Wheels/Tyres-how does it work (cyclocross bike)

[upandover]

Hi,

I nearly put this in the cyclocross section - but it really is a beginner question!

I'm selling my electric bike, and wondering what bike to get. I'd like a drop bar road bike, but practically, I have a flatbar roadbike, and would like one I could use more easily on trails etc, and have a bit of fun with.

Which leads me to wondering about a cyclocross bike, for the occasional commute, and fun with the kids, towing, canals etc, and perhaps even a bit of off-road.

Looking at the bikes though, I'mnot sure how the wheel sizes work. SO two questions if I may please

1) Some come (on ebay etc) with 700x23 and some with much larger. Would the ones with larger tyres also have larger rims on them, or can you simply stick the larger tyres on the same rims?

2) If I were to pick-up a second hand cross bike, would I be able to use the 700c wheels from an old racer as additional swap wheels to allow a narrow/wide wheel option. To put it another way, are the sizes likely to be the same on the forks?

Alternatively - am I talking absolute nonsense? How should I be thinking about this?

Thanks
Steve

 

[HLaB]

I've thought about similar my self basically swapping 700c wheels is OK but what worry me is you're likely to get different degrees of chain stretch/ cassette wear with the different wheels and I think the solution would be to use one cassette with both sets of wheels. Therefore you would have to ensure that both sets of wheels had the same free hub. It might be easier to change the tyres according to use and just have the one set of wheels.

 

[Steve Austin]

1 wheel rims are exactly the same. the tyres can go up to 35 as opposed to the usual 23/25 you see on roadbikes. Cyclocross bikes have more space for wider tyres as you need wider for mud. Its a bit skittery (if you've ridden on mud on skinny tyres you will know exactly what skittery is) with skinny tyres.

2 HLaB is right. you may get differing levels of wear between components but there is nothing to stop you swapping wheels. its easier if you use the same brand hubs but as long as you get teh axle spacing correct there shouldn't be any real problems. I swap wheels between bikes all the time and never have any problems.
One thing to look out for is that some cyclocross frames may have a 135 oln hub spacing, and your road wheels will definitely be 130. So they won't be compatible.

 

[palinurus]

If you use some fairly slick cross tyres (i.e. not the knobbly ones used for muddy conditions) then you may not need to swap wheels around, just play with the tyre pressure depending on what sort of riding you are doing. For canal-path stuff and light off-road a setup like that should work, add more pressure for road use.

 

[upandover]

Thanks guys, that's really helpful. I'll keep an eye out for a good price cross bike.

Steve

 

[John the Monkey]

HLab, for what it's worth, I use one cassette on my commuting and "good" wheels - it's a piece of cake to swap the cassette over as required.

 

[palinurus]

Cross racers very often bring spare wheels -with cassettes fitted- to races, it's common practice to swap wheels around. I doubt you'll have too much trouble as long as you don't let your chain wear too much, and if you do have trouble you'll just have to swap the cassette and everything will be fine again.