MTB Boost Wheel Questions

Hi there,

I tried to create a post on this earlier but it didn’t seem to work.

I’ve just bought myself a new fork, for an old MTB a Carrera Kraken 2004 which has 26″ QR wheels.  The new fork has through axle 110×15 boost so two questions:

* Could any recommend a front wheel or wheel set which preferrably has sealed bearings and 6-bolt disc compatability.  Preferrably 26″ or 27.5″.

* Would it be possible for me to convert a rear boost through axle wheel to QR?

Thanks.

Ok I’ve just had a bit of a read and it looks like QR rear wheels are 135×9.  And Boost rears ae 148×12, I believe non-boost are 142×12.  So am I understanding correctly that the frame will not support a through axle rear wheel, as they’ll all be too wide?

You might be able to find a non-boost TA rear-wheel and replace the end caps to QR ones. It can be a bit of a minefield though.

I would probably just look for a separate front and rear wheel. There are plenty old QR 26″ wheels out there for very low prices.

The only way to do a “through axle” in a 135mm rear end is to use a 10mm, 135mm hub and a 10mm boltthrough. A bunch of rear hubs like Hope and DT offered 10mm options in their old 135/142mm hubs (which are mostly the same thing with different endcaps on). But to be honest it’s not usually worth the hassle.

Converting a front “old standard” hub to boost is pretty easy as long as the front is 15mm axle. But not all QR wheels can be converted to 15mm, the stock Carrera ones definitely can’t. Honestly the best option was going to have been to find a quality used non-boost fork, I got a revelation recently which is still a decent performing fork, for £150, well actually i bought a whole bike for £150 and binned most of it 😉

I bet a lot of StW people have entire bikes in their sheds that never get used and have parts that would be ideal for this.

I guess the question is what do you really want to achieve? I had that same Kraken, the wheels if you still have the original ones were alright but not amazing- the formula rear hub in particular can be a bit unreliable. But the frame’s actually pretty nice and would surprise people. But in the end, there’s definitely a point where if you’re replacing the fork and the wheels you’re getting a long way towards just getting a much newer bike instead and that does have a lot of benefits, bikes really have got better.

Well I do have a longer-term plan to convert it into an Ebike as the frame is fairly solid and I thought with it being so old it would be somewhat a “sleeper” bike that wouldn’t attract too much attention from would-be thieves.

So far I’ve just been enjoying sticking new parts on it and the renewed interest has encouraged me to get out on it a bit more over the Summer so really enjoying the fact it’s running so well.

I’ve put on some MT200s, 180mm rotors, a new 11-36 cassette and chain, and I just picked up a SR Suntour Durolux 36 from a member on here, so now need at least a new wheel to fit the fork and ideally wanted one with a sealed bearing.  Cheaper the better really.

I see Decathlon do a Rockrider 27.5 110×15 for £75 or Halfords do a Shimano MT500 27.5 15×110 for £89.99.  Would one of those be my best option? (Although I expect these are both cup and cone sadly).

Absolutely nothing wrong with cup and cone of you have the patience, and TBH it’s not like they take a lot of maintenance so long as you treat them early.

Should be easy and cheap to pick up a 26 wheel with a hope pro2 hub and then the world’s your lobster, within reason.

So am I understanding correctly that the frame will not support a through axle rear wheel, as they’ll all be too wide?

Even if you could get the end caps to work the rotor and caliper will not line up, hub flanges are wider on boost than non boost

You can do a 9mm (or is it 10mm? Thinking about it I think it’s 10 rear and 9 front) ‘through axle’ made by DT swiss on a 135mm OLD rear hub

I just picked up a SR Suntour Durolux 36 from a member on here, so now need at least a new wheel to fit the fork and ideally wanted one with a sealed bearing.

You may well be all over this, so ignore if so. But will your frame take a tapered fork steerer? If not you may need to get some advice on changing headset bearings to accept a tapered fork steerer which I think the Durolux will have.

Hadn’t even thought about the headstock bearings!  Half-expected it to be a straight swap.  When the new fork turns up I’ll dismantle it and take a look-see.

I’ve found a cheap deal on a WH-M8120 front wheel.  Means I’d also have to buy a new rotor to fit it but, any opinions on that wheel?

Perfectly good wheel that, not exactly light but durable. Fair bit better than what the bike had on it, that’s for sure. Assuming it’s centrelock? You can get adaptors pretty cheaply and keep your old rotor. But don’t commit to the wheel til you know where you are with the fork!

I can’t remember what the headset standard was on these, it’s a fairly large headtube but it always came with a straight steerer fork, definitely that needs checking out before you go further! But also just to add, that’s more fork than the frame is designed for, I’m pretty sure the minimum travel is 140mm and the frame was built for 130mm (the Kraken I think always came with 120mm or less but the exact same frame was sold with a 130mm fork under another name) I thought it rode great with 130mm but I’d be wary of going much further than that.