You are reading a single comment by @branwen and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
-
I think you'd struggle with 26" wheels. Main issue being smaller wheels drop the BB height. IIRC 42c 650b tires are about the same height as 25c 700c tires, you'd presumably need another 20 cm of volume to make up the height difference for 26" wheels which you'll almost certainly not get enough width for between chainstays and fork legs
Might not be an issue for gravel riding but would probably be a big issue for any actual MTB-ing.
You might be okay with the freehub if you go with a MTB cassette as Shimano 11 speed cassettes fit onto old 8/9/10 speed freehubs, but you'd also need a MTB derailleur to clear that so then you're looking at mixing and matching groupsets
branwen
frankenbike
Question for the gravel crew. I currently have a road bike and a mountain bike, both of which are beyond economical repair and neither of which are in a rideable state. Therefore looking for something new and, inspired by a thread in current projects, I'm thinking about trying to combine the two as I don't really have the space or time to keep a full mtb much as I'd like to, and therefore looking at CX/gravel/adventure/whatever the new word is bikes.
One of the key things I want to check is the feasibility of using 26" wheels with wide offroad tyres on these frames/forks for when I want to ride what I would have normally taken my mtb out on, and keep the road wheels for everything else. Reason being I've got a nice pair of 26er Hope/Mavics that I can't bear to sell but also don't want to leave unused. Obviously I'd have to do some axle conversion but that's easy on Hopes so my main concerns are clearance and how wide I'll be able to get away with, whether I'm going to ruin the geometry, and also freehub compatibility (its currently got an mtb spaced 9 speed cassette and I vaguely remember hearing an 11 speed needs a wider freehub...?).
(sorry this is so terribly written it was a bit stream of consciousness on my mobile)