Brand New Felt Aero Wheels Setup – $375

[Greenbelt]

I was wondering if it would be possible to get a new wheelset so that I could essentially convert my CX bike to a road bike on demand. Of course, I could just get narrow road tires for my CX bike and just swap out the tires on the current wheels, but that’s a lot more hassle than just popping a different wheel on, and I’d also like a cassette set up for lower gearing and higher speeds than what I’ve got on my cross bike.

Unfortunately, I know nothing about bike mechanics and setup. Fortunately, I’m not ashamed to display my ignorance by asking (maybe) ignorant questions!

Would the cantilever brakes on a cross bike work on these wheels? Would the width of the rims be the same, so I could switch out the wheels without adjusting the brakes? Would the wheels fit into my dropouts (are they standard sizes)? Are there other reasons why wheels might not be easy to just mix and match on different bikes?

Sorry if this idea is farfetched, but you don’t learn if you don’t ask…

My cross bike is a Jamis Supernova — the brakes, however, didn’t come with the bike — they’re cheap(er) Shimano cantilevers that seemed to have a lot more stopping power. The drivetrain is also Shimano.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]583[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]584[/ATTACH]

[elcee]

@Greenbelt 13092 wrote:

Would the cantilever brakes on a cross bike work on these wheels? Would the diameter of the rims be the same, so I could switch out the wheels without adjusting the brakes? Would the wheels fit into my dropouts (are they standard sizes)? Are there other reasons why wheels might not be easy to just mix and match on different bikes?

A 2009 Supernova? If so, then Tim’s wheels will most probably fit. The rim diameter is the same – both 700c wheels. Dropout spacing is the same – 130 mm for both road and CX bikes.

Aside from these two factors, you also have to consider: (1) rim width (might need to adjust the brakes), (2) rim material (carbon vs alloy require different brake pads), and (3) cassette (9, 10, and 11 speed have different spacing; Campagnolo vs Shimano/SRAM are different spacing as well). What else did I miss?

When you switch cassettes, make sure your chain length is OK. For a small change you shouldn’t have to modify it. I only raise the point should you want to use a bigger cassette – in which case, you definitely want to lengthen the chain!

Quote:

I’d also like a cassette set up for lower gearing and higher speeds than what I’ve got on my cross bike.

That might be a problem. I believe your smallest rear cog is 12T. I’m somewhat certain that 11T is the smallest you can get, which is only an 8% increase in gearing.

P.S. I should also mention that you have to consider whether the wheels are going to be suitable for your application, e.g. smooth vs rough roads, heavy vs light rider. There’s always a tradeoff between weight, construction, and strength.

[Greenbelt]

(1) rim width (might need to adjust the brakes), (2) rim material (carbon vs alloy require different brake pads).
Thanks, I appreciate.

Sounds like if I had to replace brake pad types and adjust for a different rim width every time I wanted to change out the wheels, these particular wheels wouldn’t be best for me. Plus I’m not sure if I’m ready for 700×23 — that seems tiny compared with the 700×35 I usually ride on.

Gives me an excuse to ride over to the LBS tomorrow and ask what types of alternate wheels would work best for my bike…

[CCrew]

Frequently you also have to tweak the rear derailleur on a wheel change, so thinking along those lines it’s not always a “I’ll ride my race wheels today” kind of affair. If that’s what you’re going for it’s almost easier to have two sets of identical wheels with different tires.

It’s just that freewheel spacing isn’t always *perfectly* the same, at best you can adjust with just the barrel adjusters to trim, but I had one set that almost required a complete re-tweak of the RD. Needless to say I gave up the wheel swap on a whim idea pretty quickly.

On the bright side it’s a GREAT excuse for “I need a race bike to go with my cross bike honey”

All that said, yes those wheels should fit your bike. But yes they’ll prolly be narrower so tweaking brakes too is a distinct possibility. It is a good price for a turn-key set of wheels.

[Greenbelt]

Thanks Ccrew and elcee — this is really helpful. The wheels on my cross bike were by Velocity (Dyad), which my LBS ordered for me when I wore big grooves in the stock rims on my original CX bike (it’s a long story). I think I have these: http://store.velocityusa.com/products/productdetail/part_number=3601-700XX/7455.0.1.1

So I should be able to just order the exact same wheelset again. I’ll ride over and ask them about the idea today.

[CCrew]

@Greenbelt 13098 wrote:

Thanks Ccrew and elcee — this is really helpful. The wheels on my cross bike were by Velocity (Dyad), which my LBS ordered for me when I wore big grooves in the stock rims on my original CX bike (it’s a long story). I think I have these: http://store.velocityusa.com/products/productdetail/part_number=3601-700XX/7455.0.1.1

So I should be able to just order the exact same wheelset again. I’ll ride over and ask them about the idea today.

The biggest issue is the hubs, although rim width will be a factor. Different hubs can have the freewheel placement slightly off from one another necessitating the rear derailleur adjustments, where having to adjust the brakes is going to be just a factor of whether the rims are the same width. If the width is the same it really doesn’t matter the brand on the rims.

I ran into it because I was trying to go between Mavic Aksium’s with cross tires and Easton’s with road tires. The rims were the same width which caused me no pain on the brakes, but the cassette placement on the freewheel was so different it required a re-setup of the RD on every wheel change. I finally just gave up. Not that it couldn’t be done, but it wasn’t the “swap on a whim” I had hoped for.

[elcee]

Dyads are pretty wide rims (I’m building wheels with these right now) and are better with wider tires. If you want to mount tires narrower than a 700×28, you should consider narrower rims.

You can solve the hub/cassette/derailleur problem by either (1) using spacers to align the cassette exactly where you want them or (2) get wheels with the same hubs as what you have now.

[Greenbelt]

LBS also noted that the dyads were meant for durability and maybe a lighter wheel would be more appropriate. Although I might decide to go with 700×28 anyways. We’ll see!

[Tim Kelley]

These have been sold.

I’m going to close the thread, but I won’t delete it because some may find the discussion resulting from it to be helpful.

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