430mm actual is about 424mm rear-centre – 26ers ride well at that length, tbh I see no need to go shorter. Particularly as front-centres gets longer on slacker 29ers. I think the front-rear ratios get out of hand on some 29ers – yes they’re fun in some respects but it’s not all positives imo. I know ‘shortest’ sells bikes and some will disagree with me, that’s ok.
Sure, fair points. My Yelli Screamy rides very well at 424mm actual (dno what rear centre is), I’m going to try my N9 with the sliders slammed forwards (Canfield say that’s 418mm) but I have a feeling it’s going to start to feel a but front-rear unbalanced (for general trail riding) as you suggest.
Whether a few mm makes much difference unless in the hands of an expert (I’m not), is also moot.
Good job on the frames jameso, especially binning the front mech.