Can you get 23c road wheels to use on a cyclo cross bike?

[AJD_05]

I ride predominantly on roads, and I have a road bike. I'm looking to get a new bike and I think CX is the way to go so I can ride with friends off road (which I currently cannot do). I have come into possession through a friend of some road wheels (23c) and I am wondering (not knowing much about bike tech) whether, with the correct cassette etc, if I could get a CX bike with off road tyres and wider wheels, but still change the wheels for road wheels to ride on road?

 

[42x16ss]

Yes

 

[JayKosta]

Check that wheel diameters match, rim brakes would likely need to be adjusted. Disc brakes?. Front & rear spacing of dropouts for axle (axle size?). Adjust deraileur for different cassette.
A big hassle, just have 2 complete, ready-to-ride bikes.
Jay

 

[King Boonen]

If the road wheels are quick release and rim brake it's going to seriously limit your choices in terms of CX bikes. It's certainly possible, but likely to mean making compromises. If they're disc brake and bolt-thru then you might be fine, but you'll still have to check what Jay has pointed out.

I'd either have two bikes or just change the tyres over on the CX wheels.


Something else to bear in mind, proper CX bikes generally don't have bottle mounts etc. and the geometry is quite different to road bikes. While I'm not a fan of the trend of creating new bike categories, it sounds like what you want is an all-road/gravel/adventure bike. Essentially a road bike that'll take wide tyres and maybe with a slightly lower BB (although this is really a personal preference).

 

[macbindle]

Rear axle spacing needs to be considered. 130mm for road rim, 135mm qr CX disc, and 142mm thrust axle. Usually.

If it was me and the swap wasnt going to be that frequent then I'd just swap the tyres and tubes. Especially if using discs because if you swap the wheels you may have to re-centre the discs (not a difficult job, but a job nevertheless)

 

[Volderke]

If you have rim brake wheels and a CX bike with V-brakes, it's very easy to swap wheels and yes, those CX tires can be mounted on your road wheels. Ofcourse, once you go wider than the max. official tire widht for CX (33mm), you are into gravel/MTB width territory, and the wider you go, the less optimal will be your rim vs tire width, and the clearance on a CX bike could be a problem especially around the rear chain stays.

 

[Edward84]

I ride predominantly on roads, and I have a road bike. I'm looking to get a new bike and I think CX is the way to go so I can ride with friends off road (which I currently cannot do). I have come into possession through a friend of some road wheels (23c) and I am wondering (not knowing much about bike tech) whether, with the correct cassette etc, if I could get a CX bike with off road tyres and wider wheels, but still change the wheels for road wheels to ride on road?
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Hello,

As long as you pay attention to the correct diameter size for your rim, and make sure that your frame has enough clearance, you should be able to put bigger, wider tires on your bike with no problems.

 

[modemoc]

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