Hi all

I’ve been looking at the evo2 which seems to fit my criteria, however I’ve just realised that the 45650b seems to be exactly the same in the 20″ apart from 3mm longer rear triangle and nicer (imo) seat stays and £70 cheaper. Anyone seen/owned both and see a reason why 26 wheels won’t work in the 45650b? The whole reason for wanting the frame is to reuse all the parts off my current 26er. Will I die?

The BB drops a bit if you put 26er tyres in the 45650B.

I’ve been contemplating a 45650b for my 26″ wheels for some time, with 150mm 26er forks I think it would work great.

What are we talking on bb drop? It might even help with running longer forks which people normally seem to suggest raise the bb to much?

all things being equal, 650b raises the bb by ~15mm, so you should expect 15mm more bb drop.

the 45650b is a 28mm bb drop, the 456evo2 has 11mm, so your bb will be 17mm nearer the ground. However – I’ve seen other 650b frames running ~50mm bb drop (which is the equivilent of 7mm lower than what you’re doing), and they seem to get on fine, so I guess you will too 🙂 (the bird zero runs 45mm, for example, which is approx what you’ll end up with, and I haven’t heard any complaints).

fwiw I’m getting a 2017 dartmoor hornet when it comes out, which runs a 30mm bb drop, and I’m planning to run 26″ wheels in it – which is why I’ve researched this quite a lot 🙂

Just the sort of information I was looking for 5lab thank you very much. Now just the question of has anyone ridden both frames and able to comment on if one is significantly better than the other?

I’m not going to post yet another pic, but I’ve just transferred my 26″ bits onto a s/h Shan frame – mostly new drivetrain, cost me around £500 all in for frame and new bits. Ace bike!

Having owned and ridden both (evo 2 first, got nicked, then 45650b, cracked). I can comment pretty well on both.

I don’t know about mixing wheel sizes but two things:

The 45650b has a high BB, so switching to 26″ wheels might well work.

But the 45650b has the ‘gas pipe’ connection between the seatstays and the seat tube. The evo 2 has the much more slender four-piece seatstay arrangement so is more compliant. I can hear the naysayers out there, but I really did find the evo frame more springy and soft than the 45650b.

It’s a tricky one. I loved the ride of the evo, but it was limited by the straight head tube and wheel size. The 45650b is more up to date with standards, but the frame itself is just not quite as nice to ride.

Running a 45650b with 26″ wheels and biggish tyres. Works well with 26″ 150mm revelation.

I’m running 26 inch wheels in my 650b Dartmoor Hornet, it’s awesome….you adapt to the odd pedal strike but by God the bike is low and planted, total hooligan of a HT.

I’ve been running a 45650b for a while with my old 26″ wheels and forks on, with no problems. The forks were talas with 100-140mm travel and it seemed fine at any length travel for the particular terrain. I have literally just this last week chanfed over to 27.5 wheels and 130mm forks, but only been on a short ride. It looks and feels a lot bigger than the 26″! When in my head it’s only about an 1.5″ bigger!

Not sure I agree with the 45650b being unforgiving. You can get it to flex in the BB and chainstay area by applying the back brake and rocking the bike back and forward.

Mine was great, and it was only a move to full suspension that meant I parted ways.

Reviews state the BB is quite high anyway, so lowering it with 26″ wheels shouldn’t be an issue.

Still really like the look and ride of the 45650b. Shame it’s not a fully built 18” one you’re after. I’ve just bought a FS so I’ve one due a clean and advert in the garage 😉

Not sure I agree with the 45650b being unforgiving. You can get it to flex in the BB and chainstay area by applying the back brake and rocking the bike back and forward.

I only said that the evo 2 was more compliant. Having said this, the only time I noticed any ‘give’ in the rear triangle of the 45650b was when there was a crack in the seatstay just above the brake mount!

I’m pretty sure the 45650b will ride nicely with 26″ wheels, though. As I said above, the 45650b bb height with 650b wheels in was pretty high.

In a similar way, when I first got the evo 2 I had a 130mm coil recon. I later swapped this for a 120mm Reba resulting in losing about an inch of axle to crown. The bike felt amazing afterwards, much more of a ripper, although I did have to think about where the pedals were when riding through rocks.