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Hardcore hybrid for those without shaven legs. 700c road rubber on a 26" Mtb


Cotic Tony's picture

By Cotic Tony - Posted on 09 May 2012

NB: Originally posted elsewhere on the Global Riders Network and appears via syndication.

Just thought that I'd post an update on my latest creation.

Since building the 29er HT my 26" Ht has been a bit neglected so with the current weather being crap I thought about making it into something along the lines of a fast urban cruiser.
I had some cheap 29er disc wheels, some rotors and a cassette already as well as some spare road bike tyres so I started with the build. I originally tried 23mm road slicks on it but they were stupidly low profile on the wide MTB 29er rims so I went up to my mates shop & experimented with CX & Hybrid tyres until I got a tyre that worked (Some really didn't want to sit properly in the bead recess). In the end a basic 32 x 700c Vittoria reinforced commuter job worked best although a 32mm Maxxis larson CX would also fit.
Cheers Dave at Bikeforce Joondalup for letting me mess up your tyre collection.

I now have a sweet, fast super commuter although I wont be leaving it outside a coffee shop anytime soon.

T

Hop fiend's picture

that I could out run the cops when riding home pissed from the pub.......

hawkeye's picture

That bike be more smashin'-looking than Spanish galleon full o' treasure, Tony me lad!

An' here be moine. Now missing bar extensions due to a mishap awhile back with a scum-sucking driver, and the panniers be gone because it looks more pirate-like without! Arr! Eye-wink

Oh, and that foul-looking toolbag has been sent to Davy Jones' locker. I got a more stylish one o' Topeak that won't fall off in a storm.

Cotic Tony's picture

Well shiver mi timbers matey, Oi see the lashing wind & driving rain's brought out the scurvy cutlass wielding salty dog in you!

That's a moity fine vessel you've got there & not a single barnacle on its bottom to boot although the stowage looks like a crushed gerry can.
The problem with luggage is that although it's practical it generally looks crap.

It also looks like you've tried to lengthen the contact points for road use by using a lot of layback & the bar ends. Are they road rims & tyres?

hawkeye's picture

The bar ends are gone as they rub on the titanium in my hand. The seat is now further forward, roughly in line with where a zero-offset seatpost would be. I just haven't gotten around to getting a carbon zero-offset yet. The carbon post takes a lot of the buzz out of the shonky roads around here when fitted with the skinny tyres.

Rims in that shot are Mavic Open Pro road rims, but the rear got a monster flat spot when I failed to hop a nasty square-edged pothole in time last year and it started popping spokes, so I had it rebuilt using a CXP33, again in silver.

The bike is a lot faster minus the panniers - those things make great parachutes!

evan's picture

Just want to confirm, but have you managed to put a 29er wheel-set on a 26" hard-tail frame? Is the fork designed for a 26" tyre or 29" tyre?
Interesting concept if that's the case.

hawkeye's picture

You're limited in the size of the slick you can run on a 26er frame, is all.

I run 700x23c rubber. That gives me 10mm clearance from tyre to steerer tube at full compression with an air chamber seal failure. So the biggest tyre I'd be comfortable running would be a 28c.

Not that I'd go close to bottoming out the fork on the road, but given the severity of possible consequences of the tyre hitting the steerer I'd rather not put myself in the ... erm, frame.

evan's picture

Thanks Hawkeye, didn't know you could do that.

Cheers
Evan

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