My research tells me that I could run 700c road rims on the Orange frame. This does however leave me with my first dilemma! V Brakes I’m pretty sure will not work on the bike given that the brake boss’ will be situated in the wrong position for them to make contact with the rims. The 700c rims will be situated where the tyre normally is on a standard 26inch MTB wheel/tyre set up.
There are three options as i see it:
01. Buy 700c 1inch threadless rigid front forks and fit a BMX style lever and road cantilever brake. On the back run a fixed gear hub so you have the opposite force leverage for braking and do away with a rear brake.
02. Buy 700c 1inch threadless rigid forks with disc mount on the front. See if i can get a rear disc mount made for the back as the frame is currently set up for rear V Brake. This will allow me to run a single speed freewheel hub.
03. Run 26inch low profile mtb rims with a set of V Brakes, and a flip flop rearwheel hub with the option to leave the rear V brake off if i decide to go fixed gear?
Option 1 is certainly gonna look the coolest but can i hack the fixed gear all the time for general commuting. Perhaps such a thing as a freewheel coaster break exists like in the old BMX days? This would get around my worry of not liking the fixed gear but allow me to leave a rear brake unit off the back? Option 2 could be really expensive and look a little unorthodox. Option 3 is the easy way out but i’m concerned with the 21.5 inch frame that the 26 inch mtb wheels with slicks might create unusual proportions.
