>>2025440I quite like those old 700c steel hybrids
They usually have a stable ride and work well with loads. It's nice that it has midfork bosses. That could actually make a decent cheap touring bike. You're also I think getting decent shimano hubs, and a cassette. Although the chance of them being pitted is pretty high.
Would make a great errand bike. As for the price, it's fair if the bike is actually in good condition, but being relatively low spec (alivio) the value as a project and the value parted out is approaching zero. Take a chain tool if you go to buy it and if the chain is stretched, if the headset has play, if the wheels are out of true, if the bearings feel rough, and if the tires have cracks, then massively lowball with cash under their nose or dip.
I don't think it makes sense to convert to drop bars because the frame is not high spec enough and I really don't see how making the bars ~10cm narrower would even make it much easier to store. And the purpose of the bike is that it rides like a tank, and is stable, which drop bars do not really synergise with. You could even just cut the flat bars down.
It wouldn't be hard to convert to drops though, canti brakes are compatible with drop bar brake levers and you'd solve the shifting with a clamp on friction stem shifter or dts which are cheap/free parts bin takeoffs.
The thing i don't like about it is the brake/shifters are integrated which makes setting up a basket harder, and they take up more space on the bars, although you can always cut the shifter part off with a hacksaw and get different shifters. The stem is also dangerously over extended although that is not hard to fix. Also the thing that actually makes a bike easy to store is being light, that bike isn't gonna be light and you're planning on adding shit to it to make it worse.
