# Question about disc brake wheels



## Cannondaleman (Nov 1, 2009)

Looking at a new Cannondale Synapse with disc brakes. The wheels offered are Maddux RD 2.0 in a 28 hole at my frame size of 54 cm. I don't know if these are wheels that I would keep or if I would upgrade. What are my options to upgrade and still have the disc brakes? I am 195 lbs and ride for recreation and exercise on good country-type roads. 4 to 5 organized/charity rides per year usually 30-50 miles each. Does anyone know the height and width of these wheels? I couldn't find them on their website. Thanks


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## Randy99CL (Mar 27, 2013)

Lots of companies are making disc 29er wheels that work on 135mm rear-spaced frames. You can get them at all price points starting at a couple hundred dollars for the cheap ones.

Ride the bike as it is for a while and test out the stock wheels. Take them apart and weigh them to see if it is worth buying a lighter set.


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## Wookiebiker (Sep 5, 2005)

The number of options you have is based on the width of your rear drop outs ... if they are 130mm wide, you are limited, if they are 135mm wide there are lots of options.

With 135mm drop outs you can run just about any 29'er MTB wheel, some of which are pretty darn light and very strong. You can also use MTB hubs with any road rim (clincher, tubeless or tubular) and have a set built up.

On my commuter bike (a disc brake cross bike) I had a set built up with MTB hubs:


White Industries Mi6 hubs
Sapim DB 14/15 spokes
H Son Plus Archetype rims
28c Continental Gatorskin tires


Overall, a vast improvement in stiffness, acceleration, handling and durability over the stock wheels. And they are a few ounces lighter as well.


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## tednugent (Apr 26, 2010)

Cannondaleman said:


> Looking at a new Cannondale Synapse with disc brakes. The wheels offered are Maddux RD 2.0 in a 28 hole at my frame size of 54 cm. I don't know if these are wheels that I would keep or if I would upgrade. What are my options to upgrade and still have the disc brakes? I am 195 lbs and ride for recreation and exercise on good country-type roads. 4 to 5 organized/charity rides per year usually 30-50 miles each. Does anyone know the height and width of these wheels? I couldn't find them on their website. Thanks


I can't find it on MADDUX either.

Spending nearly $2200 on the bike, you might as well ride it first. The Formula hubs do roll pretty nice. 

If later, you decide on a upgraded set of wheels (11-speed rear hub)... then you have to start considering things like:
do you want "aero" wheels?
do you care about tubeless compatibility?
do you want the wide wheel trend?


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## Cannondaleman (Nov 1, 2009)

I would want a rim about 21-23mm wide and 30-35mm tall. The bike comes with 25mm tyres, so maybe the wheels are a little wider than the standard 19mm. I emailed Maddux a few days ago with no response yet. I would think that more wheel companies will start offering more choices since disc brakes on road bikes is starting to become popular.


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## bikerector (Oct 31, 2012)

Maddux aren't a high quality name brand, kind of like alex or weinnmann. They should work though. They're not race wheels, pretty standard aluminum double wall rimmed wheels. I would just ride them, they're probably not worth much to sell to put into and upgrade.

One catch I can see is that 11-speed road with disc may limit your options since most 135mm mtb hubs are going to be 10-speed. Having said that, I suspect many companies are just going to start coming out with hubs that have convertible rear hubs since there's becoming a high number of freehub body options. mtb 11-spd is not the same as road 11-spd as far as the freehub, not sure if the cog spacing is the same to be interchangeable thought mtb 11-spd is very wide range currently so simply the size of the cogs would be a limiting factor.


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## tednugent (Apr 26, 2010)

Cannondaleman said:


> I would want a rim about 21-23mm wide and 30-35mm tall. .


sounds like MTB rims are out of the question....
BHS C472w may be a good candidate. It's 28mm deep (close enough, right?) and 23mm wide.

BHS C472w Clincher Rim - 23mm wide - 28mm deep!!! 

select a 11-speed hub and spokes...


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## Cannondaleman (Nov 1, 2009)

Thanks guys. I have Kinlin rims on my current bike-XL-270's. I guess what I'm confused about is the disc and rotors. Can they be mounted on any hub? So, I could have a custom wheelset built and still utilize the disc brake feature? I would probably want Ultegra hubs.


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## tednugent (Apr 26, 2010)

Cannondaleman said:


> Thanks guys. I have Kinlin rims on my current bike-XL-270's. I guess what I'm confused about is the disc and rotors. Can they be mounted on any hub? So, I could have a custom wheelset built and still utilize the disc brake feature? I would probably want Ultegra hubs.


the hub needs to have disc brake mounts also.

Chris Kung R45 is available in Disc & 11-speed compatible
R45 Disc | Chris King Precision Components










there's probably more


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## Wookiebiker (Sep 5, 2005)

Cannondaleman said:


> Thanks guys. I have Kinlin rims on my current bike-XL-270's. I guess what I'm confused about is the disc and rotors. Can they be mounted on any hub? So, I could have a custom wheelset built and still utilize the disc brake feature? I would probably want Ultegra hubs.


You can't use "Any" hub ... it has to be disc specific and have the mounting holes (or like on some Shimano hubs, the spline that allows the disc to be mounted on it).

Other than that ... you have to make sure the hub spacing is correct and the axle size is correct (some MTB hubs use larger axles than a cross bike can handle).


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## c_h_i_n_a_m_a_n (Mar 3, 2012)

Cannondaleman said:


> ... I have Kinlin rims on my current bike-XL-270's. I guess what I'm confused about is the disc and rotors. Can they be mounted on any hub? So, I could have a custom wheelset built and still utilize the disc brake feature? I would probably want Ultegra hubs.


As mentioned above, whatever hubs you choose, they need to be disc ready. There are 2 types. 6 bolt mounting and shimano centre lock. (don't ask why?)

6 bolt
Shimano XT Disc Hub Front M756 | Chain Reaction Cycles

centre-lock
Shimano XT Front Disc Hub M785 | Chain Reaction Cycles

ultegra
Shimano Ultegra Hub Front 6800 | Chain Reaction Cycles

So you see the ultegra hubs do not have mounting for disc. You will need to go XT or XTR if you wish to spend more. _Am only limiting to Shimano because the OP wanted Ultegra._

I believe the hubs in your Synapse are formula DC-22 hubs. Could be wrong but they are 135mm wide and 6 bolt mounting and the 2 shimano disc hubs above are both 135mm, but only the XT M756 is 6 bolt mounting.

So you can get a builder to build a wheelset for you using your Kinlin 270 rims with the M756 hubs. But I would not recommend that. Ride the wheels that it comes with till the wheel is dead, then change it for some thing better. By that time you might get Ultegra with disc tabs and as Shimano will have it, they most probably be centre-lock ... :mad2:

_On another note: I would not lace a rim with braking track on a disc hub. Just do not look right._


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## Zen Cyclery (Mar 10, 2009)

As mentioned you will have to go XT or XTR if you want to go disc and stick with Shimano. I think the recommendation of the CK R45 Disc is a good one. That is relatively light hubset, and aside from the initial preload adjust they're stout and durable.


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## Cannondaleman (Nov 1, 2009)

Thanks much everyone. I will ride the stock wheels for a while. I still haven't found out the dimensions of the Maddux wheels. When I decide to upgrade, more hub manufacturers should offer disc compatability by then. At least the Maddux wheels are 28 spoke count.


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## bikerector (Oct 31, 2012)

Cannondaleman said:


> Thanks much everyone. I will ride the stock wheels for a while. I still haven't found out the dimensions of the Maddux wheels. When I decide to upgrade, more hub manufacturers should offer disc compatability by then. At least the Maddux wheels are 28 spoke count.


You could always just measure the dimensions if it's that big of a deal.


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## tednugent (Apr 26, 2010)

Zen Cyclery said:


> As mentioned you will have to go XT or XTR if you want to go disc and stick with Shimano. I think the recommendation of the CK R45 Disc is a good one. That is relatively light hubset, and aside from the initial preload adjust they're stout and durable.


Are Dyna-Sys hubs even 11-speed compatible?


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## bikerector (Oct 31, 2012)

I wouldn't think so. Might have to wait for road disc hubs to start showing up. I don't think any mtb hub will work at this point because of the 11-speed compatibility, unless manufacturers started making road freehubs for their mtb hubs.


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## tednugent (Apr 26, 2010)

bikerector said:


> I wouldn't think so. Might have to wait for road disc hubs to start showing up. I don't think any mtb hub will work at this point because of the 11-speed compatibility, unless manufacturers started making road freehubs for their mtb hubs.


For MTB, AFAIK, the only 11-speed offering is SRAM.

Shimano is still 10-speed.


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## Cannondaleman (Nov 1, 2009)

I can't measure the rims because the 2014 bikes aren't in yet. LBS told me December. You can usually get info on their website, but not these. I think that when I decide to upgrade to a different wheelset, I could just buy rims and spokes and have them built with the existing Formula hubs. I like the dimensions of the Velocity Chukkars- 24mm wide by 32mm high.


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## Cannondaleman (Nov 1, 2009)

One more question for wheelbuilders out there: Do you know if any of the big alloy rim makers out there, like Kinlin, will be making a disc specific rim with no machined brake track? It seems like a way to cut costs without having to machine the rims, since it would not be needed. Just curious since you are starting to see more and more disc brake road bikes showing up. Thanks


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## tednugent (Apr 26, 2010)

Cannondaleman said:


> One more question for wheelbuilders out there: Do you know if any of the big alloy rim makers out there, like Kinlin, will be making a disc specific rim with no machined brake track? It seems like a way to cut costs without having to machine the rims, since it would not be needed. Just curious since you are starting to see more and more disc brake road bikes showing up. Thanks


you buy a MTB 29er rim, from Kinlin
XM-250
XD-280
XD-230


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## Zen Cyclery (Mar 10, 2009)

As tednugent mentioned there are a few disc specific offerings from Kinlin. Looks like BikeHubStore.com has them in stock too.


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## Cannondaleman (Nov 1, 2009)

I wasn't aware that a 29er MTB rim is compatable with 700 cc road bike rim. I would like something a little taller-30mm or so.


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## tednugent (Apr 26, 2010)

Cannondaleman said:


> I wasn't aware that a 29er MTB rim is compatable with 700 cc road bike rim. I would like something a little taller-30mm or so.


MTB's aren't focused on "Aero" wheels.


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## Nater (Feb 7, 2003)

H Plus Son has a few rims that are pretty close to what you're looking for.

Look into the F30, Formation Race, and SL42. Not quite as wide (only 20mm) but all pretty tall.


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## Enoch562 (May 13, 2010)

For cross disc wheels I would just use the H Plus Son Archetype rim. THe side walls are flat but are still black.


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## bikerector (Oct 31, 2012)

tednugent said:


> For MTB, AFAIK, the only 11-speed offering is SRAM.
> 
> Shimano is still 10-speed.


Yep, and sram's 11-speed requires their "driver" system instead of a standard shimano style freehub body.


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## bikerector (Oct 31, 2012)

Enoch562 said:


> For cross disc wheels I would just use the H Plus Son Archetype rim. THe side walls are flat but are still black.


I was going to recommend this as well. I just ordered up a set to build up to 105 hubs for some training wheels. The rims are quite similar to the HED belgium rims, which are also nice but much more pricey.


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