Dec1st

Can you put smaller wheels on a bike to allow space for fenders? I know you may have to change how your brakes are set up, but is it even really possible? I'm thinking of 28 inch to 26in + fatter tires and fenders.

My oldest daughter has an old 10 speed that she would like to set up with fenders and front and back racks. Right now the tyres have hardly any clearance and the brakes are little tiny things. It's a no-name (Supercycle - CanTire) late 1970's thing. I bought it at a garage sale for myself last year, but it is too small.

She likes the aggressive posture but also wants to be able to carry stuff on it.

Jeff Wills

You can, but it tends to be very involved and expensive. If you're starting with a 30-year-old supermarket bike it's not worth it.

Amesja

+1 anything is possible but it'll probably cost more money for the average non-wrenching rider to do have done than a new bike-shop bike would cost new in the end.

If you are an accomplished wrench and have access to a pile 'o used bike parts then it's absolutely possible and probably very cheap although the time involved might get a bit excessive -especially if you are OCD like me.

But the sky is the limit.

Dec1st

Thanks for the honest answer. It was a $3 bike at a garage sale. So on one hand throwing a bit of money at it wouldn't hurt much, but a lot of money isn't worth it.

I don't have a pile of parts. I do a bit of wrenching, but I haven't ever tried anything like this before.

Amesja

If you can source a set of wheels that fits and are cheap then all you need to do is source the fenders and perhaps new brakes. It could be worth it -it's really a judgement call. If you WANT to do it then that's the reason right there :-D Climb the mountain because it because it is there!

But the answer to your question is really subjective.

Dec1st

Maybe as a winter project...

The deal with bikes in our house is that "extras" have to be purchased by the preteens out of their baby sitting money. This would definitely count as extras. I guess the bottom line is that I could change the wheels to the same size but I wouldn't really know how to tell if a different wheel set would "fit"

I wish we had a bike co-op here.

Amesja

This is a good place to start.

qualla

Amjesa's advice is good. Tire and wheel sizes are confusing and that can lead to problems.

I'm assuming that by 28" you are talking about 622mm rims rather than the 635 mm rims that are used on roadsters. Changing from 622mm to 26" (rare 599 or 597 mm rims) would not be hard - if you could find rims and tires. You're best bet is probably to switch from 622mm to 26" (590mm, EA3 or 584mm, 650B) rims. Rims, wheels and tires are readily available and there are some good instructions on the web for making this change - do measure your bottom bracket height. It works well on some bikes. It's not a cheap way to go, though - less than a new bike, more than a pretty good deal on a better used bike.

If you were thinking about switching from 622mm to the most common 26" -- 559 mm, I'd say don't do it. That's a difference of 63mm (about 2.5 inches), so the bottom bracket would be more than an inch closer to the ground with increased likelihood of pedal strike particularly on turns, and you'd need an extra inch and a quarter of brake reach and I'm not sure that there are any brakes that could offer that.

Amesja

At the bottom of the link to Sheldon's wheel sizing systems there is some new information about the global measure system for tire sizing.

While a 26" MTB 559 rim will really lower the bike someone could put a massive Fat Frank 26 x 2.35 tire on it which would bring the outer Diameter back out again. There still would be the brake reach problem as the rim is in the same place but I believe the Fat Franks have a larger outside diameter than a typical MTB 559 tire. I could be wrong -I've never actually played with one but they do look like they are bigger. It depends on the size of the rear triangle opening as such a fat tire might not be an option on the OP's bike.

I do like the look of the Fat Franks though. I need to look into this more fully myself.

clubman 

Most Supercycles had 630/27" tires and generally had a lot of frame clearance. If this is one of those, you can put a rack and fenders on the existing bike with room to spare. You won't be able to find fat tires but that's really not a downside.

Alan Edwards

Try and look at this problem a little differently. Try and modify the fenders to fit the bike. Lots easer, run the rear fender from the BB to the back of the brake and then start the fender again after the brake and run it as far as you want. You just need twice the number of fender rods and longer bolts to hold the rods. There are no stupid questions, only stupid wheels.

20grit

There is a 650b conversions thread on the forums. A google search should turn it up.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...0B-Conversions

i think that's the one.