Hello gravelers, that is my first post in the forum, I hope this is the right session.
I would like to ask your opinions about my idea. I have a quite old Cannondale 26 mtb, with a Fatty fork, that I don't use often anymore and that I would like to convert in a "gravel" bike. I thought that just because the Fatty can (almost) block completely and if I can put a pair of 28 wheels under this frame I could put in my garage a new very versatile bike. Do you think I can do it? Do you know anybody that have done something similar? Thanks to everybody will give me some opinions and comments 😉
Hi from Italy.\nMine was a Scott Scale 26. Maybe on your Cannondale you don’t need to change the fork and should be great ! Take a wheel from your road bike 28 and try.\n\n
I had the same idea and tried this myself on a 2000 Cannondale F2000 SL. I was disappointed in the outcome. I ended up buying a proper gravel bike, a Niner RLT 9.
With my experiment, I attempted to mount a quick release, 29er mountain wheelset with 700x35c Continental Cyclocross tires to my 2000 Cannondale F2000 SL. There was tire clearance in the rear however, my fork, a Fatty Ultra Headshok, had a valve cap which stuck out far enough that the tires would rub with too much tire inflation. This swap *might* work with narrower 700 wheels and smaller tires such as a 28c or 32c.
If you have a 650b wheelset you could try, that might work better and allow the use of wider tires with proper tire inflation.
