Road focussed bike around an mtb frame

I'm looking to cull a few bikes I don't use after a recent purchase, and am thinking about building a more road oriented bike, or at least one that can fulfil multiple duties.

The frame is a 26er, and for road duties thinking I could build a set of wheels around some 29er rims, but using roadie style slicks. Would I be able to get some lower profile tyres on a set of 29er rims in a 26er frame? I trial fitted some road wheels on a different frame a while back, and there was plenty of room. If this will work, what tyres will fit a 29er rim but are not full fat mtb tyres?

If I go down this route, I'm thinking that some 26er forks with lockout for road duties, for off road I'd just bolt on a set of mtb nobbly tyres, as disc brakes would make this simple, right?

The rest of the build would be mtb parts, flat bars etc.

Is this simply a silly idea? Should I stick with the mtb side, as this is what the frame was built for?

I do have a nice road bike, but haven't got into that due to the faff of road pedals/shoes and not being a fan of tight lycra (or it not being a fan of me).

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I used to use the older of my two Alves frames as my road/training bike many moons ago.
26 inch wheels with slicks, flat bars with bar ends and tri-bars, campag triple road chainset and a teeny cassette!
Was superb, didn't have to keep up with anyone to compare 26inch wheels with 700c, but it hoofed along just fine with a 53-11!

edit: i just used my mtb spd pedals, worked perfectly and meant i could hop from bike to bike.
cranks look huge!

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Haven't we been here before?

I too am thinking of a 29 rim plus skinny tyre in a 26 frame, disc brakes to take care of the stopping and probably some road gears to get going.

Yes, I could just get a road bike but where's the fun in that? Got 26" slicks on my explosif and that barrels along nicely enough, 29" plus higher gearing would be a hoot.

Dont know the answers to your questions but I'm interested in finding out.

I have a 29 wheelset but not got tyres yet. My logic seems similar to yours - skinny road tyre should fit. Plenty of slick and semi slick options but haven't taken the plunge yet. Next time I have a spare £20....

ishaw":xy1o10fc said:

Is this simply a silly idea?

Click to expand...

Nope. Pretty straight forward, all you are really talking about is putting some CX disc wheels on a disc equipped 26" MTB.
It's easy and has been done (many) times before.
You can even fit some reasonable sized CX tyres if your frame allows it (mine would).

Only thing to avoid is putting drop bars on it, it'll be waaaaaay too long, and probably too low.

Knock yourself out!

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Thanks for the feedback, not barking up the wrong tree then.

I've building a set of wheels around a set of wtb i23 rims I have, what kind of cx tyre would work with the 29er rim/26er frame set up? Not got any cx experience myself so not sure what I'm looking for.

I’d look at a modern cx bike in all honesty, if the aim is riding

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The aim is certainly riding, probably not cx though, trying to achieve something thst I can use on roads mainly, but should the need arise, cope with some light xc too. The ideal scenario would be that the result allows me to part with a few bikes as this one will fulfil a couple of roles.

I was considering this bot using 650b/27.5 wheels. Does anyone know if a low profile 27.5 tyre would fit in a '92 GT Bravado? or even a '92 Kona Lava Dome.

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So what cx tyres would suit the i23 rims I have hanging in the garage. Been scouring the web and there are many to choose from, I'm used to skinny road tyres or mtb, cx is new to me.

treat cyclocross focused parts as skinny mtb - forget the cx bit, you're not going to be running up a hill in 1970's shorts covered in mud

I hate the phrase 'gravel grinder' but they are essentially our old mountain bikes, same geometry, simple components and standards we all recognize

ideal for on and off road, ironically what we all used to do 30 years ago anyway!