# MTB wheel vs. Road wheel



## old_fuji (Mar 16, 2009)

Since I felt like expounding upon the vast (*cough*cough*) knowledge imparted upon me from...that other bike review site, I figured I'd ask here for some more opinions. I purchased one of those Nashbar touring frames on sale a few weeks back, got kinda shopping around for wheels, and got wondering if a 29'er wheel would better suit my needs, over a 700c road wheel. Weight isn't a huge issue for me, so that takes care of one problem. I'm going to use the bike for commuting, a little road riding, at least one or two cyclocross races, and some trail and gravel road use. The biggest issues I have are the cyclocross races and the trail use. I'd have to get a heavy-duty road set to cope with that, but if I could find a cheap, rim-brake 29'er wheelset, I'd think that would be all the better. So, apart from weight and having to buy either really wide road tires, or really narrow MTB tires, would a 29'er wheelset be a sound investment for the type of riding I plan on this?

For the record, the rear dropout spacing is 132.5mm, but apparently that causes epic failure in every kind of wheel, ever.


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## timallard (Mar 27, 2010)

Opinions: 700c seems more appropriate than 29's since cyclocross isn't over bumpy terrain so much as mud where the larger diameter wheel will slow you down by simply carrying more mud on it than a smaller wheel, hence more weight to accelerate all the time.

Some courses favor tire widths into the 40mm range, but these tires are slower so it's always a trade off for "floating" mud, sand or snow vs a thin tire slicing down into solid grip through the goo, sand or snow. I always use a narrower tire in the rear so it slices, floating doesn't work in the rear for me. The larger tires do provide more suspension.

To avoid wheel failure with these wide hubs, you can re-dish them to a more centered rim position and then set the frame to fit that instead of how they come, good trick for powerful or heavy riders & easy to do. I undid the drive side a full turn and re-tensioned on the non-drive side was enough to have a stronger wheel for them with good results.


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## Salsa_Lover (Jul 6, 2008)

29ers or wide 700c touring rims like the Mavic A319 would be best for Trail/crushed limestone roads.

for Cross racing, stick with narrower 700c rims and/or tubulars


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## tashi (Apr 11, 2005)

Sounds like you know what you want already:

If you want the bike to excel on the road and race duties, a road rim will be best, but this may limit how large a tire you can run. I'd guess you'll end up with frame clearance issues before rim issues wen sizing up though.

If you want the bike to excel at the trail duties, get yourself a niner rim. You might not be able to run 23c's on 'em though, but if you're happy with 29c's for your road riding than this choice makes a lot of sense.

Weights for the rims will be similar, it pretty much just comes down to which type of tire you want to run the best. Personally, I'd lace an Open Pro Ceramic to a disk mountain hub for maximum versatility. Only compromise is on the huge end of the tire size range, and hey, that's when the mountain bike is more appropriate anyway.


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## old_fuji (Mar 16, 2009)

tashi said:


> *Sounds like you know what you want already:*
> 
> If you want the bike to excel on the road and race duties, a road rim will be best, but this may limit how large a tire you can run. I'd guess you'll end up with frame clearance issues before rim issues wen sizing up though.
> 
> ...


Haha, I think I do know exactly what I want...it's just a matter of whether or not it's actually available, and within my price range. Locally, I have Velocity Dyads available, and anything from Salsa wheels to Bontrager wheels new, as well as many other 29'er and 700c wheels (used), so I guess it's mostly a matter of opportunity...whichever wheel shows up when I have enough money to pay for 'em.

With regards to the 132.5mm dropout spacing (on a Nashbar touring frame), has anyone had issues with bent axles or a damaged hub before? Over at MTBR, they made it sound like it wouldn't exactly fit a MTB hub, nor a road hub, so it puts excess stress on any hub you'd put on there...although one guy mentioned that 132.5 is within the acceptable tolerances of MTB's and roadbikes, so realistically, there's no risk for damage.


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## tashi (Apr 11, 2005)

I don't think the spacing will stress the hub at all, it's just subject to the clamping forces of the QR no matter what the dropout spacing is. The frame is likely stressed a bit more than if it had a perfect fit, but I'd doubt that it'll affect anything at all. I've run road wheels in a Cross-Check, 130mm hubs in 126mm dropouts, no problems. Early Dura-Ace 8speed came with beveled locknuts to facilitate inserting the wide 130mm hub into the common-at-the-time 126mm frames, a 4mm difference. 2.5mm is nuthin'. 

If you want things spot on, many hubs are easy to respace as well, often not even requiring a new axle. I've had good luck respacing Shimano hubs as they're very traditionally designed and axles and spacers are quite common. But personally, I wouldn't bother.


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## mike047 (Jan 16, 2010)

I also bought said frame. I have after reading this;


> accommodates 700x38 tires with room for fenders..


 opted for the 700x38 tires with a Sun CR18 rim with a 135 hub.

There appears to plenty of room but I do not know how large a tire will actually fit.


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## PeanutButterBreath (Dec 4, 2005)

700C == 29"

You don't need heavy duty wheels for any kind of riding you are going to be doing on a touring frame.

You don't need wider rims for any tire you are going to fit in a touring frame.

132.5 spacing fits both 130 and 135 spaced frames just fine (that being the whole point of 132.5 spacing).


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## m_s (Nov 20, 2007)

I prefer the profile of 35mm+ tires with a slightly wider rim than standard road width, but it isn't a deal breaker at all. If you are fine with 28s for the road and don't care about weight, I like Salsa's Delgado Cross. Otherwise, the guys at my local shop really like DT Swiss offerings. Rim width shouldn't be a deal breaker either way. I've run 23s on the 22.5mm wide Delgado Crosses without issue, but the tire has a flat profile and hard cornering is wonky, so I don't do it anymore.


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## old_fuji (Mar 16, 2009)

Purely aesthetic question...Are the Salsa rims available in black?


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

*yes*



old_fuji said:


> Purely aesthetic question...Are the Salsa rims available in black?


DelGados are Black with I think Silver sidewalls (or they used to be)

yup

http://www.bikebling.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=Salsa-Delgado-Cross-Rim


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## framesti (Jan 26, 2009)

*tim allard*



timallard said:


> To avoid wheel failure with these wide hubs, you can re-dish them to a more centered rim position and then set the frame to fit that instead of how they come, good trick for powerful or heavy riders & easy to do. I undid the drive side a full turn and re-tensioned on the non-drive side was enough to have a stronger wheel for them with good results.


What is wide hubs? Do you mean wide rims?


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## GeoKrpan (Feb 3, 2008)

Go with 29er wheels, they are more versatile. You can use them on your Nashbar AND a 29er.
A strong road rim, 30mm deep, won't be much lighter than a 29er rim.
Tires ride better on wider rims.


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## eldarko (Oct 27, 2007)

I'm building up a set with Velocity Chukkers and White M16 Hubs for my new Cyclocross rig. 










They are 32mm deep and 24mm wide:


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## 88 rex (Mar 18, 2008)

eldarko said:


> I'm building up a set with Velocity Chukkers and White M16 Hubs for my new Cyclocross rig.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I've got some Deep V's on mine. Those Chukkers look quite meaty.:thumbsup:


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## PeanutButterBreath (Dec 4, 2005)

eldarko said:


> I'm building up a set with Velocity Chukkers


650g! (700C RhynoLites are 565g)


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## framesti (Jan 26, 2009)

sun cr18 or salsa delgados?


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## ccd1977 (Apr 30, 2010)

88 rex said:


> I've got some Deep V's on mine. Those Chukkers look quite meaty.:thumbsup:



That bike is clean. What brand bike is that?


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## BigCircles (Mar 25, 2009)

ccd1977 said:


> That bike is clean. What brand bike is that?


https://www.salsacycles.com/

I'm currently using a mountain wheelset on my Vaya - which is ideally setup as is for gravel. (Hadley hubs and Stan's Flow rims...)










I've also been using this setup for brevets - and rode a 400K recently w/out issue.

The wider, heavier rims take a little longer to get rolling - but once you are up to speed they roll really well. :thumbsup:


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## bdstorer (Nov 15, 2009)

eldarko said:


> I'm building up a set with Velocity Chukkers and White M16 Hubs for my new Cyclocross rig.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hey Eldarko, Any chance of a update on your Chukker CX wheelset? Keen to hear how the non machined (?) sidewall went and general thoughts on the build. 

...and any chnce of seeing a couple of pics? Haha, stretch the 'ask' for the get-go eh?

Cheers!


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