29er wheelset on a CX bike?

[chriscole]

Hi all,

Pondering a new wheelset for a Specialized Crux (disc) CX bike.

Likely to be a stupid question, but can I toss a disc-specific 29er mountain bike wheelset on there?

Cheers,
Chris

[Nobody]

Yes.

[chriscole]

Thanks

And now to invite a slightly more contentious answer...

What would people recommend as particularly good or particularly bad wheelsets to consider (or avoid)?

- CX bike with an existing disc wheelset/tyres suited to commuting/smooth surfaces.
- Need/want a new wheelset/tyres for use off-road.
- Durability, lightweight, sexy appearance, and price are to be considered (in decreasing importance).


Suggestions / horror stories?

[simonn]

FWIW, I have a Boardman CX comp (upgraded to 105/ultegra groupo). The hubs on the Alex wheels it came with (bottom of the range formula hubs) sucked and wore out after ~8000km.

I discovered that the wheelset you want and I wanted is pretty much fictional.

I looked at getting a set that I could use for cyclocross/light off-road and commuting, and also a fast/light set I could use for road training rides so my CX would be my spare roadie.

In my t'interweb journey into CX disc wheels...

You can get light wheels like Stan's No Tubes alpha 340 disc. However, the opinion of the intertubes seems to be that they are great if you are sponsored and not buying your own wheels, but will not last for CX/Offroad if you are a fred like me.

Similar-ish for http://farsports.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; wheels, I got a quote for some 38mm carbon rims + Novatec D711/712SB for < USD650 incl postage. However, for both sets and for CX/Offroad and commuting I would not want less than 32 spokes which raises the weight not insignificantly over the advertised weights which are usually for 20-24 spoke wheels.

The 29er wheels from the big internet sites usually have wider rims than what I would want for commuting/road on slicks (I use 28mm gatorskins).

So, looking at it realistically:

1) When you can get a 105 carbon roadie new for ~$1000, it is not simply worth selling my old/spare/rain ali/tiagra roadie, so my CX does not need to fill this role (but looks way cooler when I do )

2) family life seems to get in the way of my riding (not that I am complaining )

3) The rims I had were still in good enough condition (no brake pads to wear them away, yay!)

So I took the cheap option and rebuilt with Novatec D041/42SB hubs (cheapest sealed bearing 135mm disc hubs I could find - FWIW, the TWE wheelset I bought for and old roadie seemed to have TWE branded Novatec hubs) for ~$70 from ebay + $70 of spokes from c r c (who seem to have stopped selling spokes in 700C sizes ).

The wheelset is heavy (> 2kgs with 28mm gatorskins) but ok - I could keep up on the road rides - so they work, but climbing is very hard work in comparison to my roadie - IMHO a disc CX that you can take offroad without replacing wheelsets at the same time as you replace your tyres is not a really a tougher road bike, more of a drop bar rigid 29er .

If I was less of a fred I'd probably get either of the lighter wheelsets I mentioned as "race wheels", but I cannot really justify the purchase for my average of 1.5 races/year in the depths of D grade .

[queequeg]

I have an unused set of CX Wheels. Stans ZTR Crest with SRAM X9 Hubs (32 Spokes).
They are a real pain fitting 700c tyres to, which I'd why I never used them. The Stans rims are really designed for 29er tyres, not narrower 700c road tyres.
If you want to know more, pm me.

[DavidL]

I discovered that the wheelset you want and I wanted is pretty much fictional.

Well there are these: http://www.eastoncycling.com/en-us/ea90 ... ncher-1090


There is also the Stans wheels aimed at the road disc market which is the 340's: http://www.notubes.com/Alpha-340-Disc-W ... 68C58.aspx


But Stans also has a heavier weight CX wheelset in the Iron Cross: http://www.notubes.com/Iron-Cross-Wheel ... 67C58.aspx


There are options out there, but only just appearing on the market now.

- David.

[silentbutdeadly]

Thanks

And now to invite a slightly more contentious answer...

What would people recommend as particularly good or particularly bad wheelsets to consider (or avoid)?

- CX bike with an existing disc wheelset/tyres suited to commuting/smooth surfaces.
- Need/want a new wheelset/tyres for use off-road.
- Durability, lightweight, sexy appearance, and price are to be considered (in decreasing importance).


Suggestions / horror stories?

In the 29er market....Shimano XT or Crank Brothers wheelsets are all available with narrow 19mm internal width XC rims. I have the CB Opiums on my race day 29er and they'd make a very sexy set of cross wheels - but can be pricey. Occasionally considering the Shimano XT M785 wheelset as a secondary because they are UST, narrow (19C) and cheap ($245 with rotors from Merlin)...

I even have a pair of wheels with Shimano Deore 6 bolt hubs and Sun Ringle Equaliser 23 rims that'll take a 700x35 tyre no problem at all as they also 19C (19mm on the inside) - they came stock on an Intense 29er and would be great on my cross bike if it had discs!! But they'll go on the other 29er.

[fooch]

One thing to look out for is that some 29er rims can't take the high pressures often used with road tires. I've noticed that especially with carbon 29er rims, they have max tire pressures of about 45psi, which is about 50% of what I normally run road tires at.

[rjk]

i purchased a set of 29er carbon wheels from light-bicycle.com, total weight when built was 1650 gm, novatec hubs abd these roll really really well.

i have loaned these out to a couple of mates of mine as i use my cx as a commuter, and these are my 2nd wheelset, i absolutely love em and so do my mates

[fooch]

One thing to look out for is that some 29er rims can't take the high pressures often used with road tires. I've noticed that especially with carbon 29er rims, they have max tire pressures of about 45psi, which is about 50% of what I normally run road tires at.

Sorry, 45psi is a bit low - Light-Bicycle seem to be recommending 70psi as the maximum tire pressure for their 29er rims. Might work for some with skinny tires.