I've been looking at a few frames with geometry that should allow either a flat bar or drop bar setup (I'm kinda hedging against the possibility I can't stomach drops, but also I am thinking these bikes are mostly suspension corrected for 100mm forks, so I could run this thang in full gravel mode with rigid and drops, full xc/90s MTB mode with flats and a 100mm SID (probably require a 70mm stem, but that's okay), or any of the other combos).
It sounds fun but the bike Lego involved in terms of shifters and brake levers seems... Shitty. I wish GRX 12 speed had the same pull ratio as XT.
Seems like eagle mechanical with a modded road shifter would work, or really AXS makes the most sense since dropper and derailleur are just.. done.
I am actually thinking putting a good set of mechanical discs on might help as well, although with the drops the cables are inside the bar wrap? So that means undoing that, or have two sets of cable/housing that stay with the bars, which is maybe not the end of the world.
Any hacks here or is this just a lame plan of an indecisive mountain biker who can't embrace change? With AXS and replacing cable/housings wholesale I think it could be a ~1hr job which is not bad. Just requires batteries, and $$$.