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@lae
Thoughts on an all-terrain touring bike for New Zealand.
I ride a 64x57 road frame. I was thinking of using a MTB frame as the basis for this project, but mountain-bikes (even lovely 80s ones) tend not to fit me as I have short arms/long legs - and as the top-tubes on MTBs are proportionally longer than the seattubes. I'm too stretched out on a large frame and I can't get the bars up above the saddle on a small frame (even with sloping TT and tall stem, I've been measurin' and pestering people on retrobike...).
So anyway, the idea is - use a touring frame. IME you don't need a mountain bike for 95% of what people term 'mountain biking' - I've ridden singletrack on CX tyres plenty of times with no problems at all. It doesn't work on rock gardens or heavy roots or extreme downhill (not that I've done any DH at all), but it's fine on singletrack and dirt roads.
Now... I've seen a good quality touring frame for sale (rare in 64x57 size - I've been looking for two years) which'll take 37c tyres with guards. With 35c CX tyres that's not a lot of clearance for mud/knobs, and perhaps not enough air to carry lots of gear.
So here's what I'm thinking: braze canti mounts on the frame and use 650b wheels - allowing me to swap between nice fat smooth road tyres or 650x2.0 MTB tyres, depending on the terrain, and giving mud clearance* too.
The ideal frame would be something like a custom monstercross frame, but I don't have enough money for this.
What does everyone think?
*won't be able to measure this until I buy the frame... if I buy it and it doesn't look like it'll work, I can just go with 700c wheels and CX tyres.