# Anyone have a 2nd set of wheels for commuting/road?



## ron t (Jun 15, 2018)

I went out today and tried a few road/commuting bikes. I have a 16-mile commute and it would be fun to do it on a bike a couple times a week.

I tried the Trek SuperCommuter+ 8s, a Bulls Lacuba Evo E45, and a Specialized Turbo Vado 6.0. I liked the Bulls and Specialized best, but I like my fully Haibike AllMtn 8.0 better. The problem is that it has 27.5 x 3.0" Schwalbe Nobby Nic Evo tires which are noisy and not ideal for pavement obviously.

I'd like to get a 2nd set of wheels with narrower road-focused tires that I can swap out. The wheels on it now are DT Swiss XM 1501 Spline (boost) which cost $1400 a set. With the SRAM EX1 XG899 ($350), tires, and disks, I'm looking at well over $2000. I don't want to just swap tires all the time although I know that's much cheaper obviously.

Is there a cheaper way to do it? Is this something people do, or should I just buy a commuter/trekking bike?


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## J.B. Weld (Aug 13, 2012)

notb said:


> Is there a cheaper way to do it?


You could build a set of wheels for a lot less than $2,000, still if it were me I'd get a commuter (road) bike.


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## Harryman (Jun 14, 2011)

Buy a set of used 29er wheels or build them, and stick some chubby slicks on there. The main issue will be that the rotors likely won't line up perfectly unless you use the same hubs, but will probably be close enough.

And like JB said, if your budget for wheels alone is up @ $1500, you can buy or build a decent commuter for less than that. The requirements for a successful commuter bike are happily low.


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## Gutch (Dec 17, 2010)

Pick up a used Turbo e-road bike. Great fun. I own 4 of them for the whole fam damily.


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## ron t (Jun 15, 2018)

Gutch said:


> Pick up a used Turbo e-road bike. Great fun. I own 4 of them for the whole fam damily.


Plenty of used Turbo Levo's out there, but I couldn't find any Vado's.

After trying a couple more bikes on Sunday I'm still thinking about a 2nd set of wheels. I was originally thinking the kicker would be that the class III bikes (assist to 28mph) would really make a huge difference, but after riding them I'm not so sure any more. Above 20-22 mph all the bikes I tried really drop off on assist so I end up cruising at 20-22mph anyway.

The great thing about the Specialized Vado was that it is a much better bike to pedal with no assist. The motor doesn't drag it down at all. The downside was that it's almost TOO seamless in that you don't really feel any surge of power no matter what you do.

So back to a 2nd set of wheels I'll talk with the shop I bought the bike at first and see if they can set me up with 29's with the right hubs, cassette, and brake rotors. I just don't know enough about how to put it all together myself. If not, I'll keep looking around for a 2nd bike or wait for the winter sales on left overs.


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## Walt (Jan 23, 2004)

You can get a complete Radpower for like $1700 or so if you want an e-commuter. If you want just a normal commuter bike you can get a very nice one for ~$500 (or way less if you know enough to find/but a decent used one). 

-Walt


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## ruthabagah (Jun 4, 2018)

notb said:


> I went out today and tried a few road/commuting bikes. I have a 16-mile commute and it would be fun to do it on a bike a couple times a week.
> 
> I tried the Trek SuperCommuter+ 8s, a Bulls Lacuba Evo E45, and a Specialized Turbo Vado 6.0. I liked the Bulls and Specialized best, but I like my fully Haibike AllMtn 8.0 better. The problem is that it has 27.5 x 3.0" Schwalbe Nobby Nic Evo tires which are noisy and not ideal for pavement obviously.
> 
> ...


I swapped the 3' tires from my Haibike to 2.6, faster rolling tires for my 25 miles round trip commute. problem solved for me. 160 USD spent. And honestly, on hard packed trails the 2.6 work great, for the weekend singletrack run.


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## ron t (Jun 15, 2018)

ruthabagah said:


> I swapped the 3' tires from my Haibike to 2.6, faster rolling tires for my 25 miles round trip commute. problem solved for me. 160 USD spent. And honestly, on hard packed trails the 2.6 work great, for the weekend singletrack run.


Interesting -- I didn't think of that. What tires are you using?


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## ruthabagah (Jun 4, 2018)

notb said:


> Interesting -- I didn't think of that. What tires are you using?


I put some Specialized butcher. They are great for street/gravel/hard dirt rides. They are just ok for more technical MTB trails. A pair of Minions would have been a better choice but the maxxis were only available on 2.5 and 2.8. I might go with them next time around, and further drop to 2.5 if I continue to ride an EMTB to work.


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## BillyBicycle (Jul 4, 2016)

yes, a duplicate backup e-bike for commuting. only thing i've used the backup for so far is being too lazy to change a flat when I wake up and discover it flat.


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## honkinunit (Aug 6, 2004)

I have a Haibike 29" hardtail. I bought a set of 27.5 wheels for it and converted it to 27.5x2.6 instead of 29x2.3. Then I bought some Continental Cyclocross Speed 700x42 tires for the original 29" wheels. These tires have a file tread and roll really fast (for a cyclocross tire) with 70 psi in them. I can do gravel trails or the pavement. Swapping wheels takes three minutes, but be aware that swapping wheels on a thru axle, disk braked bike that weighs 50lb is not like doing a wheel change on a 17lb road bike! I remove the battery and the display, and put the bike upside down, or put it on my workstand. 

Your issue is going to be finding a set of wheels with Boost spacing for a reasonable price. (Boost spacing is 110mmx15mm thru axle on the front and 148mmx12mm thru axle on the rear, I am 99% certain your bike needs these wheels.) These wheels generally come with wider rims which will limit your choice of tires to the fatter side. Also realize that you will have to buy the proper diameter rotors for the new wheels, which is an extra cost. 

There is a bigger selection of 29"/700c road tires than 27.5, but the selection of road oriented 27.5 tires is improving because people use that size for gravel. BTW, 27.5 road tires are often labeled 650B, they are the same rim diameter. 

If I were you, for road use, I would find a set of Boost spaced wheels with the narrowest 27.5 rim you can find. Then find file tread cyclocross tires that fit the rims.


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## Harryman (Jun 14, 2011)

I have a pair of Conti Speedride in 42 that I've been riding for a couple of years on my mutant, awesome tires. Terrible in mud, but good everywhere else including snow. I wish they made them in like a 2.2"


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## ron t (Jun 15, 2018)

honkinunit said:


> I have a Haibike 29" hardtail. I bought a set of 27.5 wheels for it and converted it to 27.5x2.6 instead of 29x2.3. Then I bought some Continental Cyclocross Speed 700x42 tires for the original 29" wheels. These tires have a file tread and roll really fast (for a cyclocross tire) with 70 psi in them. I can do gravel trails or the pavement. Swapping wheels takes three minutes, but be aware that swapping wheels on a thru axle, disk braked bike that weighs 50lb is not like doing a wheel change on a 17lb road bike! I remove the battery and the display, and put the bike upside down, or put it on my workstand.
> 
> Your issue is going to be finding a set of wheels with Boost spacing for a reasonable price. (Boost spacing is 110mmx15mm thru axle on the front and 148mmx12mm thru axle on the rear, I am 99% certain your bike needs these wheels.) These wheels generally come with wider rims which will limit your choice of tires to the fatter side. Also realize that you will have to buy the proper diameter rotors for the new wheels, which is an extra cost.
> 
> ...


Thanks, that's great information. I think I have to go to 29" wheels with at least a 2.0" tire to stay close to the original wheel diameter. 2.3 would be ideal. Yes, my bike needs boost spacing hubs and wheels. I know this is going to cost, but the advantage is that I don't have to store another bike in my already full garage.


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## ron t (Jun 15, 2018)

Harryman said:


> I have a pair of Conti Speedride in 42 that I've been riding for a couple of years on my mutant, awesome tires. Terrible in mud, but good everywhere else including snow. I wish they made them in like a 2.2"


This whole thing is an interesting puzzle. Sorry, I know this should really be in the Wheels and Tires forum now, but I'm thinking about the Schwalbe Big Apple 29 X 2.35 (60mm width) on a DT-Swiss XM 481 (30mm width).


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## Harryman (Jun 14, 2011)

Big apples are great tires, you'll love them


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## ron t (Jun 15, 2018)

I wanted to update this thread in case anyone finds it later with the same question. I ended up installing Schwalbe Super Moto-X 2.8's on my existing wheels. They are only 1.5% smaller than the 3.0" tires that were on there, which means I lost about 1/4 mph at the limiter around 20mph. I use this bike for commuting so that was a concern but it's a very small loss of top speed.

I've got about 100 miles on them and they are great on pavement and steep dirt roads and are mostly OK on singletrack around here at least. If it was at all wet off pavement I don't think they would work at all, but that doesn't happen around here in the summer and early fall at least. Haven't tried them in loose sand yet.













It was a bit too expensive to try to build out a whole new set of wheels and I just wanted to try this type of tire before committing to that. Maybe down the road...


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## jturner355 (Jun 14, 2018)

Yep I do I have 29er wheels with tubes for street riding and 27.5 carbon tubeless trail wheels for off road. Take 5 mins to swap them out.




























Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## richj8990 (Apr 4, 2017)

notb said:


> I went out today and tried a few road/commuting bikes. I have a 16-mile commute and it would be fun to do it on a bike a couple times a week.
> 
> I tried the Trek SuperCommuter+ 8s, a Bulls Lacuba Evo E45, and a Specialized Turbo Vado 6.0. I liked the Bulls and Specialized best, but I like my fully Haibike AllMtn 8.0 better. The problem is that it has 27.5 x 3.0" Schwalbe Nobby Nic Evo tires which are noisy and not ideal for pavement obviously.
> 
> ...


Most people have a few older 26 x 17-20mm wheels sitting around in their garage, unless they threw them out already. They should work perfectly fine on the road with a skinnier tire. That's what I'm doing with older wheels and stock 26" tires, just wear them out on the road and throw them away later. No need to get fancy on the road with a mountain bike.


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## J.B. Weld (Aug 13, 2012)

richj8990 said:


> Most people have a few older 26 x 17-20mm wheels sitting around in their garage, unless they threw them out already. They should work perfectly fine on the road with a skinnier tire. That's what I'm doing with older wheels and stock 26" tires, just wear them out on the road and throw them away later. No need to get fancy on the road with a mountain bike.


Using skinny 26" tires on a bike designed for 27.5 x 3.0" might result in a dangerously low bb.

When I was commuting a lot that's how I got most of my miles in, a nice bike is nice no matter where or how you ride it.


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## ron t (Jun 15, 2018)

J.B. Weld said:


> Using skinny 26" tires on a bike designed for 27.5 x 3.0" might result in a dangerously low bb.
> 
> When I was commuting a lot that's how I got most of my miles in, a nice bike is nice no matter where or how you ride it.


I've got over 500 miles on the 2.8" Super Moto-x tires now -- about 350 commuting and the rest on trails and fire roads. The tires aren't TERRIBLE on dirt, but on a seriously steep slope it's game over and I'm walking earlier than I would with knobbies. It makes for some excitement at times on downhills.

I'd still like a whole new set of wheels and am planning on doing that when I have time. This was just a quick solution.


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## 950sm07 (Oct 28, 2011)

Personally, I see no reason for an expensive fancy wheelset for commuting or riding on the road as weight is much less of an issue with ebikes. I have two extra wheel sets, a 27,5+ with Schwalbe G-One 2,80 and a 29" with Maxxis Torch 29x2,1. I bought them 'second hand/like new' and the two sets were not more than $650, with tires and brake rotors under $900. The good thing is that I can use them on my ebike and on my 27,5+ analog trail bike...


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