Is it possible to fit a hybrid wheel on a racking bike frame?

[ibie1983]

Hi guys

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to fit a hybrid rear wheel on a racing bike frame seeing that both hybrid and racing bike wheels have the same bead seat diameter?

Thank you

[nfmisso]

You need to measure the OLD. http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_n-o.html#old  And the frame spacing.  The frame spacing varies with vintage, standards are: 120mm, 126mm, 130mm and 135mm for conventional rear axles and hubs.  Tandems add 140mm, 145mm and 160mm.

A steel frame can be cold set, for example, my Schwinn World Tourist was 126mm; I cold set it to 135mm to allow the use of the lost cost Wheelmaster cartridge bearing hubs.

I strongly recommend against attempting to cold set aluminum or other frame materials.

[ibie1983]

Hi Nigel


Thank you for the reply. The over locknut distance on the hybrid wheel is 135mm and the spacing on the frame drop out is 130mm, which would technically mean the wheel is 5mm too wide for the frame to fit on, although I managed to squeeze the wheel on the frame without any difficulty and the wheel seems to be working fine. What are your thoughts on this?

Thank you

[DaveM]

(03-30-2015, 06:58 PM)ibie1983 Wrote:  What are your thoughts on this?

If it's a metal frame, should be fine. If it's carbon, I wouldn't ride it like that.

If you're going to want to use that wheel on the bike longer term, you may be able to take a few spacers off the axle to get the OLD down closer to 130. But you would need some cone wrenches and may need to re-dish depending on how the axle is set up.

[ibie1983]

Hi Dave

Thank you for your reply. Its an alloy frame.

I was thinking of re-spacing the wheel as it has 2x spacers (1x 10mm spacer on the left & 1x 20mm spacer on the right) making a total OLD of 135mm. If I re-space it and knock out 2.5mm each side, that would bring the OLD to 130mm, would the wheel then work perfectly?

Thank you

[DaveM]

That will work IF there is enough room between the gear cluster and the inside of the frame. If you remove 2.5 mm off the right side of the axle, the cog will be 2.5mm closer to the frame. Often there isn't that much extra space.

Otherwise, you would need to remove 5mm from the left side and then re-dish the wheel (re-center the rim over the hub. This isn't major, but you need to have at least basic wheel truing skills to do it.

[ibie1983]

Thank you for the reply Dave. Very helpful.