pasopia

Is it possible to put 700c wheels on a mtb frame intended for 26" inch wheels? Has anyone ever tried this? What sort of modifications would be required? The bike is a trek 6500 from 2004, and I am planning on using it for some touring.

C Law

Yes. as long as you have enough clearance for the tires.
yes
I have room on my 1x1 for 29x1.75 tires with room to spare.

See the 29er forum at mtbr
You would probably have to run disc brakes ( if you are not already)because the brake posts would be in the wrong spots.

Also, your BB may be a bit higher due to the change in wheel circumference.
According to the schwalbe website, a 26'' 2.4'' tire would have to same circumference of a 700x28 tire so, depending on your tire size, you may not change your bb height that much.

There could also be some overlap concerns depending on your frame size.

If you are doing touring and are going to run skinny tires you could probably get away with it. take a wheel off of your road bike or friends road bike and see if it fits. Of course, you will have to get a rear wheel with mountain spacing, as a regular road wheel would not fit properly.

Mtb spacing = 135mm
Road spacing = 130.mm

Why not just run 26'' high pressure slicks on your current wheels?

SpiderMike

Here is a link for the MTBR thread on running 29's on a 1x1. https://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.ph...1x1+conversion

And a 1x1 running skinny 700's https://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.ph...ghlight=29+mia

pasopia

Thanks for the tips. I am definitely going to give the 700c wheels a try to see if they fit my frame I probably will end up running road slocks on the 26" wheels, as mentioned. I wanted to see how big of an effect switching to bigger wheels would have on my speed and miles covered. Any opinions?

SpiderMike

700's have an advantage for roll over and for coasting. Just hope your frame has disc tabs. But here you make you own opinion.

https://www.twentyniner.net/faq/
https://forums.mtbr.com/showpost.php?...68&postcount=4