Second set of wheels, is it that easy?

Twonkular

Can i just buy a second set of wheels with different tyres, cassette, disks and switch them out quickly and easily depending on the purpose of my ride?

I have road bike. It's lightweight, quick and I love it; wouldn't change a thing. However, I am about to embark on a fairly hefty month-long cycling tour with some pretty big hills, lugging bike-packing gear. Not wanting to splash out on a dedicated touring bike, i have resigned myself to butchering my little speed machine for the cause. There are 2 changes I want to make:

1. swap out the cassette: Currently sporting an 11-28, but want to swap that for something with a wider range (proably 11-34).

2. Put some beefier tyres on: The current tyres are narrow road tyres and will be uncomfortable over long distances, not to mention they have very limited grip in wet conditions. I want to swap them for something in the 700x32 range instead.

While looking into this, it occurred to me that these changes would probably be helpful during the winter anyway, and for any future mini-tours. This got me thinking: Could i just buy a second set of wheels, attach the aforementioned gear, some new discs and (with a bit of gear indexing) switch my wheels out at will depending on what kind of cycling I am going to be doing? Is it as simple as that, or have I overlooked some complexities that would make this harder or less convenient than I am imagining?

Note: I have disc brakes, which I think should make this process easier, and plan to buy the exact same wheels, and same make cassette, just with different tooth-count on the sprokets.

whyamihere

It's pretty much possible, but you have to be fairly lucky to have it work perfectly with no tweaks when you swap. The disc rotors and cassette will be in roughly the same place on each wheelset, but even being different by 1mm will require realigning the brakes and adjusting the gears slightly. It will only be 10-15 minutes work at most, but it would get old fast if swapping every day. For the discs, you can get spacers which fit between the hub and the rotor so that you can space them to be identical, which is a good thing to do to to make your life easier.

On the cassette, you'll need to make sure your mech can cope with an 11-34, and probably fit a longer chain.

Twonkular

To clarify: I don't plan to swap them daily. Just having gone through the hassle of swapping this gear over for the trip, it seems like further hassle to swap them, back when i get home, And then potentially do it again when winter comes around. I thought I could make my life easier by investing little in a second set of wheels.

even being different by 1mm will require realigning the brakes and adjusting the gears slightly

I see your point about disc alignment, I hadn't really considered that.

The other thing that has been troubling me is wear. Given that chains and cassettes tend to wear together, am i setting myself up for problems when I switch wheels and the wear levels are no longer balanced?

arlowood

Another thought is your drivetrain. Might help if you specify what you're running at the moment ie which bike and what gear system.

With an 11-28 cassette you could have a short cage (SS) rear derailleur. If so, that won't work with an 11-34 cassette. You'll need to fit a medium (GS) cage to cope with the extra teeth.

You can check your existing derailleur quickly by measuring the length between the jockey wheel pivots. 50mm and it's a short cage. 74mm and you have a medium cage.

Also would be worth check clearances for the 32mm tyres. I would think most disc frames will have no trouble but there may be a few that could be tightish

rafletcher

I swap front wheels on one of my disc equipped bikes (between dynamo and normal) regularly. Generally no adjustment of any kind necessary - this is with hydraulic discs. If any is needed, it's literally 5 m nutes to clamp the brake on, and loosen and retighten caliper mounts. Actually that's about 30 seconds, the rest is finding the bloody allen key! Similarly with rear wheels, it may be necessary to tweak the fine adjustment of the mech postion when changing, or maybe not. Comments re cassettes ratios and rear mechs above are valid - I run GS mechs on all my bikes so have no issues there.

Twonkular

With an 11-28 cassette you could have a short cage (SS) rear derailleur. If so, that won't work with an 11-34 cassette. You'll need to fit a medium (GS) cage to cope with the extra teeth.

This has actually long been a bit of a mystery to me, I bought the bike second-hand and can't find a model number on the derailleur. I had decided that it was long cage, but following a thorough inspection just now I'm pretty sure its this https://www.alltricks.com/F-32741-derailleurs_arriere/P-64939-shimano_ultegra_6800_11_speed_rear_derailleur_medium_cage
Which is medium cage, so may not do a 34.

As for the 700x32 tyre: the wheels are Mavic Aksium discs rated up to 700x32. Clearance in the forks looks like it may be a little close, but should go.

joe_totale-2

Twonkular wrote:

Note: I have disc brakes, which I think should make this process easier, and plan to buy the exact same wheels, and same make cassette, just with different tooth-count on the sprokets.

I'd say it's the opposite and actually discs make wheel swaps harder as you have the brake rotors to contend with.

arthur_scrimshaw

Twonkular wrote:

With an 11-28 cassette you could have a short cage (SS) rear derailleur. If so, that won't work with an 11-34 cassette. You'll need to fit a medium (GS) cage to cope with the extra teeth.

This has actually long been a bit of a mystery to me, I bought the bike second-hand and can't find a model number on the derailleur. I had decided that it was long cage, but following a thorough inspection just now I'm pretty sure its this https://www.alltricks.com/F-32741-derailleurs_arriere/P-64939-shimano_ultegra_6800_11_speed_rear_derailleur_medium_cage
Which is medium cage, so may not do a 34.

As for the 700x32 tyre: the wheels are Mavic Aksium discs rated up to 700x32. Clearance in the forks looks like it may be a little close, but should go.

You don't need to change the rear derailleur - get an appropriate wolf tooth or similar to extend your cassette options then simply remove when you go back to your original wheels..

https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Wolf-T ... lsrc=aw.ds

timothyw

The reason to do this would be if you were getting a set of wheels that were sturdier/cheaper so more likely to survive laden touring, or to avoid them being exposed to bad conditions in winter.

Buying the same set of wheels makes it, IMHO, pointless. Just buy yourself a little toolkit and swap the cassette, fit the new tyres and get on with it.

As has been covered above, it's very unlikely that swapping the cassette will be as simple as just putting a new cassette on - you will need a new/longer chain, and probably a longer cage derailleur. You might actually have an easier time buying smaller chainrings/chainset, depending on what you have, which will give the same effect of easier gearing.

Either way, extra wheels certainly doesn't make this easier IMHO - which isn't to say it's difficult, more that you are thinking about it the wrong way - one thing not mentioned is you'll also need to transfer brake rotors (or buy another set).

Also, can't see the point in the above mentioned 'wolf tooth' - for £10 more you can have a 105 GS derailleur and do the job properly.

arthur_scrimshaw

TimothyW wrote:

The reason to do this would be if you were getting a set of wheels that were sturdier/cheaper so more likely to survive laden touring, or to avoid them being exposed to bad conditions in winter.

Buying the same set of wheels makes it, IMHO, pointless. Just buy yourself a little toolkit and swap the cassette, fit the new tyres and get on with it.

As has been covered above, it's very unlikely that swapping the cassette will be as simple as just putting a new cassette on - you will need a new/longer chain, and probably a longer cage derailleur. You might actually have an easier time buying smaller chainrings/chainset, depending on what you have, which will give the same effect of easier gearing.

Either way, extra wheels certainly doesn't make this easier IMHO - which isn't to say it's difficult, more that you are thinking about it the wrong way - one thing not mentioned is you'll also need to transfer brake rotors (or buy another set).

Also, can't see the point in the above mentioned 'wolf tooth' - for £10 more you can have a 105 GS derailleur and do the job properly.

Properly - really? in what way does it not do the job properly? As for the point - I already outlined the point but for you I'll explain, it gives you a much wider choice of cassettes than a GS would give - up to a 40t low gear.

timothyw

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

TimothyW wrote:

The reason to do this would be if you were getting a set of wheels that were sturdier/cheaper so more likely to survive laden touring, or to avoid them being exposed to bad conditions in winter.

Buying the same set of wheels makes it, IMHO, pointless. Just buy yourself a little toolkit and swap the cassette, fit the new tyres and get on with it.

As has been covered above, it's very unlikely that swapping the cassette will be as simple as just putting a new cassette on - you will need a new/longer chain, and probably a longer cage derailleur. You might actually have an easier time buying smaller chainrings/chainset, depending on what you have, which will give the same effect of easier gearing.

Either way, extra wheels certainly doesn't make this easier IMHO - which isn't to say it's difficult, more that you are thinking about it the wrong way - one thing not mentioned is you'll also need to transfer brake rotors (or buy another set).

Also, can't see the point in the above mentioned 'wolf tooth' - for £10 more you can have a 105 GS derailleur and do the job properly.

Properly - really? in what way does it not do the job properly? As for the point - I already outlined the point but for you I'll explain, it gives you a much wider choice of cassettes than a GS would give - up to a 40t low gear.

My main criticism of the wolf tooth can be summarised as "£23 quid for that, are you having a laugh?"

The OP has said he wants to move to an 11-34 - exactly what an r7000 gs is designed for.

A wolf tooth will let you use bigger cassettes, sure, but shifting will be worse, particularly at the small end of the cassette. Hence doing the job properly..... why not do the job properly for an extra tenner, and have a spare derailleur to boot?

You'll still need to change the chain whatever you do.

And it's £23..... sod that.

Twonkular

I think you guys have done a pretty good job of talking me out of this plan. Too many unknowns regarding how well it would really work. I think instead I'll just convert to 11-32, slap on some 700x32 tyres and go through the full tyre/cassette changeover whenever I need to do it. Maybe I'll have to pedal a little harder, but it'll be good for me, right?

I appreciate the input from you all. Thanks.

lesfirth

I use that rear derailleur with a 36T. A 34T should not be a problem. Just reverse the B screw so that the head of the screw rests on the " end" of the drop out. No wolf tool ,no problem. You might need a longer chain but you will not have to shortened it when you revert to a 28T.
You might need a tweek to the rear indexing and calipers but the answer to your question,second set of wheels,is it that easy? is Yes.
IMHO your plan is easy and sensible.

laurentian

lesfirth wrote:

I use that rear derailleur with a 36T. A 34T should not be a problem. Just reverse the B screw so that the head of the screw rests on the " end" of the drop out. No wolf tool ,no problem. .

When I did a similar thing, reversing of the "B" screw didn't quite work. Went to LBS and got a 1" "B" screw and solved the problem.

rafletcher

lesfirth wrote:

I use that rear derailleur with a 36T. A 34T should not be a problem. Just reverse the B screw so that the head of the screw rests on the " end" of the drop out. No wolf tool ,no problem. You might need a longer chain but you will not have to shortened it when you revert to a 28T.
You might need a tweek to the rear indexing and calipers but the answer to your question,second set of wheels,is it that easy? is Yes.
IMHO your plan is easy and sensible.

Agreed.

lakesluddite

FYI Twonkular, I have been swapping two sets of wheels on my hydro disc winter/commuter bike over winter. I have a set of Aksium disc wheels that had ice-spike tyres and a set of Hunts that had normal tyres. Ice in the morning? No problem, just swapped them over (although heavier wheels with ice-spike tyres is a hell of a workout!). I found the disc rotors to fit fine - that might be something to do with the hubs being thru-axles, or just plain luck. I did have the same gear ratios though, so there was no difference in cassette, which helped.

I think that if you are to get a second set of wheels, why not upgrade a little, or go for a rim that can take a tyre wider than 32mm?

Twonkular

LakesLuddite wrote:

FYI Twonkular, I have been swapping two sets of wheels on my hydro disc winter/commuter bike over winter. I have a set of Aksium disc wheels that had ice-spike tyres and a set of Hunts that had normal tyres. Ice in the morning? No problem, just swapped them over (although heavier wheels with ice-spike tyres is a hell of a workout!). I found the disc rotors to fit fine - that might be something to do with the hubs being thru-axles, or just plain luck. I did have the same gear ratios though, so there was no difference in cassette, which helped.

I think that if you are to get a second set of wheels, why not upgrade a little, or go for a rim that can take a tyre wider than 32mm?

Thanks, that is good to know, maybe I will give it a bash when im feeling flush.

figbat

You've said you think there's room for a 32mm tyre in the fork, but what about the rear triangle? My Fuji came on 23s and will just take a 25mm tyre - the main constraint being that the tyre touches the seat tube during wheel installation, since the dropouts force the wheel forwards during installation/removal. I couldn't get a bigger tyre in unless I fitted it deflated and then pumped up on the bike.

Are you sure a 32mm tyre will fit in your fork and frame?

secretsam

It's not always 'that' easy, just took rear off my current bike (popped a spoke) and put on old rear wheel, shifting is slightly out.

rollemynot

If ever there was an excuse for N+1....