Has anybody have any experience of converting a 26″ wheeled hardtail to a 69er?

I have a steel hardtail with 120mm forks and worked out that putting an 80mm travel 29er fork in will add about 30mm to the floor to crown height, so roughly about a degree and a half on head angle?
I know that will then change seat angle and bb height etc…
When put into practice has anyone felt a major difference/problem with it? pedal to tyre clearance still ok?

Yup, but being a suspension to rigid conversion there’s a different outcome. What frame are you talking about?

I really like the ride, slack enough but climbs well and quite resistant to lumps and bumps with the bigger wheel.

Are you adapting the cockpit to compensate or just keeping it as is?

MrsB luv’s her 4569er .

It’s a genesis io frame, so only being an ss won’t get to do massive climbs/descents, but am thinking of changing it to a decade virsa, can really only drop the stem another 20mm but not too fussed really

hey CheesybeanZ what kind of travel on that fork you runnin’? I have been throwing around this idea for awhile, but was well being a bit hesitant.

100mm manitou minute , very plush for the money . she’s likes it so much her single speed is next for the 69er treatment . 😀

Voodoo Wanga 69er by rOcKeTdOgUk, on Flickr

Looks awful, rides great

It’s a genesis io frame

Ah, I did the 69er conversion on an iO as a brief 29er ‘design’ experiment. Used a short-offset ~450mm a-c rigid that would take a 29er wheel. It hopped well as the BB was too high and carved nicely as the HA was slacker, but the overall effect was a bit ‘odd’ – fun though. Front wheel clearance will be fine.

Remember that it’s not just the a-c that varies things, it’s also the wheel radius that raises the front – it adds trail by slackening the HA as well as increasing wheel radius. A larger wheel up front is a double-hit of slackening, basically.

Yer I called it crown to floor rather than a-c, it’s pretty much the wheel and tyre that adds the extra 30mm.

Thanks cheez. though really hate that you posted the pic as i have some very expensive mods to my single single speed 456ss running through my head now. here I was planning on adding gears on to my 456 now i see this pic and have totally different ideas……

Reminds me of the old Honda XL 250 😯

I keep thinking of trying it on my rigid bike if I can find a cheap front wheel and tyre.