Remember a few years back a very niche line of 69er’s (26″ rear wheel, 29″ front wheel) from a few manufacturers or DIY jobs?

Is anyone running a 67.5er – ie 26″ out back and 27.5 up front?

Sounds like a good idea. You can give new life to an old 26″ frame with some 27.5 forks. It’ll slacken the head angle a bit too.

I’m riding a Carver 96. I think you’re idea should work well……

Considered trying this myself, but the problem is most 26″ frames run a straight headtube and most (all?) 27.5 forks are tapered

I ran 650b forks on my 26″ Covert, but with a 26″ wheel. The longer fork slackened it a bit but does raise the BB. I fitted some offset bushes to drop it but a bigger wheel would have messed with the handling a bit too much I think.

I did run a 650b wheel in there for a couple of bikepark runs when I pringled mine and it seemed to ride OK but didn’t spend enough time on it to judge, and didn’t do any climbing

Does anyone know if Fox made any 27.5 forks with a straight 1 1/8″ steeer?

I did for a while: singlespeed with a 26″ wheel at the back and a 650b+ front in a rigid 26″ carbon On One fork. Before that I ran it as a 29/26 combo.

It actually worked pretty well. The main issues, apart from fork steerers, are likely to be that you end up with a significantly taller front end, which is a pig on steep climbs. Solutions include zero rise or negative rise stem plus flat rather than riser bars. I didn’t find the increase in BB height an issue, but then I guess the fork dropped the front end a little on its own.

With a conventional 650b rather than a 650b+, that’ll be less of an issue I guess. Rigid and b+ up front works quite nicely, loads of grip from the tyre and running a rigid fork offsets the weight increase from the larger rim/tyre.

MrsbeanZ ti 45650b .

Sort of. Plustysixer?

3.0 Knard on Hugo up front – same diameter as 27.5. Handling is razor sharp with a normal 26in front on the 425 A2C cromoto, and pretty darned good with the chubby front.

I am running 27.5+/ 26 on the singlespeed, used to be 29/26.

Cheers guys, I think the issue might be finding a fork to fit my older Chameleon (1 1/8″ straight steerer). The raising it up issue should be OK as I run it with just 100mm and a 26″ 120mm fork would be fine so much the same as a 100mm 27.5″ up front in terms of raising the front end I’m guessing.

And in the OP – when I say a ‘few years’ ago it was bloomin’ aeons of course – I remember seeing the metallic brown (?) Trek production 69ers at one of the old London bike shows, time flies when you’re getting old…

26″ rear, 27.5″ front works really well on the 601 🙂

I 69ered my 15.5″ Cove Handjob:

[/url]IMAG1155 by martinddd, on Flickr[/img]

i used the Singular Hummingbird fork, i quite liked it except for the BB height.

I reckon that there is mileage in a bigger front, but its a bit too out there for the big manufacturers.

I now have a 650b HT which i might one day try a 650b+ front in with a rigid fork to suit.

I remember seeing the metallic brown (?) Trek production 69ers

Root Beer was the one to have!!!

IIRC they had a 69er team: Matt Carr, Shaggy, Travis Brown, Chris Eatough…… google images not throwing anything up though.

Liking that Cove!

Good to know of others tinkerers out there.

Anyone help on the existence of a 27.5″ Fox 100mm Fork in straight 1 1/8″?

A 69er of 69ers….

[/url]Trek69er by HersheyBike, on Flickr[/img]

….. and if i have this right, heres ST Towers very own late Jenn Hopkins laying down a TDR record, on a Trek 69er SS…

[/url]Single Speed Jenn by HugoFar, on Flickr[/img]

#Jennride

#Epic

running my chameleon as a 67.5er at the moment – works just fine! albeit its a 27.5 chameleon rather than one of the old ones.

I think you’ll struggle finding a decent straight steerer 27.5 fork…

“…that insanely strong English girl, Jenn.”

Can’t remember whose TDR race report that was from, but it’s stuck in my head for good.

You can get forks in a few axle-to-crown heights. If you pick a 420 mm a-c fork with a shallow crown, you can fit a reasonable sized 29er tyre in there (just) and a 27.5+ easy. 420 is old-style suspension corrected for 26″ and 80mm ish travel. On my Scapin (designed for 100mm travel I think) ^^ it still left the front end a wee bit high with a 29″ x 2.2 tyre in, but was a little low with a 26″. With the 27.5 x 2.8 the bb height is spot on (27.5+ is a little smaller rolling diameter than 29). Rigid 26″ forks are more commonly 440 mm now, which corrects for 100mm suspension. That might work well with a frame designed for 26″ wheels and 120mm travel forks.

That’s a 1 1/8 Exotic carbon fork there

ETA yet again, they do a range of heights, should be something there that works for many frames

I’m thinking of trying it on the rigid bike. I’ve run it with a 29 in the front using the Pace RC31 forks I have and while it was better in terms of comfort I did find the steering a bit wooly in comparison. They are 445mm forks so maybe 425 would be better but I’m tempted to try the 27.5 route as an alternative.

I’ve been running my 26″ rocket like this for a while. Initially bought 650b forks when my 26″ ones died and there was a lack of suitable replacements. I shortened the travel by 10mm to compensate for the increased length and it was all good. Then decided to try a wider rim on the front. Again much easier to find a wider 650b rim so I built a 650b front wheel. Bike still rides nicely. BB is a bit higher but I don’t think this causes any issues.

That said I will probably end up buying a 650b frame at some point when funds allow, mainly so I can match the rims up :D.

Cheers for all the input chaps.

I did a combo of this on my 650b Meta V4.

First 650b forks, 26*2 then 650b forks and 26/650b wheel. With the former it rocked. The later it somehow screws up the suspension path. It felt stiltled at times. Maybe for my particular* frame there was a psi tune sweet spot. I couldn’t find it. 26*2 in a 650b frame/fork rocks though. You just run slightly more psi.

*The 26/650b may work on other suspension frames though

I’m still riding about on a 69er Inbred, 440mm 26″ forks and a 29×2.4 Ardent. Front end sits about the same height as it does with sagged 130mm forks and the 26″ wheel. Been tempted to try a 27.5+ wheel in it but too skint generally

I rode my solaris as a 7.5+9er once, it handled ok. Looked a bit odd though, sorry no pictures.

I’m running a 650b+ front wheel on my Singular Hummingbird. It’s great!

I have a Liteville 301 with 26″/27.5″
It is meant to be build up with 26″/27.5″ (rear/front)

And as ze Germans zayzz “IT WEEEEERKS!!!” 😉

In my size they recommended 26/27, but you could also opt for 26/26 or 27/27. I build mine up with 26/26 at first, because it was the cheapest at the time (2013). Later I have changed to 27.5″ in the front because everyone in the Liteville forum was raving about how much better it was with the 26/27.5 combo.

So far I totally agree. Can’t get my hands down over how good it is.
I’m probably not the best to describe it, but it corners really well now. It felt a bit odd at first, but also like something magical happened, which made me curious. I found it to be very stable in turns and well balanced. Fun thing is that the rear wheel now breaks loose just a tiny bit before the front, feeling much more secure and “easier to read”. Going sideways through corners (without using the brakes) is fun now and doesn’t automatically lead to a crash… 😉 I often do it on purpose, just for fun, haha! 🙂

Not sure about 69’ers though. I think the difference between wheel sizes might to big for it to work out properly. Probably why it went away…? Maybe 29/27.5 is better? Well… I’m just about to find out! One of my friends was so intrigued by my bike, that he is building one now!! 🙂

I built up a winter beater from an old Dialled Alpine that I had collecting dust. 26″ on-one fork and 2.4″ tyres front and back, rides wonderfully! Due to being fond of my wrists and being a bit of a wimp I have also been thinking about 26″ rear and 100mm travel fork with a 27.5″ wheel in the front. Straight steerer tubed 27.5 forks seem to be hard to find though…

slightly off topic but, 97er

I’m building a parts bin bike. It’s going to have a 650b rear wheel and 26 front. It could be interesting.

And here’s my 49er. That’s a cross tyre on the front, but it works with a mountain tyre as well.

Rides exactly like it looks…

I’ve tried a 26 inch wheel in the back of my 650b Trance, it drops the middle to rear height of the bike making it feel lower and slackened out the HA more…i wouldn’t ride like it all the time but for uplift days and general DH tomfoolery it worked great…Liteville have been bold enough to offer complete bikes on that principle.

Yes, I had a Yeti ASR5 with 27.5 up front, using a 26″ Fox 140 fork that worked very well, mainly because of the 1/2 deg of rake it bought me… I have since moved that setup onto my On-One 456Evo2; I’ve owned two 27.5 bikes during this time, and I still ride the 67.5er more. That said, there really isn’t that much difference.