Upgrading a 26" to a 29" wheel

Ok, cool.
So now I'm thinking, if the difference between my current set-up and an
entire wheel build is about 1 1/2" of tire diameter. I have 165mm
cranks. Wouldn't it be more economical just to put shorter cranks on to
arrive at the same ratio of crank length to tire circumference as a
29er?

The KH 29" has stock cranks at 125/150mm. Any mathematicians out
there?

Cr.

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chrome said:

So now I'm thinking, if the difference between my current set-up and an
entire wheel build is about 1 1/2" of tire diameter. I have 165mm
cranks. Wouldn't it be more economical just to put shorter cranks on to
arrive at the same ratio of crank length to tire circumference as a
29er?

Shorter cranks may be easier to spin faster, but you still have to spin
more times on a 26" wheel than you would on a 29" wheel to travel a
given distance.

When you say you want an "XC or cruising wheel," I'm assuming you want
to ride longer distances on the road and maybe light trails. If that's
the case, I would work my way down from 125mm cranks, unless you're
already comfortable with shorter. A 29er with 125s was my first
"distance" uni. The "short" cranks were tricky at first, but anything
longer will feel clunky on the road once you get used to it.

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If you want a wheel for cruising on the street I would sugest building
up the 29er wheel. you will notice a huge difrence between that and a
26X3" wheel. I have a muni with the Gazz 26X3 and put short cranks on
it, didnt like the combination much then built up a road wheel with a
27 X 1 1/4" tire (about 29.5" OD) with the short cranks. the difrence
was phenominal.

The skinny light tire had way less rolling resistance and was much more
"snappy"

unfourtunately this is also the wheel that I was using when I destroyed
my shoulder last year so doo be carefull of going too short with your
cranks.

good luck

ERIC

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saskatchewanian

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I have a uni set up this way: a Gazz 26x3" with 170mm cranks is one
wheelset, and a Big Apple 29er with 125mm cranks is the other. A Yuni
29er frame fits both tires. The outside diameter of the two setups is
quite similar, but the wheels ride totally differently; you can't just
look at crank length compared to wheel diameter to assess what kind of
ride you'll get.

I call it Frankenstein, because it's a little weird and thrown together
from the remnants of other unis. It's not perfectly ideal, because the
beefy frame is wider and more knee-knocking than would be best for 29er
mode, but it is nice to be able to loan out a uni for either road rides
or MUni rides, depending on what's needed at the moment.

If you do this, you will want to do something about the bearing
holders. Total best would be to get Jim Roberts to make you a set of
his quick-release bearings so you can swap back and forth quickly. At
the very least, you should use acorn nuts and lock rings rather than
lock nuts, so you can hand tighten and loosen most of the way.

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