road size wheels on an mtb?

[Snoop Doug]

Hi folks

Anyone ever had a 700c wheel made up with mtb hubs n disks? Does it work? I'm trying to get an adapt for my mtb so I can use for on road too.

Advice and previous experiences of this much appreciated

Snoop

[Dominic]

Snoop,

I did similar a few years ago when I started audaxing to negate me having to buy another bike. The biggest handicap I found was the suspension forks so I put rigid mtb fork on the front. I increased the size of the front chainrings to 48 and 36 and put a slightly smaller cassette on the back. Wheels wise, I didn't have the luxury of disks so was pretty much stuck with 26". Which to be honest wasn't a problem. I got a light pair of cross country rims put on the hubs and got some inch wide slicks. Job done!

As for the question of 700c on mtb hubs. SJS cycles build their road wheels on mtb hubs because they think the top range Shimano ones are better quality. I can't see it being a problem and would open up more of a range of tyres. My only concern albeit a small one would be eventually you may have issues with the cassette and chain if you are changing from one back wheel to another. IE I imagine you would have different wheels for mountain biking with a different cassette on. The chain will wear with the cassette that you use the most. But I suppose if you change the wheels frequently it may not be a problem.

I am sure one of the more mountain bike orientated agreeables will be along with better technical advice later.

Just to add I was quite comfomfortably knocking out 200k audaxes on mine and I am sure somebody will let you know about Andy Wilkinson knocking out incredible TT times/distances on his!

[Dombo]

Why not stick some narrow HP slicks on the mtb wheel? I did my first couple of CRs and a 20 mile commute on 26x1" Specialized All Condition Pros. Pumped to 100psi they were fine.

[Jon H]

Buy a set of wheels for a 29er and put road tyres on them. Job done.

[Dombo]

Or for the same money as new 29er wheels, tyres and tubes get a 2nd hand steel-framed road bike off ebay. Again, that's what I did, £120 for the bike, 70 quid for decent tyres, tubes, cables and the whole thing was lighter than my mtb and better suited to the road. Did me fine for a year's CRs in the 18s until I decided to upgrade.

[Sylv]

yeh it's a good idea but I wouldn't bother. As dombo says a good pair of 1" slicks makes it snoop-er fast.

i was able to (mostly) keep up with Dave K, George, Paul and Jim B for 110 miles on mine

[img]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4081/4876572020_b0a0815aff.jpg[/img]

make sure you buy 1" - 26" tubes!

mtb rear hubs are 135mm too vs 130mm for road

[Dombo]

Very nice, classic looking bike, Sylv. What is it?

[Phil H]

My son's strange mutant road bike is actually a small MTB frame with 700c wheels and road forks (the shop found some carbon ones and he is dead proud of them). They fit OK and normal calliper brakes work. Yes, the rear forks are 5mm too wide but the shop got around that problem by ignoring it. It just means the quick release isn't all that quick because it's squeezing the frame together (if you see what I mean).

[Sylv]

It's a steel Sunn DIX from '93. Was so called as it was a ltd edition for the company's 10th birthday, weighted 10kg (XTR parts) and cost 10,000f

Bought it second hand and had it as a main bike, then a commuter, then the frame was hung up a wall for about 5 years. Last year revived it once again as a commuter Old steel never dies

I need to work out a way to avoid dropping the chain off the single ring - happens about once a day when shifting. I usually manage to put it back with the foot while riding, but the other day it happened going down Croydon Underpass - had to stop on the side as it was too dangerous - scary!

[Jamie AP]

[quote="Sylv"]I need to work out a way to avoid dropping the chain off the single ring - happens about once a day when shifting. I usually manage to put it back with the foot while riding, but the other day it happened going down Croydon Underpass - had to stop on the side as it was too dangerous - scary!

[Dombo]

10,000 french or swissie ?
I have a '97 Trek 930 as station bike; as you say, old steel never dies. Though I keep mine dirty to discourage unwanted attention.
Maybe remove a link or two? A front mech might work also, stopped out to the side the chain usually drops out to. But it would spoil the clean lines.

[Sylv]

yeh that's what I meant about the front mech. Can't cut chain shorter as running a wide range cassette.
10,000FRF. I had it covered with black tape too when i first moved to London to discourage thieves

[Elliot M]

one advantage of using 700c wheels over 26" is that your gears will be about 6% higher.

[Snoop Doug]

So I have thinner tyres, seems I just need a stronger and a thinner me. Bummer. I really struggle to keep up with folks on the road. Must try harder

[Dombo]

Or ride with the 15s. That was my inaugural CR on my mtb and i had to replace my brake pads afterwards