Converting my old 29er to a road bike.



Sep 30, 2017
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With the purchase of a new Trek Procaliber 9.6, I now have two 29ers. I don't really need two. I could sell my old X-Caliber, but I probably wouldn't get a lot for it.
Before my heart valve replacement, I was no longer able to ride my road bike up the NCAR hill, but I could ride up it with my 29er. The reasons being the lower gears and fatter, heavier tires which give me more stability at slow speeds. I'm currently on a medication that slows my heart rate. Slower heart beat, less oxygen to the muscles. So, I've decided to optimize my old 29er for road riding. Hill climbing, in particular.
It's no secret that road bikes are lighter than mountain bikes. A big chunk of that difference is the suspension fork and the tires. So, I'm replacing the suspension fork with a rigid carbon fiber. I don't want to go too light and narrow on the tires or I'll lose the stability advantage, but I switched to some 1.75 inch road tires.
One of my goals for the summer.is to ride up Magnolia Drive (Road?), supposedly the steepest climb around. In all the years I've lived in the area, I've never climbed it.
 
I’ve often thought about replacing the suspension fork on my 29r. I generally ride on roads and trails but never go ‘MTBing’ so the forks are always locked off anyway!

I think you can buy fixed fork 29rs so maybe you can see how they have been put together for some tips.

I’m interested to see how your project unfolds. Would you consider an electric addition to the bike? I’ve thought about that but think I’ll wait a while yet!
 
I think you can buy fixed fork 29rs so maybe you can see how they have been put together for some tips.
I’m not sure I understand you here.
If you want to get rid of a sus fork on an existing bike, you look for a ”suspension corrected rigid fork” in your wheel size, steerer size, length of travel and type of dropouts/fork ends.
Although sturdier than road bike or hybrid rigid forks, there’s nothing special about these are put together.
If someone wanted to build a rigid 29er from the start, it’d probably have a slightly different frame geometry, longer/lower head tube. Some spacers on top of the headset, longer steerer. No mystery.