ason

I recently purchased a cannondale touring bike - and was quite happy with its performance -

one problem - the larger road wheels kept clipping my toes.

I am looking to install 26 inch mountain wheels to rectify the situation, esp when wanting to take some off-road trips.

The only problem i forsee is brake lever compatibility. Cantilevers are currently installed, any way to convert? Or any other small reach cantilevers to purchase?

Also, I am looking to install downtube shifters on the bike as well. But there are no downtube bosses as there were on the older model cannondale tourers! Any way to get a reliable clamp around that fat downtube for 9 speed in the rear? I read campy has a clamp-on 9 speed but will it fit my extra wide tubing?

regards

broomhandle

can you post some pictures? how old is it? whats the modle number? you can go 650...

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/650b.html

ason

quite new actually- took a 3 week tour of US, but am looking to for off-road touring -make is cannondale t800- 2005 or 2006.

i want to stay away from weird sizing, but i was just looking at bmx u-brakes- they may go too LOW, as I am looking at a 2.5 inch differential with 26 inch rims.

any ideas on these types of brakes?

Rincewind8

That is a touring bike, right? Then it probably has a little more tire clearance than a road bike. Maybe some cyclocross tires or 29er tires would do the trick?!

yes

Are you putting your feet on the correct part of the pedal? The ball of your feet should go over the spindle. Do you have excessively large feet for the bike size?
Sounds odd to me. You should probably try figuring out why it happens.

Thor29

My guess is that you are riding a smaller sized frame. Toe overlap can be a problem when the frame gets really small and the wheels are the same size. Trying to convert the Cannondale to 26" wheels is not a good idea. First, the bottom bracket will drop, which will cause your pedals to hit the ground when going around corners. Secondly, the brakes won't work. You would be much better off buying a Surly Long Haul Trucker frame, which your local bike shop can order for you - the smaller sizes are built for 26" wheels and it comes with downtube bosses. Just swap the parts from the Cannondale, sell the wheels and frame on Ebay, and buy new wheels. The Surly is a better ride anyway - steel is real!

ason

on tour, on u-turns, i nearly fell a number of times - maybe too big feet, maybe poorly designed bike.

mountain wheels would give me more clearance for clean waterbottles and buying power at walmart.

i am looking at those sun ryno rims that never go out of true - so i don't have to worry about the wheel building aspect of bicycle ownership.

at any rate, conceptually, it should be possible to install smaller radius wheels on an american touring bike for off-road riding in the outer reaches of mongolia for example.(making a koga-miyate out of a cannondale) but i perhaps have to play with the wheels in reality instead of trying to figure out sizing and compatibility using little preview pictures of canti v. u-brake brake systems

kind regards.

Mchaz

The easy way to work around the problem is to just be careful when you are making sharp slow turns. I have toe overlap on my road bike, but it doesn't really bother me. If I need to make a turn like that, I will just keep the outside pedal in the farthest back position. 9 o'clock or 6 o'clock position. If you need to pedal during the turn to maintain speed, just do half strokes, never bringing the outside pedal around far enough to hit the tire. Works for me, but YMMV.

ZachS

you will not be able to make brakes work easily, unless your frame's set up for discs. what size shoes do you wear, anyway?!?

MichaelW

How tall arr you , what size frame and what length cranks?
You can often reduce toe clip overlap (TCO) by switching to shorter cranks ( which may be better suited to your leg length).
On a trail touring bike, TCO is not good. Yes you can avoid overlap by careful pedalling but you are going to flip at some time due to this problem when your mind is full of other problems. TCO is totally avoidable by proper bike designers and as suggested, Surley solve the problem by using proportionate wheels in smaller frames.
The switch from 700c to 26" is not really feasable. You may be able to switch if you have disk brakes but it will also change the bottom bracket height (and pedal cornering clearance)

Retro Grouch 

I can see why you might have toe clearance problems if your bike really has wheels with a 700 centimeter diameter.