Wheel question
#3
Senior Member


Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 30,225
Likes: 649
From: St Peters, Missouri
Bikes: Catrike 559 I own some others but they don't get ridden very much.
Depends. The way to tell for sure is to borrow a pair of 700c wheels and try them.
Brake reach may be a deal breaker but often times it's not. It's possible that you will be able to adjust your existing brakes enough to make them work. Sometimes it's necessary to buy new, longer reach brake calipers. Sometimes the bike was designed with a lot of tire and fender clearance and already used long reach brakes so nothing will fit.
The other area you will have to address is rear hub spacing. Your bike probably has 126 mm spacing or possibly even 120 mm spacing. A new 700c wheel will be 130 mm over locknut dimension. You might be able to strong the new wheel into place but a more elegant solution would be to rework either the wheel or the frame so they match.
Brake reach may be a deal breaker but often times it's not. It's possible that you will be able to adjust your existing brakes enough to make them work. Sometimes it's necessary to buy new, longer reach brake calipers. Sometimes the bike was designed with a lot of tire and fender clearance and already used long reach brakes so nothing will fit.
The other area you will have to address is rear hub spacing. Your bike probably has 126 mm spacing or possibly even 120 mm spacing. A new 700c wheel will be 130 mm over locknut dimension. You might be able to strong the new wheel into place but a more elegant solution would be to rework either the wheel or the frame so they match.




