Raffi

I just got my Trek 520. Ill be doing medium distance commuting. I'm going to buy some studded snow tires for winter, and I will get some cyclocross tires to do the occasional light trail riding. Should I get another wheelset to trade the studded with the 28mm's or to the cyclocross when I want to ride?
I;m mechanically quite fit, so I imagine I would get quick at changing over the tires themselves when I want to hit the trails, or see that there is snow. How long does it take with practice?

No doubt that no matter what,an extra wheel set is great. But I would rather hold on to the cash if the extra set is overkill.

Would you go for the convenience?
Thanks,
Raffi

cs1

Before MTB's bikes like yours were do anything bikes. You have canti's so fender clearance shouldn't be a problem. As long as you don't drive in a lot of mud even side pull brakes will work well off road. Good luck

Tim

HillRider

Get another wheel set and dedicate it to the alternate tires. Changing both tires and tubes each time you change your riding conditions will get old fast and is hard on the tire beads too.

Raffi

Thanks, I took you advice and ordered new wheel sets. Do you know If I have to run the same cassette combo on these, or can I go with a lower geared set without re-adjusting my derailleurs every time I change them?
Thanks again for the advice,
R.

Raffi

Any cx tire suggestions?

Bill Kapaun

You might luck out and be able to swap without any adjustments, but don't expect it.
The thing is, you can easily keep track of how much difference between wheels and just remember to turn the barrel adjust X amount when swapping.
Since the bike already comes with something like an 11-32?, I'm not sure how much lower you can go. A 34T cog isn't going to do very much from a 32.

Raffi

Oh, I was thinking I'd go 34, but if it's not much difference then it's not worth the bother?
Thanks,
R.

Michel Gagnon

Wheel and Tire suggestions

With your current wheels, you should be able to go down to 700x30, or a real 28 mm. On the other hand, slick high pressure 700x32 work very well both on asphalt and decent gravel. So your desire for two sets of wheels depends on how often you would NOT be satisfied with a compromise and would prefer more specialized tires.

In terms of compromises:

- Since the front wheel has no traction, a front slick works as well as a front tire with sculptures in almost anything.

- I once had a Vittoria Lizzard tire that was quite good for various soil conditions, including a moderate amount of hard snow. It had a smooth central section (not raised, just smooth) and sculptures on the sides, so the tire rolled on asphalt on the smooth section and the sculptures gripped in sand and snow.

One note : I have a 2000 Trek 520 (threaded fork). While there is more than enough room around the rear tire, the front area is a bit crowded. I needed a bit of creative fender filing and reshaping to fit a 700x37 Nokian Hakkappelliitta and a fender under the fork crown.

Another possibility would be to have two rear wheels and a single one.


Changing gears
Short of replacing the whole crankset with a mountain crankset (44-34-22) or with a Sugino compact (48-36-26), the best solution would be to replace your smallest chainring. Right now, you either have 52-42-30 (pre-2008) or 50-39-30 chainrings, in which case, you can easily replace the "30" by either a 26 or a 24 respectively. That way, you would keep your typical riding gears, but you would get slower easier gears for the hills.


Swapping wheels and shifting compatibility
If you want two sets of wheels, it's most likely because you want a quick swap. In that case, you will likely want each wheel to be fitted with a cassette. If the shifting needs readjustment when you swap wheels, an easy solution might be to install a 1 mm spacer behind one of the cassettes.