If you were speccing a new ‘cross frame, and had the choice of 130mm or 135mm rear dropouts, what would you go for?
Whilst I’m defo gonna run cantis for a while, the rise of discs seems inevitable, so it would be daft not to make sure the frame is disc compatable.

But then the question of rear hub spacing comes up. There’s hardly any 130mm rear disc hubs out now, yet cross bikes are nearly all 130mm. So I reckon we’re heading one of 2 ways, either bike companies will adopt the 135mm mtb standard and embrace all the exisiting quality and affordable hubs already out there. Or, they will stick with 130mm and force hub manufacturers to adapt to them and start making 130mm rear disc hubs.

So, if you were speccing a frame now, which way would you jump? or would you hedge your bets and go for 132.5?

Go for 135mm. Huge choice of hubs then. I’ve got a CX with 135mm rear and disc.

Unless you’re racing, I wouldn’t go down the 130 non disc frame route if you are starting from scratch.

135

EDIT – I don’t see many 130 hubs being designed/made. Mainly as non of the current 130 non-disc hubs will work – as they wont take a disc. So everyone wanting to use a disc frame will need at least a new hub… the current availability is 135mm, and frames are being designed that way from what I’ve seen…

There is a cross bike out on the market. I cant remember the name though.

That has got 132.5mm rear spacing. Meaning you can either stretch or compress, back to whatever hub you wanted to use.

Will try and remember who it is..

EDIT – Here it is –
http://road.cc/content/news/51133-sneak-peek-litespeed-cx-2013-frame

Why “Unless you’re racing” ?
I think for a few years at least I’ll stick to cantis, but want the frame to be compatible when good cross discs are available.

The plan is to use it for everything- racing; exploring; commuting; roads and then when I get old, touring…..

yeah, there’s a few frames out there with 132.5mm. Seems a good idea in princicple, esp if you’re using steel or ti.
But im not sure how annoyed you’d get constantly having to stretch or squeeze the frame whenever you change wheels.

Go 135mm. You could always just use a disc hub now without a disc attached if you want to run cantis for the first year or two. In my opinion 135mm will become the standard for cross frames in the next few years since there are already a huge amount of compatible hubs available.

My Amazon (Ti) has 132.5mm spacing. It’s not really an issue when changing wheels.

Just to confuse it, I’ll prob get one decent set of wheels (so with a disc hub) but i’ll also need to use current training wheels, which are 130mm. so 132.5 sounds like it might be a goer.

Interesting that most people think the industry will go to a 135mm standard. Presumably road bikes with discs will be here a few years later, then all bikes will be 135mm…..

Nah – MTBS will be 150mm and Fatbikes are already up to 170mm 😛

My Uncle John has 135mm

135 i have Hope hubs on (another excuse for a pic in 2 days) this:

That has got 132.5mm rear spacing. Meaning you can either stretch or compress, back to whatever hub you wanted to use.

Surly Cross Check has this too.