So after loving riding my El Mariachi Titanium 29er more and more, and riding the 26″ Ala Carte Ti less and less (apart from racing) I decided to go with the trend and fit some 650b wheels to it. I did a lot of measuring, research and reading and it appeared the wheels would fit. I removed and sold my old DT XRC forks and picked up a fantastic price on the Fox. They really do look as if the frame was designed for 650b – even the chain stay tubing bends are all in the right place.

First ride is tomorrow, first race Sunday… Fingers crossed… I think the bars might get dropped a touch compared to the 26″ wheels. Problem is, I’ll have to do this with the spacers as I only have the one set of 650b tyres at the moment. Hopefully in 2013 Schwalbe will bring out a 2.25 Rocket Ron in 650b.

*rubs thighs in a vic reeves stylee* ooooo that’s nice

I thought you might like that Tazzy. What i like the most about it is that the frame is now in its 3rd season of racing and still looks new, unlike my fellow racer’s plastic specials…

Woah woah woah, nowt wrong with plastic bikes!

Looks good! You selling all your 26″ tyres now?! I’ll Hoover up your spares as well!

Hahaha yeah ok… I’ll lay off the plastic.

Not selling my 26″ tyres quite yet – Schwalbe only make a Ralph in 650b at the moment. Apparently a 2.35 Nic is coming in 2013 but hopefully they will do a Ron as well – a 2.35 Nic is a bit of a tractor tyre.

Gee, have you read any of the threads about 650b tyres on MTBR. By all accounts those RaRa’s are pretty fragile, you probably know that already though. Someone is selling the Pacenti Neo Moto’s in pairs on eBay…they might be too heavy for racing though?

P.S. Let us know what you think about the differences between your El Mariachi and the Ala Carte.
I’ve just bought a Siren softail that was designed around a Lefty and 650b, I haven’t got the wheels for it yet though. Depending on how I get on with it I might end up getting a Ti Salsa. At least with the Lefty I don’t need to change it if I choose a different wheel size.

Nice! Hope you get some Niño magic on race day.

its a nice bike but to me it is not an a la carte, why can’t they think of a new name?

there is only one real a la carte,

I’d love an old Ala Carte. They are cool – Retrobike had a beautiful one at Mayhem a few years ago in that paint scheme above.

The Ralphs are pretty thin, but that’s normal Ralphs. I usually run Snakeskin Schwalbes on my training bike and normal ones on the race bike. They aren’t as bad as a Ron or a Fred. Hopefully at some point in 2013/4 Schwalbe will release the 650b Ralph in Snakeskin. The team is sponsored by Schwalbe so Pacenti are really off our radar, plus as you say they are 100g heavier. One thing I did notice was that the 650b Ralphs were a load looser on the 650b Crests than both the 26″ and 29″ Ralphs were on 26/29″ Crests.

My El Mar and Ala Carte are pretty much the same save the wheel size, so comparison will be interesting. I guess we’ll see after this weekend.

Charlie Bikemonger has one 20″ Ala Carte left on his website for £400 off right now – I think that frame just got a load more desirable…

GB

First ride impressions are good. Plenty of tyre clearance, nice and smooth to ride, drops feel smaller – a lot like a 29 really, but the bike is lighter as the wheels are a bit smaller. Geometry feels fine and it is a lot more nimble than my 29er. I haven’t changed anything other than the wheels, but I will be playing with stem height over the next few weeks as it is a bit high.. Definitely an improvement over the 26″.

Mmmm that looks good. Have you got a picture showing the tyre clearance on the stays and bb shell?

Not to hand. I’ll put one on twitter in the morning. It’s ample on the chainstays with a Ralph. These frames have massive rear ends so lend themselves well to 650b.

GB

The neo motos and the nevgals in 650b drag compared with the RR. The RR are also a lot lighter, I run mine tubeless with no issues. Looking forward the the nobby nics next year as I’d be nice to ride the 650b’s in muddier conditions too!

Looks really good that, proportions look spot on. Be interesting to see if 650b gets popular with the big manufacturers

Well after the first race and a total of 2hrs use, the rear tyre has a very worn sideall. Dalby killed it! Now I remember why I usually use snakeskin ones… Apart from the ruined tyre, the bike was great. Bars were too high for sure and so I’ve inverted the stem to see if that makes it better.

Looks awesome Gee, so are the forks standard 26er with travel reducers or 650b forks?

Yes, the forks are standard Fox F100s. They (just) avoid the tyre bottoming out on the crown by about 5mm.

GB

Finally got some close ups of clearance uploaded…

The top 3 are my ti Ala Carte with 650b wheels fitted with 2.25 Ralphs (it was designed for 26″)

Fox F100 2012:

Seatstays:

Chainstays:

These 2 are from my ti El Mariachi 29er with the same 2.25 Ralphs for comparison – clearances are all but identical:

there is only one real a la carte,

Ohhh. I’ve come over all faint at that pic. That is, indeed, a PROPER A la Carte.