At the time I did my conversion in the later 90's there was no such thing as a high end lightweight hybrid with disc brakes. Apparently I started something though since Kona came out with their disc brake Dr Dew the very next year for about 1/2 the price I'd sunk into my own conversion.... GRRRRRR!!!!! Ain't that always the way? And yes, using the 700C wheels and tires did make the bike quicker than it was with the MTB wheels and 26 inch smooth street tires.

Altering the distance between the pivot and the pad wihout altering the distance from the pivot to the cable to maintain the ratio will totally ruin the leverage ratio of the system. What you are suggesting will make it so the brakes do not have anywhere near the same stopping power. The rider would need to greatly increase the effort at the lever to achieve the correct stopping power at the pads. Going from 26 inch rims to 700c is quite a jump. The lever effort woudl go from one finger comfortable stops to 3 or 4 fingers with white knuckles. And even that may not be enough.


Well this would be the easy one wouldn't it. No issues at all other than going for a narrower rim wheelset and then shoeing on some skinny tires. Although at least 90% of the advantage could be had with a 29'er by just shoeing on some 28mm performance tires in place of the knobbies. I'm running 29'er wheels with 28mm Conti Super Sports on my new cyclocross/touring bike. While there's no doubt that skinnier and lighter rims and tires would benefit the acceleration away from stops once rolling they don't give up much to the skinny and higher pressure stuff.