2nd Wheelset help
 

Hey everyone, i'm kind of new to the drop bar scene. I bought a Kona Rove last year which has 650B x 47 tires and I really love commuting 10k to work on mixed terrain on this bike. On the weekends however I find myself riding with my more efficient road focused friends on some bigger rides.. 50 - 60kms. I'm considering setting up a second set of wheels for this purpose. My frame and fork would accommodate a 700 x XX wheel and think i've found a wheelset that has compatible hub widths and center locking disk brakes. I have 2 questions. 1. Do I need to use the same cassette as i have to avoid derailleur adjustments on wheel swap? 2. Am I missing anything that would make the wheelset not fit my bike? Again I have a 2021 Rove with the Steel frame 650b option. Shifters are Sora. Maybe this is the wrong approach? Maybe i should just get a good used road bike? I just really love riding my Rove and would like to just change wheels as needed. Any advice would be great.

Thanks!

In general, if you do use the same size cassette, you will not need to make adjustments. Adjusting the b-screw is pretty easy to do, so if you were to use a differently sized cassette, assuming it is within the spec of your RD, AND it is not so different that it required resizing the chain, it's a simple wheel swap. If it does require resizing the chain, just have a separate chain of the correct length on standby to also swap...it takes an extra 2 minutes.

You didn't mention it, but I assume you know the max tire size in 700c your frame will accommodate. Use that to choose the wheel/tire combo that will suit the longer road rides. A road bike might be a better solution, but it isn't necessarily mandatory.

Just to be clear, you should use a cassette with the same number of cogs (9 speed, 10 speed, etc). And yes, it’d be simplest if you also use a cassette with the same tooth range (e.g., 11-34). That’ll probably be fine for both kinds of riding, especially if your bike has a 2x drivetrain. One would need to know your drivetrain specs to advise further.

For the brakes, the best thing would be to find a 700c wheelset that uses exactly the same hubs as your 650b wheels. Any other hubs might require minor adjustments of the brakes when you swap wheels, if the rotors don’t end up in exactly the same position on the two wheelsets. My instinct is that centerlock vs 6-bolt won’t necessarily matter for this, so if you can’t find identical hubs, it should be fine to get 6-bolt hubs on the 700c wheelset. (Indeed, that might even have advantages, because there are shims available to tweak 6-bolt rotor spacing, e.g., https://bikerumor.com/2015/11/11/jus...otor-shim-kit/)

I would get the same cassette. You may need to shim the disk rotors on one of your wheelsets so the calipers do not have to be adjusted every time you switch wheelsets. I have two wheelsets with different hub brands and both wheelsets line up the same for me when mounted (no shims needed).

Thanks everyone. At the risk showing you how little I actually know. How come some wheels say QR or quick release right on the ad. Does that mean they will not work with my through axles that my bike has? Are some hubs not thru axle compatible? Can anyone show me an example of the mid range gravel wheelset that could possibly work?

Thanks.

Correct - some hubs are *not* thru axle compatible. Some hubs can be converted between QR and thru axle (and between different thru axle standards, such as between 12mm and 15mm thru axles), but not all.

Is your Rove a 1x or 2x? If the former, one of the things you are dealing with in riding with your roadie friends is very different gearing, even if the high and low gears are the same. With a 2x, the cassette cogs will have more incremental steps. With a 1x, those steps will be farther apart. What that effectively means is that your friends are keeping their same cadence as they speed up or slow down, and it's always tempting to try and match not just speed, but cadence as well. Riding uneven surfaces like gravel, where an even pace is not such a big deal, this is not so noticeable, but it becomes evident when riding on pavement.

yeah, and if you are riding with rodies - well putting down 1000 watts on a 9t cog is asking for a lot of wear and a quick trip to chain slip (unless you replace the chain/cog very often). If you are on your own doing 100-200watts, probably not a big deal.

The one i bought was a 2x. Was hoping for a bike that'd kinda have the gearing to be and all around bike. I'm not looking to break any records, i just thought maybe a decent wheelset and 700c with some smooth rolling tires would help me out a bit and i want to be able to swap back to my 650b x47 tires for messing around and commuting to work etc.

I have a second wheelset on my gravel bike for road riding (winter and commuting). For ease, I have the same ratio cassette. I couldn't be asked to faff around with the B-screw every time I swap the wheelset.

Between my four bikes ( 3 gravel one road ) and six wheel sets I had to do very little to next to zero adjustment when all the cassettes where 11-30, 11-32, 11-34. Maybe just dumb luck between my wheels and bikes. When I swapped to a 11-40 cassette on the one gravel wheel set things changed. Had to back the b screw all the way out and make adjustments to the barrel screw. And when I put the road wheel set back on ( 11-30 cassette ) of course I had to re adjust it all again. Too big of jump 11-30 to 11-40 cassette at least for me. I liked have a dual purpose bike more than dedicated dirt bike so I replaced my 11-40 cassette back to 11-34 so my gravel bike can swap between road wheels and gravel wheels.