Hi all, need a little wheel size advice

[ReanimatedNerd]

Hi everyone, first post on the site but I've enjoyed reading some of the threads on here, and thought this would be the best place to post.

Need a little advice, I found an old Harrier City Sprint 10-speed bike in a cupboard at my mothers, (I think it's from the late 80's) and after years of riding mountain bikes and the occasional bmx, I thought that this might be a nice project to keep myself occupied, ending in a nice new way to get back and fore work.

It has a few spots of rust, and the wheels could do with replacing, but altogether it's a really nice bike. I've just begun stripping it and I'm thinking of powdercoating (My girlfriend knows a guy who can do it cheap )

The only problem is, it's a little bit small. It has 24 inch wheels, and I was wondering if it would take 26 inch wheels with the tyre and all? Not sure of the frame size though... But I'm only 5"6 and it's slightly too small for me.

Might sound like a stupid question, but last thing I want is to find out they don't fit AFTER I've bought them...


Cheers for the help!

 

[mattsccm]

Doubt it but why not try a mtb wheel minus tyre and see how much sapce is left.
The thing is the brakes almost certainly won't meet the rims so I would suggest flogging it and buying an adults bike. :cry:

 

[ReanimatedNerd]

26 inch MTB wheels fit okay, it's the MTB tyre that takes up the space.

Here's a pic of the frame with the 24" rear wheel on, it looks like there's enough space for a 26" which is why I'm asking.

I'd love to restore this bike as it holds a lot of sentimental value to me, if 26" wheels aren't an option, I'm just gonna have to play around with the handlbar/seat positions till it's rideable

 

[ReanimatedNerd]

Sorry for the double post but here's a pic of it next to my kitchen counter, to give you a better idea of scale:

I suppose I could raise the handlebar stem an inch or two to make it more comfortable...

Cheers for the help dude!

 

[Midlife]

Can't see the pics but wasn't a Falcon Harrier built with Reynolds 453 tubing.....

24" wheels ? Blimey that's a small road frame

Shaun

 

[lae]

The only thing to do is try it! You'll need different brakes, mind (a good opportunity to upgrade them).

With a long seatpost it might fit you, but the saddle-bar drop will likely be quite large.

 

[ReanimatedNerd]

Thanks man, I'm hoping they fit, I don't have a tape measure handy but I reckon with 26" wheels this bike will be a good size for me (as I'm so short... lol ) With the 24" wheels the crossbar comes about 3 inches below my crotch...

I'm replacing the seatpost, but the one in the pic is as far as will extend and its way too high for me, it's the handlebars that seem a little low. Maybe bumping them up an inch or two will make all the difference.

Hoping I can get this roadworthy, it's a lovely light bike but I can't find much information about it online.

 

[ReanimatedNerd]

Hate to double post, but I've finally found a tape measure and the frame is a 50cm. Not super small, so should be okay for me once it's restored (Assuming I can adjust the handlebar height... lol)

Cheers for the help, I'll post pics of the restore if anyone wants

 

[hamster]

MTB wheels (559mm dia) typically come up as around 24.5" diameter with 1.2" tyres, so hopefully you can get them to fit. As said before, it's one to try and see if you can get away with.

You will have to consider getting the rear hub to fit - no doubt it has 126mm or even 120mm rear spacing. A road 130mm hub is probably simplest, but could well mean a custom wheel build.

 

[ReanimatedNerd]

Meh, seems like an awful amount of work for what will become a bike for commuting to work.

Might just keep original size wheels on, problem is, the original wheel size (24x1 3/8 ) are quite hard to come by.

Do you reckon 24x1.25 wheels will fit?

These might be stupid questions, but this is the first time I've fiddled around with a road bike