Second set of wheels

Shoes
Shoes Posts: 19
edited March 2010 in MTB beginners
I currently have a GT Avalanche with 2.1 Kenda Nevegal tyres on. They are superb off road, very grippy and exactly what I want. However on road they're crap and really draggy. Now I cannot be doing with changing tyres all the time so does it make sense to buy a second set of wheels, perhaps ones more suited to road riding and then put some nice skinny MTB road tyres on them?

I know this will be quite an expensive investment, so what I would like to know I guess is how much drag will i save and cornering grip will i gain if I use road tyres as opposed to the off road ones I have now? Is it worth the investment?

I would of course need another casette and a set of rotors as well as the wheel set and tyres - sounding more expensive by the minute lol
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Comments

  • CraigXXL
    CraigXXL Posts: 1,852
    You will need to ensure the rotors are equally lined up using shims unless you use the same hubs as your offroad wheels or you'll have to keep realigning your calipers too. If you keep an eye out on ebay and the classifieds you will get some second hand wheels off an another Avalanche which would be your cheapest and best option.
  • Northwind
    Northwind Posts: 14,675
    I was going to do this. Made a cheap rat roadie instead, it cost about the same and is far more practical, less wear and tear on the expensive mtb bits too.
    Uncompromising extremist
  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    May still have to adjust gears every time. Could be issues with chains and cassettes.

    Usually cheaper and simpler just to change to tyres!
  • Maybe best with a half way house set of tyres?

    Not sure if that would work?

    Any ideas anyone?

    My GT came second-hand with slicks, great for the road and not off road. So had to put the Kenda's back on.
  • Shoes
    Shoes Posts: 19
    Nah i'm going all or nothing on this, although having taken my tyre off earlier, put it back on and pressurised I'm considering the just change the tyres option. Took a lot less time that I expected and that will only improve with practice.

    I bet some of you lot can do it milirary style - 60 seconds, blindfolded :D
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    All of your photographic needs covered, from portraiture to weddings.
  • stubs
    stubs Posts: 5,001
    Shoes wrote:

    I bet some of you lot can do it milirary style - 60 seconds, blindfolded :D

    60 seconds yeahh no problem might have to put my mug of coffee down first though wouldnt want to risk spilling it :wink:
    Fig rolls: proof that god loves cyclists and that she wants us to do another lap
  • cavegiant
    cavegiant Posts: 1,546
    If running tubeless (like me) then get two sets of wheels.
    But switching normal tyres is just as fast.

    I have two sets of wheels, I have to readjust the brakes each time (not just alignment but stroke) I leave the gears set up for MTB though, you don't need many gears on road.
    Why would I care about 150g of bike weight, I just ate 400g of cookies while reading this?
  • kenan
    kenan Posts: 952
    I'm in the process of sorting a second set of wheel for my GT Avalanche for road/off road.

    I have a GT I-Drive which I am taking the second set from as have new wheels in the post. I will have one with slicks and one with Verticals on, never liked the Nevegals. Both bikes have the same hub and brake rotors and have swapped wheels over before and not had any problems. The hub is used on lots of cheaper bikes so if your shrewd you should be able to score some cheap from ebay etc.

    Found the gears good for road with the standard cassette and slicks make the bike real fast. Picked the bike up off my brother in law cheap as a backup bike and found it very versatile as it is a good trail bike and with the lockout on and slicks rolls fast on road.