650 wheel in a 26" Pike. Doable?

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This topic has 10 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 9 years ago by bluearsedfly.

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650 wheel in a 26" Pike. Doable?
bluearsedfly
Free Member

Mate has just bought a 650b bike.

I have a Spitfire/Pikes set up for 26″ wheels. Wouldn’t mind pinching his wheels to see if they make my bike come alive. Would be nice to ride 26/650 on the exact same setup to compare.

I know I will gain a bit of height at the front/bb and rotor sizes etc etc but will it work/will I die?

And before anyone says just try it, it’s a couple of weeks before I will ride with him and won’t see him till we meet on the hills.

Posted 9 years ago

Tom_W1987
Free Member

I wouldn’t bother, the offset of the 26 inch fork will shit up the handling and put you off a proper 650b bike.

Posted 9 years ago

mtbmatt
Free Member

Won’t work with Rock Shox forks, including Pike.

Posted 9 years ago

Fresh Goods Friday 700 - The censored edition

chiefgrooveguru
Full Member

Depends on what tyres he’s running, you might just manage it tolerably for a brief test ride. The fork offset difference isn’t massive (and a 27.5 fork would have longer A-C length so it’ll roughly cancel out).

Posted 9 years ago

Northwind
Full Member

The only way it’ll work is with tiny tyres, which’ll defeat the entire purpose

Posted 9 years ago

bluearsedfly
Free Member

Cheers lads, will give it a miss then. Would have been nice to ride the exact same setup to compare but it looks like there’s a bit more to it.

Posted 9 years ago

Tom_W1987
Free Member

Do they do different dropouts then for the Spitfire to get the BB lower when using 27.5 wheels?

Posted 9 years ago

bluearsedfly
Free Member

The spitfire does have specific 650 dropouts but it will take 650 in the 26 dropouts.

Not sure if the 650 dropouts alter the bb height compared to the 26 dropouts, but you can alter the bb height/angles with the flip chips on the rear by 1 deg and 1/2″ bb height whichever dropouts you run.

Posted 9 years ago

chiefgrooveguru
Full Member

The 27.5 dropouts just give you more chainstay length & tyre clearance – as a 26 it’s a very low slung bike, as a 27.5 it’s 10mm higher, and it’s got 12mm of BB height adjustment with the three dropout positions – and it’s very amenable to running different amounts of sag to get the geometry/feel you want without turning into a boingy or wallowy mess.

I’ve tried the lowest dropout position but kept scraping pedals on the way out of corners but it’s a nice option for when gravity is more on my side (and then a head angle approaching 65.5 deg is a good thing – 66 on a 27.5 is plenty slack the rest of the time!)

Posted 9 years ago

martinxyz
Free Member

Posted 9 years ago

bluearsedfly
Free Member

Run mine in the slackest setting and don’t find I get anymore pedal strikes than when in neutral. Don’t know if it’s in my head or not but it does feel more fun going down now.

Posted 9 years ago