would this work?

I’m thinking of a way to build a cx bike for my wife but I need the low mtb gearing

sharing my spare wheelset with 11-27 cassette

would a mtb triple fit onto a cx frame?

or can I put a 22t granny onto a road chainset?

On my Cotic X I just slung on a MTB triple chainset that was in the shed. Dropped the front mech a bit. Campag mech with shimano c/s.

would a road triple not do ? you’d get 30, 40, 50 (or thereabouts) so your bottom gear of 30-20 is pretty low

what frame are we talking about? assuming a normal english threaded BB shell

an mtb triple would work with spacers to adapt from the 68mm BB shell to the 73mm axle – as long as the bolts don’t collide with the frame (which they probably won’t)

I have done so random mtb cranks with a pair of old campag 9 speed double shifters and it works a treat

this frame I think http://www.paulmilnescycles.com/paul-milnes-x-wing-cyclocross-frame–fork-1403-p.asp

Check out Spa Cycles – they do their own brand triple cranks that have a 110 outer/middle and 74 inner for £25 – that’ll do down to 24t – works fine on my winter hack, plus with square taper bbs you get a chance to play with chainlines by varying the axle length if you need to.

got mtb middleburns on my vaya running 5-arm ATB 110CD triple chainrings. works perfectly. as they’re square taper had to make sure i got the correct bottom bracket width for mtb chainline cranks. also as the frame is disc/135mm rear the mtb chainline works spot on. if that PM frame is 130mm the chainline probably won’t be spot on, but should work none the less – you could maybe compensate by spacing the cranks/getting a shorter BB if square taper if 2.5mm out bothers you/your gear changing! 🙂

Run XT cranks with 26/36/48 rings here on a Planet X CX bike, works fine as long as you are not using a direct mount front mech which stops the mech being dropped low enough.

I used a Deore HT2 triple with 26-36-48 for a year, it worked brilliantly.

It’ll work. The chainline won’t be ideal if it’s a 130mm spaced frame though.

If it’s a disc frame (eg 135mm spacing), it’ll be spot on.