Anyone tried this? There seems to be plenty of tyre diameter clearance at the bottom bracket and seatstay brace areas (30mm+) and forks are exotic carbon 450mm crown to axle. I know absolutely nothing about anything larger than 26” on an MTB so there may be all sorts of things I am unaware of. Toe clearance would be ok I think.

No reason that will not work, but I bet its a slightly better ride with 26″ wheels due to the raised BB height of the 650 wheels. Most likely you will not even notice a difference.

We’ve a couple of i0s in our house (one is an ioid actually, but anyway) and one of them is set up similarly to how you describe with 700c wheels as a commuter. Tyres are fairly decent volume (can’t be more precise without them to hand though) and still HAS clearance front and rear. BB is a bit higher, angles and gearing is slightly altered but rides great for mainly urban stuff (and anything else really – pretty versatile frames). Based on that I’d guess 650b should work unless huge volume – report back though, I might fancy trying it to keep the frame going once all my 26″ rims are dead.

[ps if you do however kill yourself/the bike to death doing it, please don’t blame me]

Thanks for that, it is my go to bike and I really like the way it rides so I too am looking to the future without 26” wheels, if it ever happens.
Ironically it is the cheapest bike I have but the one that gets ridden the most.
May try and blag a set of wheels to try from some mates if they have any spares.

reluctantwrinkly – Member
…Ironically it is the cheapest bike I have but the one that gets ridden the most…

Cheap because there was no shite on it, not because corners were cut.

I reckon the iO is the best handling rigid 26″ bike I’ve ridden. Shame it can’t take plus size tyres because then it would be perfect.

reluctantwrinkly – Member
Thanks for that, it is my go to bike and I really like the way it rides so I too am looking to the future without 26” wheels, if it ever happens.

C’mon – you’ll be able to get 26” wheels for years to come. Or just stock up on a few now (or even just rims) and you’ll be all set. It’s what I do – any time a see a nice pair of s/h 26” wheels I buy them, as I’ve got two Liteville Mk10s and several sets of Marzocchi 55 RC3 Ti’s to provide for – I’m not about to pension them all off yet.

bajsyckel – Member
BB is a bit higher, angles and gearing is slightly altered

If you have the same size wheels front and rear then angles won’t change.

I have no real problem with 26″ but suppose I just feel like scratching that larger wheel itch!
I have to agree that the bike handles superbly and is free of clutter