I found a murdered-out 1 year old high end Specialized hybrid for sale. Frame was great, chipped and gunked like a retired delivery bike, but straight. The bike came with a rigid fork, and a smaller 26”, wide mountain bike wheel, with high end tire and rotor, but no brake.
2015 Specialized Crosstrail Sport Disc bicycle modified.
Big tire rear Continental grand prix 4000 700×28 urban pavement rough bicycle riding
This “bike” I located had a good combination of parts that I planned to discard and redo. I started with making a light front wheel. With the front suspension, it can even be narrower than the rear. I go with straight pull double butted spokes and short alloy nipples to match with the DT-Swiss 350 hub I chose.
A Stan’s rim came up but needed black sides to match rear. I thought, easy to paint; cleanly with a brush. Built wheel, trued it. Left clamped in truing stand, I thought I could just touch a brush to the spinning rim. But the machined sidewalls slurped the paint off the hairs and a brushload would only go and inch or two. The job turned out to be more work than an abstract painting.
Custom build bMHR wheel then machined sidewall rim painting on Park truing stand ts-2
Out of curiosity I made some measurements; I found that a narrow road racing tire (of the large diameter 700c 29er wheel) fits under the brake bridge of a 26” fork. Awesome! I can buy a lighter, currently less expensive, 26” air fork. The difference is a 29er fork has more material and is heavier right where the action is, and is longer overall. So get a 26” fork with a long axle-to-crown dimension, longer travel forks usually. I got a Manitou R7 Pro (R-Seven maybe), not the lightest MRD but rather light weight, at 1595 grams.
Lightweight 26 inch suspension fork on 700c wheel. bMHR hotrod bicycle!
