Noonievut

Before I pull the trigger on a new Surly Cross Check frameset I wanted to make sure this will work:

- I have a steel road bike with Shimano Ultegra R8000 group (rim brake), Dura-Ace wheels (alloy, rim brake)
- I want to build up a Surly Cross Check frameset with these components, use canti brakes (or other rim brakes with large clearance), and have a second wheel set built for tires up to 42mm (I have an 11-sp cassette I can use on the 2nd wheel set)
- I want to easily swap between wheel sets, in a week I may go back and forth between them depending on what riding I'll be doing
- Going to use the seat post, saddle, handlebars, etc., from my existing bike and basically use as much as I can on the new build

Purpose is I want one bike, two wheel sets, and I want to use most of what I have already, as it's in excellent shape. I'm going to have someone build this up for me, including the new wheels.

Andrew R Stewart 

The goal is a good one and what I suggest for those who don't want a second bike. But expect to do some brake and gear tinkering each time you exchange the wheels. While indexing and limit consistency is getting better don't be surprised if the fine points are not exactly a match between the two wheel sets. Certainly the rim widths and thus the brake adjustments (and if the widths are vastly different the pad contact with the rim) will be needed. Allowing for cable length (barrel adjusters) changes at the minimum is suggested. Andy

Bill Kapaun

If the rims are noticeably different in width, the brake pad adjustments will drive you nuts.

I went to skinny rims on my Hybrid.
I had to rearrange and ADD a thin spacer to the point I almost had insufficient thread engagement.
Failure to add the spacers etc. would have resulted in the pads sliding off the rim into the spokes.
Having to switch back & forth would be a can of worms.

Best to use the same width rim and just alter the tire size.
Disc brakes would eliminate that problem, assuming you were able to avoid disc alignment issues.

Noonievut

Interesting point about rim width, thanks

cyccommute 

It sounds good in theory but is generally a royal pain in practice. As others have pointed out, the brake adjustment needed is annoyingly fiddly. One other thing to consider is that if you don’t use one wheel that often, chain meshing can be a problem. You can end up with an old chain and new cassette. That may not be as bad as a new chain and old cassette but it can be problematic.

Another…albeit minor…consideration is the tire width. Do you really need a different rim for a 42mm tire? I know the charts all show very narrow rim/tire width combinations but they are overly conservative. My road wheels generally use wider rims than my mountain bike wheels but my mountain bikes use much wider tires. My fast road bike uses Velocity A23 rims with either 23mm or 25mm tires. The A23 has an 18mm internal width. I use Mavic XC717 for my mountain bikes which have an internal width of 17mm with 2.12” (54mm) tires. I’ve never had an issue with running tires that wide on that narrow of a rim in 20+ years of using that combination.

Noonievut

Great points everyone thanks. My thinking is that I’ll be riding the wider tires more and more over time, so I won’t be adjusting brakes often. The bigger issue I’m trying to solve is bike fit. My body doesn’t respond well to alternating between bikes (I’ve had 5-10 ‘second’ bikes over the years). I would rather have one bike, and wheel/tire options, but really need a frame with the appropriate clearance.

Rolla

Just more food for thought: a single wheelset with 35mm cyclocross tires with a continuous center strip can handle nearly anything that either 32mm slicks or 42mm knobs can. I ran a pair of Donnelly X'Plor USH for a long time on road, gravel, and dirt.

Noonievut

Yes that may be where it ends up! I have a relatively new groupset, brand new 42mm tires, a spare cassette, etc., which is why for now I want to use these things and not simply by a second bike (like I have in the past). Cheers :-)

squirtdad

a possible rim brake option (dual pivot) could be the the velo orange grand cru https://velo-orange.com/collections/...g-reach-brakes

tyrion

Disc brakes would solve many of the problems mentioned (assuming you don't already have the frame). You could use your R8000 group except for the brakes. Those Ultegra rim brakes are going to severely limit your tire size anyway.

Rolla

I'd for sure run cantis (or mini-Vs) on a Cross Check.

Bill Kapaun

You need to find another of what you have
Trying to get the pads to strike 2 different rims EXACTLY the same way is very problematic to do ONCE. Back & Forth??? I think you'll introduce enough misalignment where the pad will tend to be braking edge first and start resulting in a spongy feel.
Of course, much depends on HOW different the width is between brake tracks of the 2 rims.

Noonievut

Okay, you all have me sufficiently worried 😧

I do have an 11-sd 105 groupset I can use, and would need to add a few more components to complete the build, and could initially base it on running just the wider tires and not fussing with brakes. And if the fit is good, I could try the second wheelset from my road bike and see how it goes. Hmm 🤔

cpach

If it's a problem you can always get a second wheelset that's identical to the first. If you end up with cantis, choose some like Avid Shortys that use V brake style pads that are faster to adjust, that way if it's a little off you can make the adjustment between the two faster. Mini V brakes are also a good option.

Russ Roth

Wife and I both run these for our gravel bikes, they were the clement tires. We've done the Erie canal, the confederation trail in Prince Edward and parts of other gravel trails and dirt roads with them while having no trouble maintaining 18mph on the local roads with the tire feeling smooth and light. Good all around tire that might be your solution.

N2deep

Although the crosscheck is a great frame I recommend that you look at the straggler as its the same frame with disk brakes. Wheels are easier to interchange with disk components, at lease in my experience..

Germany_chris

Then he’d have to buy two sets of wheels

cyccommute 

It’s not as big a problem as all that. For the most part, the brake track is in a similar place for most all rim brake rims. If you go with a wider rim, you usually just have to make a cable adjustment. Even if you have to adjust the alignment of the brake pads, it’s not all that difficult to make them correctly each time.

woodcraft

I routinely swap wheelsets that range from 18mm to 21+ mm widths on the CX bike with canti brakes & no adjustments.

Shimming the cassette to avoid having to adjust the RD is key.

RubeRad

For reference, here's the log I kept of my CrossCheck build from frameset:

CrossCheck build report: pics, parts, costs

(Sorry about the formatting, some BF change over the years broke it)

CrossCheck is a pretty forgiving/flexible platform. I started out building it up with all components from a Trek 1000 donor bike, and gradually got replacement parts and the Trek back together. Nowadays I run 700x50 in the back (it's real tight) and 700x42 or 45 in the front I forget, but there's gobs of room in the fork, so your max 700x42 plan should be no problem.

I agree it would be good if you could get your wheelsets as similar/identical as possible (hubs/cassettes, rims) to increase the likelihood that swapping will not need readjustment. Maybe you can get away with a different drilling on your light wheels for fewer spokes.

(I also agree it would have been better to conceive this whole project as a disc-brake project with a Straggler frameset -- if I had waited 1yr for the Straggler to come out, that's what I'd have now).

I kind of sympathize with you, I've thought about getting a 2nd wheelset for my Krampus, with some kind of 'road' tire (Big Apple?), and getting down to just one bike. But that would mean I would leave the smooth tires on for commuting, and having to swap out knobbies would disincentivize me from going on trail rides (or the other way around), so it's probably best I just keep 2 bikes I can hop on and ride.

Camilo

Don't be worried, it's not a big deal.

I've run this sort of thing for years on two bikes, mine and my wife's - cross bikes with rim brakes, two sets of wheels.

I don't agree that swapping between two different width rims is very fiddly or a hassle. My two wheels had significantly different widths and all it took was 20 seconds with a barrel adjuster to adjust them. I had a noodle with a barrel adjuster with the V brakes on my bike. My wife's bike had canti brakes and I had a noodle adjuster on the cable hanger on those too.

Yes, if the rims are identical or close in width, there is no adjustment needed, but adjusting is really not a big deal if needed.

Indexing was spot on between the wheels too. Maybe a 5 second tweak if they seemed noisy when riding.

shelbyfv

OP has moved on and purchased a different bike. Finis.

Noonievut

Thanks for adding this...though you never know if one day in the future I revisit this idea