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Hello everyone, great forum, I did a bit of homework on here before buying my first mountain bike. I went for a 6-month old VooDoo Bantu, bought from someone who had planned to use it to get fit but gave up! His loss my gain I hope as I only paid £160 and it's in as new nick, even have the original receipt. Thought I'd better get hold of an 'entry level' bike to make sure I like riding before spending hundreds only for the bike to sit in the garage gathering dust.
Anyway - enough waffle! I could do with some help on which wheels would be a straight swap for my current ones.
I'd like so get hold of some road-going tyres on rims to swap over rather than change the tyres each time I want to go on or 'off-road'.
It has 26" rims, 8 speed, 180mm rotor on the front and 160 at the rear with hydraulic brakes.
Apologies if this sounds a bit simple but is it possible to interchange mine with any pair of wheels and tyres with the same spec?
Hope I've explained this ok, thanks in advance for any advice.
Assuming you want an alternative set of wheels with road type tyres on to save hassle of changing tyres for different types of riding...
Should be fine but disc pads will possibly have a tough time being bed into different discs ever time you swap wheel sets over.
I'd just buy another bike for road use. It's easier.
You may also find that each time you swop wheels, the rear gears would need adjusting to suit. Why not just change tyres or get some semi-slicks? Maxxis Aspen......
i have done this without the issues the others mention
Get a set of 26 " wheels and use the same size rotors
You can get a spacer so that an 8 speed cassette can fit on a 9/10speed freewheel.
Yup it'll work ok, bedding in/hear issues are utter red herrings.
You may get some brake rub tho, also don't buy a close ratio cassette as it won't index as well.
Thanks for your advice, might try the semi-slicks approach, while keeping an eye out on the classifieds on here for a pair with the same rotor size.
How will I know if I'm looking at a close-ratio cassette?
Give me a boiler to re-build - no sweat but bikes..........I'll get there!!
I used to run multiple sets of wheels to save changing tyres. In the end, found it easier and took up less space to but a decent track pump. However, my advice if you want to do it would be to stick to identical hubs. If it's a second pair for road work, you could look at some 700c rims and tyres as these will have roughly the same diameter and will save you spinning out the gears too much.
I can help you with the bike if you can help with my shower!
You can get a spacer so that an 8 speed cassette can fit on a 9/10speed freewheel.
You only need a spacer for a 7spd cassette. 8/9/10 speed all use the same freehub width, the gears just get progressively closer together as more ratios are introduced.
Thanks for your advice, might try the semi-slicks approach, while keeping an eye out on the classifieds on here for a pair with the same rotor sizes.
Just a quick note, but most people will sell their wheels without any rotors. All new wheels (minus a couple of exceptions) are sold without rotors, you buy the rotors separately. There are 2 standards, centrelock and 6 bolt. 6 bolt is far more common, but as long as you know which you've got, you can buy some wheels safe in the knowledge you can easily find some rotors for them too...
So, to swap the wheels readily, you'll need another set of wheels, another 8spd cassette (the cogs on the rear hub), another set of 180/160 rotors, another pair of tyres and inner tubes, and you'll be away. If you manage to get a rear hub that's the same or at least very similar to the one you have currently, your gears and brakes wouldn't even need respecting or re-indexing each time.
Good luck.
I wouldn't bother with semi slicks, you'll notice much more difference with narrow full slicks.
Close ratio means a smaller biggest sprocket, lower than 26 you may have issues.