Three into one - possible or a pipe dream?

[ElyDave]

Just thinking, not necessarily looking for N-3+1, but I have a 26" wheel hard tail MTB runaround with rack and panniers, a 29" MTB front sus that's never used and a 12 year old roadbike that I trundle around and audax on. 

Here's my thinking. 

Disc ready frame with decent clearance for wide-ish lightly knobbled tyres up to maybe 45mm for light offroading on hard trails, eyelets for rack and guards.  Fit drop bars and brifters, a decent triple x 10sp, a spare pair of wheels with road tyres (even use those from the M5 'bent) and I've a lot more space in my shed.   I realise that loses the front sus of the 29er but I'm not reallth too fussed about that.

Possible or pie in the sky?

[PaulF]

Possible? Definitely!

It's called the Singular Swift. Designed for flat bars but can be run with drops plus you can fit suspension forks.

[trekker12]

To be honest most of the latest breed of 'adventure' bike will do what you are asking. My Genesis Croix de Fer is set up for touring with rack and panniers at present and I plan to build a lighter second set of wheels for either road tyres or knobblies (I haven't decided yet) for mucking around on locally.

A surly long haul trucker will do similar and there may even be lighter aluminium or carbon options (do carbon bikes have rack mounts or are they all for bike packing luggage?) if weight is your thing.

Having said all of that a cyclocross bike would also do it. A mate has a Verenti from Wiggle he's quite pleased with considering how cheap it was compared to the options I've given above.

[jsabine]

I think Blodwyn Pig has been playing with similar sorts of multi-purpose thoughts, including switching between 700 and 650b disc wheels.

Planet X has a carbon gravel/adventure frame with rack mounts that I'd quite like someone else to buy and comment on before I contemplate spending any money.

[fuaran]

Can you really be bothered swapping wheels before each ride? Yes, it is possible, but you will probably also have to adjust the chain, cassette, gears, disc brakes, mudguards etc.

[ElyDave]

Can you really be bothered swapping wheels before each ride? Yes, it is possible, but you will probably also have to adjust the chain, cassette, gears, disc brakes, mudguards etc.

I've been doing that on the road bike for years, it also goes on the turbo. Quick wheel change rather than slow tyre change, both ten speed cassettes, but different ratios. I also have two different fronts for the 'bent, a 700c and a 26".  I don't see this as a problem

[velosam]

Do you keep the same chain as I always thought you should match the train to the cassette?

[Cudzoziemiec]

I'd see the rack and guards as the obstacle. Yes, you could leave them on all the time but off roady adventurey stuff is much nicer without them. So to my mind, you're using two out of these three bikes; sell the susser, liberate a bit of shed space, use cash for whatever, keep the two used bikes.

[Polar Bear]

I have a view on such a bike and have done so for a number of years now.  I don't need an mtb machine, rather just an audax/light tourer and a heavyweight tourer.   I have two base machines for this: a 26 inch wheeled Roberts Roughstuff and the imminent arrival of a 700c Paganini/Hewitt frame and forks.

I also have available soon a second lighter pair of 26 inch wheels and I used to commute on a steel framed mtb so see the possibility of using the Roberts with nothing more than a second set of wheels for all purposes.  The Paganini frame will take wider rubber than my current Thorn Audax so it could become a versatile all-rounder save for the fact that I don't think it will accommodate a full load for touring.

My dream all-rounder is a Roberts Transcontinental.

[ElyDave]

Do you keep the same chain as I always thought you should match the train to the cassette?

Both sets of wheels have shimano or sram 10sp cassettes. A slight tweak to the derailleur tension can be required for the indexing, and that's it.

[sojournermike]

Worth looking at the Workswell wcb-r-125 (mine came with rear rack mounts and guard mounts other than on the fork legs) or the Carbonda CFR505 which has both, but is only species up to 47mm for 650b or 40mm for 700c.

My workswell's in the members bikes thread.

[freeflow]

I have such a bike (custom Ti Frame). When changing wheels the only thing that has to be tweaked is the position of the front brake caliper. In the winter its more problematical as I also have to remove mudguards BUT I'm finding that I like riding trails but not muddy trails so the problem is sort of resolving itself.  I'm also realising that the 35c vittoria hypers that I use for general riding and Audaxing are pretty OK for trail riding as well.

[Brucey]

Do you keep the same chain as I always thought you should match the train to the cassette?

Both sets of wheels have shimano or sram 10sp cassettes. A slight tweak to the derailleur tension can be required for the indexing, and that's it.

I supposed that he (rightly IMHO) meant the state of wear of the chain ought to match the state of wear of the cassette. Get it wrong one way and the chain will skip, get it wrong the other way and the better of the two cassettes will wear in double-quick time.

FWIW I think that swapping wheels in disc-braked framesets is something of a PITA; the brakes almost invariably need to be fiddled with, even with nominally 'identical' hubs.

cheers

[ElyDave]

In this case cassettes and chains are the same age as they all date to the date of 10sp conversion, but good point.

As for wheel changes with discs, with the bb7s there is a need to centre the caliper to the disc when changing from 26 to 700 on the M5, but I don't find  that an unacceptable faff

[tom_e]

I just measure the chain regularly for wear and replace fairly early.  I.e. don't run it into the ground.  Works fine.

BB7s sometimes require a smidge of adjustment, but only if I'm feeling picky - I can always ride off fine.  Not a big deal.

Compromises are more dependent on the use.  Whether I want the rack on or off for all uses.  Whether I want spds or flats.  Rigid fork vs susp.  Shorter stem vs longer.  But these are more when I'm stretching to proper mtb use for a holiday.  Everyday wheel swapping is a leisurely few minutes.

[Paul H]

I could very easily -3 +1. I do the vast majority (80%+) of my riding on one bike anyway.  For the sort of riding I do there'd be no need to swap wheels and tyres.
Each time I look at it, it's the financial penalty rather than anything else stopping me, second hand bike fetch so little that even after selling the three I'd still need to find a wedge for the perfect one.

[Samuel D]

In this case cassettes and chains are the same age as they all date to the date of 10sp conversion, but good point.

Perhaps I misunderstand something here? It’s not the age of the components but their state of wear that matters. Unless you use both rear wheels (cassettes) equally – and maybe even then! – one of them will cause chain-skip before the other. Tom_e’s method of changing the chain early may partially solve this (at a cost), but it doesn’t solve the other problem: the need for different chain lengths (number of links) depending on cassette. At the very least, ideal shifting will require faffing around with the B-tension screw.

All of this sounds like hard work to me, but many are made of sterner stuff than me.

I have one bicycle and wouldn’t want it another way. The machine is a Spa Audax with a lightweight road-orientated build, but I often take it off road. On many occasions I have done 50-odd km on a canal path strewn with large rocks. It works. There is certainly no need for 45 mm tyres for “light offroading on hard trails”. Where compromise is needed, I usually lean toward optimising the road performance, since that’s where I (and most of us) spend the vast majority of the time, and where I’m most concerned about performance too.

Some compromises away from a purely road-bike layout have a negligible effect on road performance, e.g. rack eyelets, 36-spoke wheels, and 57 mm drop callipers.