Different brands of wheelset on a disc bike

[cgolvin]

Disc brake n00b here, so won't apologize for my ignorance.

I currently have a set of Shamal disc wheels (Ekar groupset) and am considering a second set of wheels rather than swapping tires (unanticipated downside of going tubeless). How much of a potential issue is it if the second wheelset is a different brand of hub? A friend has offered a good deal on a set of ENVE rims laced to WI hubs, but if swapping wheels also entails fiddling with caliper alignment and/or RD adjustment maybe it's better to just buy another set of Shamals.

Thanks

[prototoast]

Often this can work with no adjustment.

If not, you can usually use rotor shims to make it so it will work with no adjustment.

[weisan]

From my experience, there's no guarantee, it's all luck.

If you are lucky, when you pop the other wheel in, everything plain works and all the angels sing in chorus there's peace on earth.

If you are not, your neighbors living miles away can hear you swearing and throwing things at the wall.

[Mark McM]

I've mixed Fulcrum, HED and Roval wheels, and in my experience, the rotor offsets are generally very close between the wheels, but not exactly the same. The solution to making the wheels interchangeable is by adjusting the rotor offsets with shims. Shims are available from several makers, typically in thicknesses from 0.1mm to 0.25mm. After adjusting the calipers to the wheels with the further outboard rotor offset, I've been able to shim the rotors on the other wheels so that I can swap between the wheels without needing to make any adjustments between wheels.

Note: For wheels/rotors to be interchangeable it is necessary for the rotors to be the same thickness. Using the same brand rotors is the easiest way to do this, but you can use multiple brand rotors if they are the same thickness.

[merlinmurph]

I have different hubs on my bike. Sometimes, not all the time, I may have to do a small RD adjustment, like a quarter-turn of the adjustment knob. I'm not sure why it isn't all the time. It also seems more apparent with new pads.

In the end: No big deal

Adding after reading Mark's post: Same Shimano rotors

[cgolvin]

OK, think I get it. Looks like the shims generally are 0.25mm and come in a pack of 4, so you just make your best guess on the first try then add/remove to get it dialed in.
And appreciate the heads up on the rotor thickness.

Thanks all.

[alexihnen]

I’ve given up on mixing and matching for the CX bikes we have. Wheelsets have required realigning the brake calipers, which kind of sucks to do routinely. If you’re able, keeping them the same will be easier. I’ve tried the shims and could t make it work that way either. YMMV

[tellyho]

I think chances of success are high, but some shimming will almost certainly be necessary.

[ColonelJLloyd]

Rotor shims have worked well for me. Pretty dang easy with CL rotors. I got my shims from November.

[Sarhog]

I’ve never needed to adjust the derailleur. Sometimes I need to recenter the front brake caliper. It should be noted that I use the same pair of brake disks, moving them from wheelset to wheelset.

[NHAero]

Our own November Dave's web site sells the ones I use.

I swap wheels with DT Swiss 240EXP hubs with wheels with Bitex hubs and I had to do some shimming and that made it a 5 minute task to swap wheels. I use the same size Ultegra 11-34 11s cassette on each wheelset and haven't needed to fuss with the RD at all.

This is now with Growtac cable discs, but originally was Ultegra hydros.

[merlinmurph]

Originally Posted by Sarhog

I’ve never needed to adjust the derailleur. Sometimes I need to recenter the front brake caliper.

Oh yeah, that too. But frankly, I haven't had to do any fiddling this summer.

[teleguy57]

+1 on the November shims. McMaster has them all the way down to .1mm for very fine incremental tweaking.

Helpful article -- The Dark Art of Rotor Shimming

[blakcloud]

Three different sets of wheels and they all work perfectly. I think I just got lucky.

[EB]

Realigning brake calipers is typically a five minute job if the brakes are in good working condition. Flat mount makes aligning the rear caliper fiddly, which will never not annoy me, but I wouldn’t overthink this.

If your other wheel has a different cassette, you’re going to be fiddling with b-gap and limit screws anyway, so….

Make sure you bed in both sets of rotors with the same pad compound or you will be sad.