road wheels for MTB

Wily-Quixote

Would it be possible, or even advisable, to build some 29er through-axle disc hubs with 700c rims?

I'm thinking of one do-it-all bike but would much prefer road tyres for the road than 29er tractor tyres.... or would I not notice that much diffrence?

The Rookie

That would be cyclocross wheels then? Not much to choose between narrow XC/CX or road (clincher) rims, but if you want good, then get some Mavic open Pros.

The Nephew went from 1.95" MTB dual purpose tyres to some (still relatively wide) 32mm road tyres and noticed a huge difference in the feel and responsiveness of his bike, mind you the 1.95's were fairly heavy OE wired fare.

nicklouse

first off you have a 29er or a .....

yes road rims can be built ont a disc hub and used on a 26er with suitable slicks.

you can also get slicks to fit 29ers.

if you dont have discs it aint happening.

Barteos

The lines between road, CX and MTB rims/wheels start blurring due to the fact that road rims are getting wider - 23-25mm becoming a norm.
Unless you intend to run 23mm (not much sense IMO) you could even get away with 28mm wide rims easily. In fact it may be even a better option for tyres wider than 28mm.
E.g. I used to run Conti Grand Prix 28mm tyres on Stans Flow rims and they very brilliant (stretched to 32mm).

Before you go for narrow tyres, give some lightweight fast rolling XC tyres like e.g. Furious Fred a go. On the road they are much faster than many people think.
I've been using them for a while on my franken road/gravel drop bike and they beat Conti Grand Prix 28mm slicks! and are only around 0.3mph slower than benchmark road tyres - 25mm GP4000s.
That's at speeds of around 19-20mph while riding on the drops. On a bike with straight bars this difference would be even smaller.

Bear in mind that your top speed will be always limited by aerodynamics.

jds_1981

I've some sammy slick tyres on shimano mt55 mtb wheels on my CX bike and they're fairly quick.

Wily-Quixote

Thanks for the responses. I might clarify what i was after:
I have a lightweight 29er hardtail. I'd like to have one wheelset for off-road/gravel roadss and commutes. I was htinking of another wheelset for road riding - with mtb disc hubs and road rims so that I could stick on road tyres and have a 'fast' bike for pure road riding without resorting to a road bike. Before you write: 'buy a road bike' I have a road bike that I'm about to sell. I don't race anymore and I find the roadie position on my aging spine barely tolerable now. Nevertheless, there are times where I'd like to go on a pure road blast and vaguely recreate that beautiful smooth road bike vibe. This is where I'd like light smooth road rims and road tyres.

I wasn't leaning towards CX wheels/tyres. Clearly I'd need to have the wheels built with MTB disc hubs and with road rims for the second wheelset (and that was the focus of my question).

I'll try the 29er rims with furious freds and see how they go on the road - my gut feeling is htat I'd still like another wheelset with, at the least slicks, at the most road rims - although I accept that slicks on a 29er wheel might be just fine - I was wondering if there is any advantage (or indeed detriment) to having road rims on a MTB hub for pure road riding.

Anyway, thanks again for the feedback and further comments if you have them.

nicklouse

in that case i would just buy some slick and fit them to what you have now.

The Rookie

Changing wheels will usually mean re-indexing gears and re-centering brake callipers, swapping tyres is usually less hassle than having a spare set of wheels!

njee20

I wouldn't bother with Furious Freds for a road wheelset. They're designed as an ultra-lightweight fast rolling off road tyre. They're still heavier than a narrow slick, which will be more hard wearing on the road.

Wily-Quixote

TY again for the advice. cyd, thanks I think just a lightweight 29er wheelset with road tyres will sort me out clearly I'll need the same gear size on the cluster to make it compatible...

cheers

wily

nicklouse

Wily-Quixote wrote:

TY again for the advice. cyd, thanks I think just a lightweight 29er wheelset with road tyres will sort me out clearly I'll need the same gear size on the cluster to make it compatible...

cheers

wily

most likely need the gears resetting each time you swap wheels not to mention the brakes.

get some rotor shims and set both sets to the same position.

BigAl

The Rookie wrote:

Changing wheels will usually mean re-indexing gears and re-centering brake callipers, swapping tyres is usually less hassle than having a spare set of wheels!

Each to their own, but I'd sooner change wheels than tyres. Barrel adjust gears and loosen/re-tighten calipers is easier for me? Maybe I'm just lucky and my rotors and cassette are similar on both wheelsets.

The Rookie

Barrel adjust gears AND the H and L stops........

Getting the same make of rear hub would help, for example the Trizoid hubs from superstar move the cassette in by what is effectively one whole gear (with a Shimano hub in place 8th was where 9th was on the Superstar wheels).

BigAl

The Rookie wrote:

Barrel adjust gears AND the H and L stops........

Getting the same make of rear hub would help, for example the Trizoid hubs from superstar move the cassette in by what is effectively one whole gear (with a Shimano hub in place 8th was where 9th was on the Superstar wheels).

As I said maybe I'm just lucky and my wheels are spaced very similarly but swapping my wheels needs very little effort

The Rookie

Well if they have hubs from the same manufacturer (as opposed to having the same 'badge') then it helps a lot!

nicklouse

The Rookie wrote:

Well if they have hubs from the same manufacturer (as opposed to having the same 'badge') then it helps a lot!

but again different levels of wear in the bearings can also effect positioning.

as can OCD with gear and brake set up.

The Rookie

Indeed (hence helps, not fixes it!).....

BigAl

nicklouse wrote:

as can OCD with gear and brake set up.

photonic69

Just change tyres like I do. Only takes 15 minutes.

I use these on my 29er rims http://www.evanscycles.com/products/continental/travel-contact-tyre-ec004867?country=GB&currency=GBP&utm_content=mkwid__pcrid_17321847296_kword__match__plid_

Makes it very quick on the tarmac and will cope with tow paths too.

Wily-Quixote

Thanks photoNic but I'm after a road tyre AND a MTB tyre. I'm happy with something like a Furious fred for Commuting/MTBing but I want a dedicated road tyre for pure road riding (after 20 years being predominately a roadie).
I'm leaning towards just changing tyres for whn I want to get some road rides in 9after reading the advice above) - and will probably go with whatever fits on my 29er rims.

cheers,

wily

njee20

That's just daft. The Furious Fred is an absolutely all out race tyre, ultra light, very little grip, very fragile. I can see why someone may use one as a road/off road tyre, but if you have a proper road tyre it's a really daft choice to cover the off road side of things. The Racing Ralph is a far better all round MTB tyre.

For the road use I'd go for something like a 28c Conti GP 4 Seasons, they'll be far tougher than the Furious Freds too, so I'd keep them on for commuting.

photonic69

TBH the Conti Travel Contacts are not as knobbly as the pic suggests. They are quite smooth, slick for road use and I pump them up at around 95-105 PSI no problem so basically you are riding on a centre of about 7mm. Try them first as it is quite a cheap option. I managed to pick up a pair for around £30 a while back.

Also, an MTB, even a light-weight hard tail 29er is never going to be a road bike due to the gearing being completely different. You'll struggle to get a front ring of more than 44T on a usual set-up with a 11/12 cog at the back. That and the weight of the forks (assuming you have suspension) will make it feel far less of a road bike than buying new rims and road slicks will make it feel more of a road bike, if you get my thinking.

The Rookie

44:11 is 4:1
53:13 (normal road top gear) is just 7.6% taller (about one gear spacing) and very few people will pedal one out on the flat, so I don't see gearing as an issue!

nicklouse

PhotoNic69 wrote:

You'll struggle to get a front ring of more than 44T on a usual set-up with a 11/12 cog at the back.

no you will not. very easy to get 48T without even trying.

photonic69

nicklouse wrote:

PhotoNic69 wrote:

You'll struggle to get a front ring of more than 44T on a usual set-up with a 11/12 cog at the back.

no you will not. very easy to get 48T without even trying.

Yeah, but then you might need to change the front derailleur too. Some with a braze-on fixed mount it wont work. I was looking into this 6 months back when I got my bike. It has a 44T ring so that will actually do me fine. Yes, it does pedal out when going downhill at 38mph but then it is a 30 limit anyway and I soon come across cars going too slow and giving way to other cars coming up. I thought it not worth the extra effort.

njee20

How many MTBs have braze on front mechs? I've never seen one.

53:13 (normal road top gear)

13-up cassette is pretty unusual on the road, 11 or 12 as per MTBs far more common, but yes, your point still stands.

nicklouse

njee20 wrote:

How many MTBs have braze on front mechs? I've never seen one.

one of mine has.

The Rookie

Many of the Boardman's have a direct mount....

njee20

That's not braze on though.

nicklouse

but that is.

Wily-Quixote

njee20 wrote:

That's just daft. The Furious Fred is an absolutely all out race tyre, ultra light, very little grip, very fragile. I can see why someone may use one as a road/off road tyre, but if you have a proper road tyre it's a really daft choice to cover the off road side of things. The Racing Ralph is a far better all round MTB tyre.

For the road use I'd go for something like a 28c Conti GP 4 Seasons, they'll be far tougher than the Furious Freds too, so I'd keep them on for commuting.

Thanks, but it's not daft - most (nearly all) of my 'MTBing' is not MTB trails it is on rough bush tracks (fire trails in aussie parlance). i agree the RR is agreat tyre but all I'm after is a light tyre that'll handle gravel. If I'm wrong and the FF die on me I'll write back with contrition and you can say 'I told you so'.

The 29er is fine for the road (gearing wise). I know it's not a road bike but 9kg is nearly as light as my current road bike and iif I really want to get rid of the front suspension well I can go down the rigid path some time in the future to save weight. I'm ditching the road bike because my aging spine can no longer handle the low front end, I no longer race on the road and I do just as much exploring and riding on gravel tracks as i do on hte road these days.

So I'm looking at just one bike - the problem being: i want road tyres for road blasts, which was the original focus of my post.