Road/Mountain Wheel switch?
 

Is it possible to put mountain bike wheels on shimano's sura model road bike? If so, does anyone have any suggestions for what type would be entry level grade? Thanks:)

No, a road bike uses different sizing for rims. The road bike you're referring to most likely has 700c wheels, which are an inch or two bigger than your typical 26" MTB wheels. MTB wheels are thicker and generally smaller - basically, they wont fit. If you want MTB traction/etc on a road bike, invest in a new set of tires. There are some that will do the job.

Nothing is impossible.

You could convert to a fixed gear. Then you wouldn't need a rear brake. By chaging the fork, you would be able to use mtb wheels.

Or you could just avoid having a rear brake alltogether.

Brakes are actually unnecessary if you ride in places where you never need to stop.

Or you could just get some cyclocross tires for your road bike.

I would go with the cyclocross tires. The problem with mtb tires is the different rim size (mentioned above) will make your brakes inoperable, rubbing against the tires to be exact.

What about the front? That would be a funny looking bike with a 26" in the rear and 700c in the front. :roflmao:

You'd be surprised what people have actually done. I was on the simi ride a good few years back, and noticed a mountainbike (Cannondale Super V) with road wheels running alongside me. A teammate of mine put a 650 front wheel on his road bike, ignoring the front brake. A neighbor actually took his roadbike on the fire roads.

First of all, let's get our terminology straight. Sorry if I'm coming across as being anal about this but it will help sort out confusion in the long run.

A wheel is a combination of hub, spokes, rim, rimstrip, tyre and air. If your intention is to simply mount more aggressive treaded tyres then as another poster suggested, you will want to look into tyres marketted more towards cyclocross for the reasons mentioned. These are usually less aggressively treaded than pure MTB tyres but have more bite than a slick road tyre. They're also wider than a road tyre but not as wide as MTB tyres.

If however, you're interested in a tougher rim then things get a little more difficult. They do make MTB rims in 700C size. They are generally called 29" rims. Some cyclocrossers use them as well. They are beefier, wider and can accept a wider MTB tyre. You might have trouble with overall width once everything is mounted. Most of these rims have a minimum tyre width that is often still wider than what would clear the fork and stays of a typical roadbike.

So back to your original question... What is it you're trying to achieve?