building new wheels

baser

Hi All

I am thinking of having a new set of wheels made for my MTB to make it faster as a commuting rig.

I have laid my hands on a cheep pair off Ritchey WCS 700c rims, conti tyres and tubes etc and I am thinking of buying a pair of hubs and having them built up. I will need to use disc hubs, thinking Shimano deore / slx / xt etc.

Has anyone done this, are there any pitfalls I should be aware of other than nuber of spokes and clearances?

Thanks

John Stevenson

Borrow a set of 700C wheels and test the fit first. Most mountain bikes have enough space in the frame to do this, but you'll be limited to, say, 23mm tyres in some frames. Definitely a good way to speed up a mountain bike on the road, though.

If 700Cs don't fit, get a set of slicks on mountain bike wheels.

baser

Thanks John

Already run slicks on 26" wheels, but spin out around 35mph, looking for around 40mph, will try and lay my hands on a set of 700c's for a test.

thel33ter

Also make sure that the brakes will reach, unless you use discs.

John Stevenson

baser wrote:

Thanks John

Already run slicks on 26" wheels, but spin out around 35mph, looking for around 40mph, will try and lay my hands on a set of 700c's for a test.

700Cs won't quite get you that. A 622mm bead seat rim with 25mm tyre gives you 672mm tread-tread diameter; 559mm MTB rim plus typical slicks - I like 1.5 inchers, but let's say you're on 1.25ers - is 624mm so the 700Cs are only 7.5 percent bigger. Still worth having though. You might want to throw a bigger outer ring into the mix.