XC bike with second set of wheels for the road

[Salty seadog]

hi all,
I'm toying with the idea of getting a second set of wheels more suited to road riding so I can get the best of both worlds out of my Forme Rage XC. I would presumably need to set them up with the same cassette and rotors to fit nicely.
I have 26 x 2.2 tyres on the bike at present, is there a limit to how thin a set of wheels I could put on for road purposes to reduce rolling resistance, i.e would I have problems getting the cassette and rotors in the right position or are the dimensions pretty standard?

would I have to re-index my gears between swaps?

any thoughts and advice gratefuly received...

cheers,

ssd...

 

[ianrauk]

If you are getting the same range cassette then you shouldn't have to re-index the gears.
However you will probably need a different chain as the cassettes will wear at different rates.

The size of the tyres will have no bearings on the cassette or rotors.

 

[Salty seadog]

Many thanks for a swift reply ianrauk, so by that logic I could conceivably go fo full on road wheels and skinny tyres without issues. ( I'm not planning to go quite that far, even on the road I would like a little meat to hop on and off curbs etc...)?

 

[Deleted member 23692]

I've got two wheel sets from my XC. I made sure I used the same hubs on both sets as that dictates the cassette and disc offsets. I also used the same cassette on both and swapping them over is a 2 min job and with no adjusting of either the gears or brakes.

For tyres, I use 2" Schwalbe Big Apples which roll brilliantly even at lower pressures, and still give a chunky look to the bike.

Slicks and knobblies side by side

 

[GrumpyGregry]

road tyres and wheels are not made of glass and eggshells. Google Martyn Ashton Road Bike. At 100psi you can hop to your hearts content ime.

 

[Salty seadog]

Cheers guys, I think thats what I'm going to go for. So as long as the hubs are the same size I can slim down the wheels/tyres to lower rolling resistance as much as I like?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Cheers guys, I think thats what I'm going to go for. So as long as the hubs are the same size I can slim down the wheels/tyres to lower rolling resistance as much as I like?

In theory there's a point at which you could end up with rims too wide for the tyres you could fit (& vice versa) but unlikely to be a problem in reality due to the relatively scarcity of really narrow road tyres for 26" inch rims.

The narrower you go, the higher the psi you'll need to avoid pinch flats, the higher the psi you run the more road shock gets transmitted via the frame and forks to you. Panracer Pasella or Schwalbe Kojaks have worked well for me in you context in the past.

 

[Salty seadog]

Greg, I'm not realy looking to test the limits, i'm thinking of maybe a 1.5" tyre width for the slicks so I can maintain a level of comfort aswell as speed, the kojacks I have seen mentioned before, now off to get the job costed up....