Well, a slight hiccup in my plans for building a rough road touring bike.

I recently picked up an ancient Cannondale MTB that I was planning to add drop bars and a few updates.

Cannondale1.jpg
Cannondale2.jpg

The first thing I discovered was that the rear triangle was spaced at 130mm. Not insurmountable, but potentially an issue if I went to a wide rear cassette.

Then, I picked up a pair of 26" 2.1/2.3 tires at the co-op to mock up and see what moderately fat tires would look like on the frame, and perhaps try to figure out the chainline.

Only to discover the rear wheel was way too small.

It turns out that for a period of time, Cannondale put 24" wheels on the rear, and 26" on the front. Even on the large frames. It isn't quite clear why, but I think the idea was to get a little lower gearing.

I could still build up the bike, but it would mean doubling the number of spares to carry (spare tubes, and perhaps tires), and much lower availability of rims and tires.

I'll probably hunt for a different base for the build. I was excited about the Cannondale, but it seems like it will bring more aggravation than it is worth.