drivetrain Work
Because SRAM’s wireless AXS shifting talks across road and mountain components, you can mix and match in ways that weren’t possible with mechanical. The Force drop bar hoods connected to the GX rear derailleur without issue. The trickier part was the crankset. The original mountain bike crank didn’t have enough top-end gear for gravel speeds, so they pulled Lynn’s Force carbon road crank and stuffed it into the MTB frame — different bottom bracket spacers, some shimming, and it worked. The 38T chainring came off an old RLT. After the race Lynn said she could have gone faster, so a 40T is likely next.
“When Lynn comes to us and says her bike’s not fast enough — myself and the boys get pretty excited.” — Steve
Fit and Feel
The stem got shortened from the mountain bike setup — down to 60mm — and the Easton AX50 bars are a shorter-reach drop bar, so the fit came together reasonably well even though the stack is a bit high for a gravel position. There’s room to lower it with time, but for the race it worked.
At the Badlands, Lynn reported being noticeably more comfortable on the descents — able to let go of the brakes and let the bike run. The suspension was doing its job absorbing the chatter that would have been unsettling on a rigid gravel bike.
The Takeaway
This isn’t a build you’d order from a catalog. It’s a practical solution to a real problem, built from parts already in the shop. SRAM’s wireless AXS ecosystem made the drivetrain mix work. The result is a bike that genuinely helped Lynn ride faster — which was the only goal.
If you’ve got a mountain bike sitting around and a gravel race on the calendar, the drop bar conversion is worth considering. It’s more fun to build than it sounds.
Want Something Built Like This?
We do a lot of creative builds. If you’ve got an idea or a frame, come talk to us.