beaglepgh

I use the same road bike for Sunday road riding and dry-weather commuting (I have a fender-laden beater for wet commuting). The problem is that the same set of tires is not suitable for both. I find using 23mm slicks is essential for road riding, but the 23s are not robust enough for commuting with a heavy rack bag and panniers, leading to frequent flats, particularly on the rear wheel.

It occurred to me that the best solution would be to get a separate set of wheels, run 23s on one set and 28s on the other (I know my road bike will accept 28s because I've used them before), and swap out the wheels for Sunday rides.

If I'm buying a second wheelset, it makes sense to buy a good road wheelset to upgrade my Sunday experience and performance, and use the stock wheels for weekday commuting.

My question is, can I assume that I will be able to switch out wheelsets without adjusting the brakes? Obviously, the wheels are all the same size at 700mm, but could rim height or width make a difference? If it matters, my stock wheels use Mavic CXP 22 rims (with Specialized hubs), and I'm thinking of Neuvation M28x or Mavic Equipe for the new wheels.

Any thoughts?

idc

If the rim width isn't too different I think it'd be doable. 23 to 28 tires isn't that much anyway.

Depending on how close to the rims you like your brake pads, you might have to adjust the brakes a little bit (just with barrel adjusters). I adjusted mine last night for this morning's ride just for general brake pad wear and they're a bit sharper now but either way I could ride on them comfortably.

giantcfr1

Are you using Shimano brake calipers? If so, I would imagine you would have to adjust the EC-Bolt on the caliper. It's the small phillips head bolt used to adjust the brake arms left or right. It's a very simple and quick adjustment.

tjspiel

I have a couple of different wheelsets I use for my road bike. My experience is that you're either going to have sub-optimal braking or have to make some adjustments when swapping wheels unless the rims are pretty much identical.

Rim width is one factor and another is the braking surface. Some rims have a groove in them for gauging wear. Some braking surfaces are slightly wider or narrower, etc.

You could try a high quality 25 mm tire with good flat protection. The stock 23mms the came with my road bike sucked for flats. Even upgrading to better 23s made a huge difference. I had a rack and panniers on that bike for a season and no problems with flats.

I'm guessing you'd get some improved performance with the 25 or even a 28 if the rolling resistance of the tire is better than the 23s you have now.

peterw_diy

Don't forget the gears. Ideally you'd use the same model freehub and cassette on each set, otherwise the rear deraiileur won't index right (if the dropout-to-cluster offset isn't the same on both rears you'd need to tweak at least the cable tension, and perhaps, for good measure, the limit screws).

I assume you're talking about a bike with caliper brakes, right?

modernjess

I swap wheels on my commuter often, IGH, single speed, studs no studs. 2 of 3 wheelsets are single speed and have almost identical rims profiles, Mavic MA-3 and CXP 22, No adjustments necessary. The other Salsa Delgado rims just need a small bit of fiddling with the barrels adjusters on the brakes to dial them in.

But I don't have cassette gears to mess with. The IGH and the single speed have similar cogs and along with the horizontal drops it negates any chain length issues.

My advice is to stay as close to the CXP 22 rim width as possible. Why not get another set of those? They aren't racing wheels or super high end, but I've found mine to be bullet proof as a daily commuter and they're cheap.

Leebo

N+1

alan s 

I switch wheelsets all the time, including between 26" and 700c wheels, and no issues, but with disc brakes. I know that doesn't help with your situation.

beaglepgh

Thank you all for responding. Let me clarify and provide additional information.

I guess I'm less concerned with rim width, since even with my poor technical skills I can adjust the brakes pretty quickly (they're caliper brakes, I think Shimano 105) to account for width or just accept a slightly longer pull for the narrower rims. My worry is more that the pads won't be alligned correctly vertically on the rim, which I think would be a pain in the a** to adjust when I swap frequently.

I plan on putting the same cassette on the rear wheel so I wouldn't have to worry about adjusting the derailer, though, if as peterw_diy says the freehub has to match then that could be a problem since I can't imagine the new wheels would use the same Specialized branded hub. If I have to start adjusting cable tension or "limit screws" (whatever those are) I'm in way over my head and the wheelset switching solution to the one-bike problem is not for me.

modernjess: I don't want to just get another set of CPX-22s because of my secondary goal of upgrading wheelsets for Sunday rides (with people who are faster than me).

tjspiel: You have a point about the tires. Maybe that's an even cheaper solution if I can find a tire that will meet both needs. My reluctance to use wider or tougher tires for fast rides is based on my experience with a pair of vittoria randonneur 28s. I ran them on the road bike and they were great for the commute, with never a flat, but cost me about 1.5 mph on Sundays compared to the stock 23 road slicks. Is there a strong, light, 23, 25 or even 28 that you can recommend that will work well on the commute and not cost me on the Sunday fast rides?

Does anyone have any thoughts on whether Mavic Elite or Neuvation M28 is even a significant upgrade on the CPX-22s? If it isn't, then that negates the secondary goal of a wheelset upgrade for Sunday riding and maybe different tires is the most sensible solution. (though it does run against the n+1 factor).

Andy_K 

I agree with tjspiel's suggestion of trying a good 700x25 tire. I've been very happy with 700x25 Conti Grand Prix 4000S. I've used them for about 500 miles and had no flats, and they're plenty fast -- great ride quality too.

If you are going to get a second wheelset, I do think you should try to match rims. I've used CXP22's, Open Pros and Mavic Aksiums and they are all essentially identical from a brake setup point of view. I suspect other Mavic road rims would be too. BTW, Performance and Nashbar have some pretty good deals right now on Ksyrium Equippe and Elite wheelsets.

Andy_K 

FWIW, the only time I've had any problems with derailleur adjustment was when I accidentally installed a Shimano cassette without the thin spacer behind it. I've got 13-25, 12-25, 12-27 and 12-30 10-speed cassettes which I use on Tiagra, Ultegra and Aksium hubs and I haven't had any issues switching between them.

ThermionicScott 

Were you experiencing more pinch-flats with the bags and panniers? Bumping up the tire pressure (however uncomfortable that may be) might be one solution, if you weren't doing that already.

- Scott

canyoneagle

25mm continental GP 4 season. Comfortable, pretty light, grippy, fast, solid enough for commuting. Not as deft feeling as a set of vittoria cx, but much better all-round.

beaglepgh

I don't think it was pinch flats. I typically found only one hole, not a snakebite, and I do run the tires at the listed max PSI of 120.

beaglepgh

Andy_K: Okay, I've decided to go with your suggestion of the conti gp4000s tires, despite the temptation of presented by the Performance and Nashbar wheel sales. If the contis are sucsessful in making my current wheels serve both the commuting and Sunday riding that makes the most sense for now, and I can always upgrade wheels in the future solely for Sunday performance sake. If they don't work for me for commuting, they're still a great road tire and would be nice to use for my Sunday rides.

Thanks for the advice.

Daniel

Bill Kapaun

IF all your "cargo" is on the rear, you really don't need a new front.

Some thing else to watch out for is the "angle" of the rim sidewall.
If that varies, the brake pads won't properly seat against the rim.

Drew Eckhardt 

Try lower pressure while you're at it. You can run a lot less than 120 psi without slowing down (it'll sound different and be more pleasant, but you won't be slower). At 180 pounds + 15 pounds of luggage I have 95-100 psi rear and 90-95 psi front in my 25mm Continentals (Gatorskins and GP 4 seasons depending on wheel).