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MTB cassette on a road bike wheel?

jdd

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Jul 26, 2008
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I guess that says it. I have a set of Bonty wheels on my road bike, the wheels are about a year old (warranty replacements for the originals, which had some small rim cracks). Shimano ultegra 11-28 cassette on the rear now.

I'd like to use these wheels on a different bike, but I need to know if I can swap the cassette for an MTB one. Either traditional 9-speed or even the newer dyna-sys 10-speed version would be acceptable. (Hopefully both would be okay, but the dyna-sys design could be off in its own world.)

Talked to my LBS, and they said "probably" a lot, but no "certainly" or "for sure". And also made a comment about whether width of the hub body and the cassette would match.

So will a hub that accepts Shimano road cassettes also accept MTB cassettes? Or are they incompatible?

Any work-arounds if they're different?
 
no problem, watch your derailler can go to bigger cogs. Freewheel width is the same on road and mtb. CX intended use?
 
I'd say yes, I know I put a road bike cassette on my mountain bike wheel :D
 
The cassettes (road / MTB) are fully compatible, with the exception of a very rare Dura Ace wheelset that needs a deep groove 10-speed road cassette. Shimano does not rate all of their hubs for a 36T large sprocket like the latest Dyna-Sys, although it will fit.
10-speed usually needs a 1mm spacer behind the cassette; 9 speed does not.
 
Good news, all, thanks! (No, not CX.)

If I can suggest it, try to think of a continuum ranging from road frames/gearing on one end and dedicated touring frames/gearing on the other--with an audax somewhere in between. Given an audaxy kind of goal, one angle would be to buy a dedicated audax, another would be to convert a road bike to that purpose, and a third would be to convert a touring frame to that.

I think I've settled on that third option, and on a Ridgeback Panorama frame (reynolds 725 tubes and stays), but while this is usually sold as a full bike and as heavier-duty touring package, I'd like to lighten it up and make it sportier, much more a very lightweight tourer.

I'm older (60), and I'm targeting the comfort/stability of a touring frame, along with MTB gearing for the hills around here and my age. But at the same time, I am only ever going to be doing lightweight credit-card touring--only a very light load. I want the comfort, but I don't need the heavy-duty stuff.

So I'd like to think I could put those bonty road wheels on it, with a big cassette (there'll be an MTB triple on the front, and deore derailleurs, so no worries about that stuff). It's a question of whether the hub on the bonty rear, which now has a shimano road cassette on it, will plug-and-play a shimano mtb cassette or not--and according to the responses here, apparently no problem,

I tend toward the traditional 9-speed rather than the dyna-sys 10-speed, and I think the 9 would be more likely to fit anyway.

(And, being the forward-thinking person that I am :) , this also creates the need for some better road wheels to replace those bonty wheels off my Trek. I'm thinking DA 7900 (or RS80) for that.)
 
Good news, all, thanks! (No, not CX.)

If I can suggest it, try to think of a continuum ranging from road frames/gearing on one end and dedicated touring frames/gearing on the other--with an audax somewhere in between. Given an audaxy kind of goal, one angle would be to buy a dedicated audax, another would be to convert a road bike to that purpose, and a third would be to convert a touring frame to that.

I think I've settled on that third option, and on a Ridgeback Panorama frame (reynolds 725 tubes and stays), but while this is usually sold as a full bike and as heavier-duty touring package, I'd like to lighten it up and make it sportier, much more a very lightweight tourer.

I'm older (60), and I'm targeting the comfort/stability of a touring frame, along with MTB gearing for the hills around here and my age. But at the same time, I am only ever going to be doing lightweight credit-card touring--only a very light load. I want the comfort, but I don't need the heavy-duty stuff.

So I'd like to think I could put those bonty road wheels on it, with a big cassette (there'll be an MTB triple on the front, and deore derailleurs, so no worries about that stuff). It's a question of whether the hub on the bonty rear, which now has a shimano road cassette on it, will plug-and-play a shimano mtb cassette or not--and according to the responses here, apparently no problem,

I tend toward the traditional 9-speed rather than the dyna-sys 10-speed, and I think the 9 would be more likely to fit anyway.

(And, being the forward-thinking person that I am :) , this also creates the need for some better road wheels to replace those bonty wheels off my Trek. I'm thinking DA 7900 (or RS80) for that.)

It all sounds like a plan, a good one!:cool:
 
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