road wheels for MTB

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  • The Rookie
    The Rookie Posts: 27,812
    njee20 wrote:
    That's not braze on though.
    No, but it poses a similar inconveniance!
    Currently riding a Whyte T130C, X0 drivetrain, Magura Trail brakes converted to mixed wheel size (homebuilt wheels) with 140mm Fox 34 Rhythm and RP23 suspension. 12.2Kg.
  • njee20
    njee20 Posts: 9,613
    but that is.

    Indeed it is, how unusual!
    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'.

    Fair enough, why not just buy a cyclocross bike? Freds will wear fast and puncture easily, but they are quick.
  • Wily-Quixote
    Wily-Quixote Posts: 269
    Hi njee,
    I had thought of a CX bike but they're difficult to find in Oz, no lighter than a light MTB (at least not within a reasonable price range), the gearing range is inadequate and headtube was still quite 'roadie'.

    i looked at a cannondale CX bike that was on sale. It was interesting to compare with my current road bike (also a coannondale caad frame). To get the right size in the cx bike I would have had to go down a size (to get frame clearence for off road) which would have meant the same headtube length as my road bike (so lots of spacers to get the height i need) and very unsuitable gearing. To get the gearing that I need I wanted 2 x 10 XT gears and getting them to work with sti levers sounded too hard. I need very low gears due to some extremely long and steep gradients that I regularly ride. To modify the gears would have cost hundreds of bucks.
    Ultimately the cx bike, even if I modified it, would also still have cable discs and TBH front suspension IS handy for some of the descents that I do...

    anyway for a couple of hundred dollars more than a CX bike (and probably the same price as modifying the gears on a CX) I've gone down the path of a lightweight carbon 29er MTB. I sold my anthem for a great price(just don't need FS, as awesome as the anthem 0 is) and got a 2013 Giant XTC SL Advanced on sale.I've removed some spacers, flipped the stem and my position is low enough - but still higher than my road position which saves my neck. The MTB is a hell of a lot more versatile than a CX bike - it has hydraulic discs, a carbon frame, the gearing I need, the position I need, can easily fit guards in winter and only slightly heavier - all this and rockshox SID front suspension.

    All I want now are road tyres (I was originally thinking of a separate wheelset but I have been dissuaded by the posts on this forum) to reproduce some of the feel of my road bike for when i want to crank out some road miles. I know that a MTB, even a light one with road tyres, won't be the same as a road bike but I am willing to compromise for comfort and, as I don't race any more, i suppose that it doesn't really matter if I sit alittle higher into the wind. The weight (surprisingly) is really only 1 kg more than my cannondale R1000 - less of a problem than you might think. As an aside - my MTB is lighter and cheaper and more comfortable than this: http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/cate ... -13-47701/

    So... now I have one bike that does it all - currently commuting and MTBing/exploring on racing Ralph's, will get some conti 28's for road blasts and furious freds when the RRs wear out.

    Still, after 20 years it's weird not being a 'roadie' any more.

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