Ritchey P29er Rear Spacing 135 reset to 142 or Boost

Hey all,

I'm wondering about having my Ritchey P29er reset to a wider spacing and I'm looking for advice. I've recently bought a 100mm travel suspension corrected 1 1/8th rigid fork with a load of mounts. The new rigid forks have 110mm boost spacing and my sus fork is 100mm, so I at least need a new front wheel, which got me thinking whether or not I could have reset the rear spacing to accommodate 142mm or 148mm and a new wheelset. I think my p29er is the 2014 version. Whichever it is, it's still got a straight steerer and sliding dropouts at 135mm with quick release hangers - difficult.

My first question is whether it's possible, wise and worth it to reset the rear spacing? If so any recommendations on London frame builders to do it? (I need some bottle mounts brazed onto the underside of the downtube too).

Ideas for adjusting the chainline? It's a 68mm BB shell. Currently have XT Double chainset on there, but thinking of moving to 1x11 or 1x12 should I do this and upgrade wheelset.

I have these in mind for replacing the dropout inserts:

https://kingdombike.com/collections/kingdom-parts/products/sliding-dropouts-brake-hanger?variant=32101922078810

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,
James

Possible? It’s steel so yes.
Wise? Probably not.
Worth it? Almost certainly not.

The dropouts are hooded style yeah? So it’s not going to be just a case of cold set the stays out and bend the dropouts back into alignment. It could be major surgery to get to where you need, dropouts might have to come off the stays and be repositioned, bridges might need to be replaced.

Seems like a lot of work to get a thru axle. Is 135mm thru axle not a thing?

Thanks @M_V. Tbh as I was writing it out it felt like a lot of unnecessary work. These things alway seem easier in your head.

The drive to do it was to build or buy a future proof wheelset; also my current rims aren't tubless ready. The frames fairly difficult to update because of it's rear spacing and straight steerer tube. I found it was slim pickings when it came to finding straight 1 1/8th rigid sus-corrected forks with anything mounts that were thru axle, hence I ended up going with a Moxie Bike/Pipedream cycles which has boost spacing.

These are dropouts, pictured.

I don't think 135 thru axles exist, but I could be wrong, there are too many standards.

I think I'll just stick with the current rear wheel and buy or build something for the new fork.

Thanks again.

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This is sooooo funny... :) hahaha thru axle ...

Is 135mm thru axle not a thing?

getting somekind of sliding thru axle could be a solution.... i have no idea

https://www.universalcycles.com/shopping/product_details.php?id=100968

https://lynskeyperformance.com/lynskey-qr-to-maxle-slider-conversion-kit/

Hope hubs are available in 135 x 12mm bolt thru so there must be others too.

Future-proofing sounds good but how long till the next, non-backwards-compatible, standard comes out anyway?

Trying to find a non boost fork is impossible! If not buying new, then the old brother cycles big bro was qr and had all the mounts or this salsa:

https://salsacycles.com/components/category/forks/firestarter_fork

The best way to future proof is probably just to buy a hub you can service and build a good wheel around that. Or run what you have?

Or run what you have?

Keep your money in your wallet to spend when you need to. That’s future proofing!

Just wanted to say thanks for all the advice above. Sorry it's been ages, it's degree show time at work so it's mega busy.

@cheekysnaker I had/have already bought a sus corrected rigid fork with anything mounts. It's got a straight steerer so I bit the bullet on the boost spacing, which is why I'm considering a full new wheelset.

@M_V Thanks a lot for the link to the Hope 135x12 TA hub. I think I'm going to go down this route, I just need to find an axle to suit (I haven't had time to do much digging here.

"Keep your money in your wallet to spend when you need to. That’s future proofing!"

This is perhaps the best advice, but I kind of want to spruce it up a bit. Haven't done anything to it since buying it off here 5 years ago. It would be of use too, both as a more heavily off road bikepacking option over the gravel bike I got recently, and as a second bike so my partner and I can go camping together.

I procrastinated over how to build a somewhat future-proof (and easily-sellable) wheelset for my P-29er (v2, 2017) which is running a Boost 110TA fork, and landed on a pair of non-boost White Industries XMR hubs as they're completely swappable from an axle standpoint and I could use a Problem Solvers Boost Adaptor on the front hub & rotor.
I daresay I'd go the same route with Hope hubs if I lived in the UK.
12spd Shimano runs happily on non-boost BB & 135QR rear end.