The trials and tribulations, and learning experience, of attempting to upgrade bikes.
I have an older Ridley Cheetah triathlon bike. Bought it used about a year ago and it's been a solid bike in the time I've had it. I'm very comfortable with it. It's an aluminum frame so it's a tiny bit heavier than CF, but it's still pretty light.
It came with some aluminum wheels that are plenty good enough, but I just wanted to upgrade. Found a nice pair of Reynolds from a member here, made a deal and all is good. I got the wheels about a month ago but I wanted to start from scratch so ordered some fresh Orange Seal, new set of Schwalbe tubeless easy tires and rim tape.
Got the wheels put together last weekend. Awesome! My new hotrod is in sight. I go to mount the wheels on, back is fine but I run into a problem with the front. The Ridley fork is super narrow up at the top. Guess it was a prevailing design philosophy back in the 90s before CF wheels became more obtainable, but the fork is very narrow up by the rim and only flares down by the hub. The wheel fits, but there is just the slightest bit of rub on the fork. Not going to chance it.
So what to do? Hmmm. Looking around, I have a K2 road bike with a carbon front fork. I pop the new CF wheel on the K2 and it fits fine. Ok, solution. Swap the front forks between the K2 and the Ridley. I pulled them apart today and fortunately the steerer tube is the same diameter so it's a straight swap. Only difference is the K2 tube is about 3/4" longer than the Ridley. Not such a problem on the Ridley, I just have to add some stack spacers to set my gap. Otherwise, it was a straight forward swap. Little bit more sketchy putting the Ridley air foil fork on the K2. With it being shorter, I had to take out a bunch of stack. (I say a bunch of stack but that relative considering it only had about 1.5" to start with.) But it's together. Going to ride it tomorrow to see if dropping the stack is even noticeable.
Great! So now I'm in business. Right? Not so fast! Wheels mount but I can't get the brakes mounted without them dragging. I fiddle with it for probably 10-15 minutes trying to figure out what's going on. I finally figure out the calipers on the Ridley are just too narrow to fit the CF wheels without dragging the pads. WTH????
I look at my donor K2 but the calipers on that are the same size. Hmmm. Well I do have a Roubiax that has Shimano hardware so I go look at it. Sure enough, those calipers are wider by maybe 1/2", all I need. So now I've swapped the 105 calipers from the Ridley on to my Roubiax and the Roubiax calipers onto the Ridley. Son of a bitch if it all doesn't fit. Genius!!!
So excited I finally got that put together. I still haven't sealed the new wheels yet. Just waiting on a little better weather, but soon.
As for the totality of my bikes, both the Ridley and K2 are put together (just need to seal up those new tires on the Ridley), and the brakes have been effectively changed on the Roubiax. Only hiccup is just the caliper adjustment nut on the 105s accept a 4mm cable but the cables on the Roubiax are 5mm. Other than that, good to go. Oh well. These cables and housings have been on that bike for years. Probably due to replace them anyway. New set on order.
I have an older Ridley Cheetah triathlon bike. Bought it used about a year ago and it's been a solid bike in the time I've had it. I'm very comfortable with it. It's an aluminum frame so it's a tiny bit heavier than CF, but it's still pretty light.
It came with some aluminum wheels that are plenty good enough, but I just wanted to upgrade. Found a nice pair of Reynolds from a member here, made a deal and all is good. I got the wheels about a month ago but I wanted to start from scratch so ordered some fresh Orange Seal, new set of Schwalbe tubeless easy tires and rim tape.
Got the wheels put together last weekend. Awesome! My new hotrod is in sight. I go to mount the wheels on, back is fine but I run into a problem with the front. The Ridley fork is super narrow up at the top. Guess it was a prevailing design philosophy back in the 90s before CF wheels became more obtainable, but the fork is very narrow up by the rim and only flares down by the hub. The wheel fits, but there is just the slightest bit of rub on the fork. Not going to chance it.
So what to do? Hmmm. Looking around, I have a K2 road bike with a carbon front fork. I pop the new CF wheel on the K2 and it fits fine. Ok, solution. Swap the front forks between the K2 and the Ridley. I pulled them apart today and fortunately the steerer tube is the same diameter so it's a straight swap. Only difference is the K2 tube is about 3/4" longer than the Ridley. Not such a problem on the Ridley, I just have to add some stack spacers to set my gap. Otherwise, it was a straight forward swap. Little bit more sketchy putting the Ridley air foil fork on the K2. With it being shorter, I had to take out a bunch of stack. (I say a bunch of stack but that relative considering it only had about 1.5" to start with.) But it's together. Going to ride it tomorrow to see if dropping the stack is even noticeable.
Great! So now I'm in business. Right? Not so fast! Wheels mount but I can't get the brakes mounted without them dragging. I fiddle with it for probably 10-15 minutes trying to figure out what's going on. I finally figure out the calipers on the Ridley are just too narrow to fit the CF wheels without dragging the pads. WTH????
I look at my donor K2 but the calipers on that are the same size. Hmmm. Well I do have a Roubiax that has Shimano hardware so I go look at it. Sure enough, those calipers are wider by maybe 1/2", all I need. So now I've swapped the 105 calipers from the Ridley on to my Roubiax and the Roubiax calipers onto the Ridley. Son of a bitch if it all doesn't fit. Genius!!!
So excited I finally got that put together. I still haven't sealed the new wheels yet. Just waiting on a little better weather, but soon.
As for the totality of my bikes, both the Ridley and K2 are put together (just need to seal up those new tires on the Ridley), and the brakes have been effectively changed on the Roubiax. Only hiccup is just the caliper adjustment nut on the 105s accept a 4mm cable but the cables on the Roubiax are 5mm. Other than that, good to go. Oh well. These cables and housings have been on that bike for years. Probably due to replace them anyway. New set on order.
