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I'd like to build a wheelset that would work on my cross bike or my 29er, assuming I had disc brakes on the 29er and rim brakes on the cross bike, is there any way I could use a 130mm hub (that fits the dropouts on my cross bike) and make it work on the 29er with 135mm spaced dropouts?

The problems I would see would be that the disc rotors wouldn't line up on the 29er. Could I use spacers to make the hub fit on the 29er or would I need to use a 135mm hub and spread the chainstays on the cross bike? Would either of those options work?

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  • I do understand that 130mm spaced disc hubs are much more rare than the 135mm spaced MTB hubs.
    – Benzo
    Jan 31 '13 at 21:38
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    Have you considered swaging your dropouts on the cross bike to fit a 135mm hub? If it is a steel frame that might be the most straightforward solution.
    – WTHarper
    Jan 31 '13 at 21:42
  • Similar: bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/8221/…
    – OMG Ponies
    Feb 1 '13 at 5:07
  • I'd like to avoid swagging the dropouts on the cross bike if possible since I still have 130mm wheels to run on the cross bike. Ideally, I would have an on-road set which always had slick tires, and an off road set which had knobby tires (which is the one which I would share with the 29er)
    – Benzo
    Feb 1 '13 at 14:16
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I've respaced a steel road frame from 130mm to 120mm for a track hub. It's super easy, although Mr. Brown recommends not doing this for a change as small as 5mm.

I'd try a 135mm mountain disk hub with a 700c cross rim, this gives you the most correct breaking surface on both setups.

The advantage here is that when you come to put the 130mm road wheel in your cross bike, it still fits. Although your cross bike MUST be steel and not aluminium of carbon.

One last thought, this whole scheme is going to be a bit of a bodge however it's done.

I'd be more tempted to have a pair of shared road wheels, where the stresses are much lower and a dedicated pair of off road for each bike. A 120mm/700c cross set, a 135mm/29" MTB set and a 135mm/700c shared set with slicks.

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  • Good advice all around. I think I will probably go with standard 135mm rear hub that suits the mountain bike. I can jam the wheel in my cross bike if needed (which is good old flexible steel). It seems that cross bikes tend to be absorbing 135mm rear spacing for models with disc brakes, so I think that's a better future proof setup.
    – Benzo
    Feb 3 '13 at 15:50
  • I built a wheelset with velocity 135mm hubs and machined Velocity Dyad Rims. This works like a charm on my mountain bike and swaps to my cross bike fine and works well with the rim brakes when needed. Though I do remove the disc rotors when swapping the wheels. Have to pull apart the rear chainstays a touch, but it's not a big stretch.
    – Benzo
    Nov 24 '15 at 14:22
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As suggested by @WTHarper - its a straight forward to spread a steel frame from 130 to 135mm. Heres How..... DO NOT try this on aluminum or Carbon.

It is also possible to fit the 135mm wheel into the 130 dropouts, but its a pain so you dn't want to be doing all the time.

If you go fro a 130mm hub, A) Can you get 130mm with Disc mounts on the hub?, B) What will it do to your chainline if you manage to line up the disc. My guess is that you would either have disc rotors or chain lines not line up. You can probably get it to "sort of work most of the time", but it would never be great.

Personally I would spread the frame on the Cross and possibly install slightly wider BB to maintain the chain line. If the cross is not steal, run two wheels.

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  • Here is an improved technique provided in another thread: bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/10837/…
    – WTHarper
    Feb 1 '13 at 2:31
  • A) Yes, White Industries makes a 130mm disc hub. B) Depends how much the chainline would be off. If I had 2.5mm spacers on each side, then it would not really be that far off. In my case it's a geared bike. There is a lot of flex in a 10-speed chain and i don't think there would be that much of an issue with chainline. 5mm is the most it could possibly be off, which could be a bit more significant of a bend for the chain, but I doubt it would even matter except extreme cross-chaining scenarios (chain on both big rings in front and back) if my derailleur can reach the big ring in the rear.
    – Benzo
    Feb 1 '13 at 14:14
  • If the cluster is 5mm inboard of where it should be, on many bikes the chain will fowl the chain stay when on the front small chain ring and the largest size rear sprockets - effectively the worst case is you loose the lowest gear or two.
    – mattnz
    Feb 3 '13 at 4:29

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