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Anyone tried 650b on a tr450

rollertoaster

Monkey
Aug 7, 2007
730
179
Douglassville , PA
I've caught the midsize bug. After demoing a 650b trailbike I'm thinking about converting my tr450. I'm going to pick up a Dorado and if it doesn't work out at least I'll have a usable fork. It seems like clearance on the seat stay is the tightest spot on the bike, but with the long dropouts it should have plenty of room.

I have 2 concerns though. The first is seat tube rubbing. The second is geometry. I'm concerned it may overly slack the bike. I'm sure I could counteract some of that with an offset shock bushing and dropping the fork in the clamps. However if I have to j ack the back end up with an offset bushing the bottom bracket might end up too high.

Has anyone checked the clearance on the seat tube? I don't usually run huge tires so that may help a bit.
 

kazlx

Patches O'Houlihan
Aug 7, 2006
6,985
1,957
Tustin, CA
I plan on running just a front wheel on my Legend, also with a Dorado....which is an awesome fork. Just had my first day on mine over the weekend.
 

jackalope

Mental acuity - 1%
Jan 9, 2004
7,596
5,894
in a single wide, cooking meth...
I think Troy illustrated what will be your main issue, as I don't feel like there's much room between my saddle and rear tire at full compression with my 450. Although mine doesn't have the chain stay adjustment feature, so you may be OK in the longest setting as you suggested. But I wouldn't think it would feel that much slacker with a 650b set up assuming the tire volumes/sizes are roughly equivalent. I'd guess the biggest difference will be raising the BB some minor amount. And while I get the whole curiosity experiment angle, I will always contend you're not getting an completely accurate representation of the difference by shoe horning 650 wheels on to frame designed for 26" wheels. Although, I would also guess there's probably not much difference anyway, especially with a DH bike, so go for it and let us know what happens.
 
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jackalope

Mental acuity - 1%
Jan 9, 2004
7,596
5,894
in a single wide, cooking meth...
Rly? Even for RM that seems ridiculous. While I have seen where posters have suggested that using a really large volume 26" tire has approximately the effect as using a smaller volume 650b set up, I don't think anyone has stated the wheels are smaller. Unnecessary perhaps, but not smaller.

And btw, what the hell is a TR500? I'm under the impression teh new DH bike will still use the 450 nomenclature.
 

demonprec

Monkey
Nov 12, 2004
237
15
Whonnock BC Canada
Rly? Even for RM that seems ridiculous. While I have seen where posters have suggested that using a really large volume 26" tire has approximately the effect as using a smaller volume 650b set up, I don't think anyone has stated the wheels are smaller. Unnecessary perhaps, but not smaller.

And btw, what the hell is a TR500? I'm under the impression teh new DH bike will still use the 450 nomenclature.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151956426732387&set=a.207638102386.176243.207635932386&type=1&theater

they posted a pic on their facebook page a couple weeks back
 

rollertoaster

Monkey
Aug 7, 2007
730
179
Douglassville , PA
So, I've already run into a little problem. I mounted the Dorado today and the bars are hitting the upper legs. I am trying to run the fork and bars as low as possible so the upper legs protrude quite a bit. I currently have a 50mm truvativ stem. I'd like a 55mm drop stem. Anyone able to confirm which ones will fit?
 

kazlx

Patches O'Houlihan
Aug 7, 2006
6,985
1,957
Tustin, CA
I think you are going to have an issue no matter what stem you run that is that short. I had the same issue and just ordered a 4mm boxxer spacer to raise the stem up just for that reason. The bars end up over the stanchions, so you can only drop it so far before they hit.

 

gemini2k

Turbo Monkey
Jul 31, 2005
3,526
117
San Francisco
So, I've already run into a little problem. I mounted the Dorado today and the bars are hitting the upper legs. I am trying to run the fork and bars as low as possible so the upper legs protrude quite a bit. I currently have a 50mm truvativ stem. I'd like a 55mm drop stem. Anyone able to confirm which ones will fit?
How tall are you?
 

rollertoaster

Monkey
Aug 7, 2007
730
179
Douglassville , PA
A Google image search on the answer stem seemed to be the ticket. I found a couple pictures, and it looks like it'll work.

I just noticed someone added "butthurt" to my thread tags. Does that automatically get added to any non 26 " content? Lol
 

squiby

Chimp
Jul 26, 2010
91
13
So, I've already run into a little problem. I mounted the Dorado today and the bars are hitting the upper legs. I am trying to run the fork and bars as low as possible so the upper legs protrude quite a bit. I currently have a 50mm truvativ stem. I'd like a 55mm drop stem. Anyone able to confirm which ones will fit?
http://www.answerproducts.com/components/stems/onestem/

Edit - Looks like you just figured it out!
 
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HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,580
2,005
Seattle
So, I've already run into a little problem. I mounted the Dorado today and the bars are hitting the upper legs. I am trying to run the fork and bars as low as possible so the upper legs protrude quite a bit. I currently have a 50mm truvativ stem. I'd like a 55mm drop stem. Anyone able to confirm which ones will fit?
The 55mm Answer drop stem works great.
 

Dogboy

Turbo Monkey
Apr 12, 2004
3,208
581
Durham, NC
Yeah, try higher, or ride steeper trails. You shouldn't be fighting to lower the bars when you're that tall.
6'2" is not all that tall when you are talking about a 650 wheel and Dorado (tall fork). At 5'10" I probably couldn't get the bars low enough.
 

rollertoaster

Monkey
Aug 7, 2007
730
179
Douglassville , PA
It's been a while but I haven't abandoned the project. Some other bike related stuff caused a few delays. I have spokes, hubs from my other wheels will be salvaged, and rims on the way.

I'm trying to decide which tires to run. Not a lot of 650b dh tires out there. I'm most likely going to try an Ardent / high roller 2 combo and probably tubeless. Any other good options?
 

mtg

Green with Envy
Sep 21, 2009
1,862
1,604
Denver, CO
Schwalbe has now added some 27.5" DH tires.

And, as far as the stem/bar/Dorado combo, what bar are you running? I know a Ø31.8mm Race Face Atlas can be mounted with a 50mm stem low enough to be below the top of the Dorado fork tubes. You just have to make sure they aren't rolled back too much. The 55mm stem should give you enough clearance to run the bar below the top of the fork tubes and roll it back a bit if you want.
 

StiHacka

Compensating for something
Jan 4, 2013
21,560
12,504
In hell. Welcome!

buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
0
South Seattle
Not sure what you ended up with for bars/stem, but I had the same issue. A flat bar just won't fit with a 50mm stem unless you have a tall headtube. My Turner has a very short headtube. I ended up going to a slightly higher rise bar and rolling it forward just a bit and it cleared the fork. Now I can run the upper crown as low as I want to offset the rise in the bar.
Shimano PRO bar with a Renthal stem FWIW
 

djjohnr

Turbo Monkey
Apr 21, 2002
3,001
1,693
Northern California
And, as far as the stem/bar/Dorado combo, what bar are you running? I know a Ø31.8mm Race Face Atlas can be mounted with a 50mm stem low enough to be below the top of the Dorado fork tubes. You just have to make sure they aren't rolled back too much. The 55mm stem should give you enough clearance to run the bar below the top of the fork tubes and roll it back a bit if you want.
Thread resurrection -

mtg - how far below the legs are you able to get the bar? Full clearance? ie as low as you want? My current setup is barely low enough to be acceptable, I'd like to get the bars lower. Tried a 55mm and wasn't wild about it.
 

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,580
2,005
Seattle
I have a Kore flat bar and a 55mm stem on my Dorado, which gives full clearance (barely). It's a flat bar with an above average amount of sweep though. With a little rise and less sweep you might be able to get down to 50.
 

mtg

Green with Envy
Sep 21, 2009
1,862
1,604
Denver, CO
Thread resurrection -

mtg - how far below the legs are you able to get the bar? Full clearance? ie as low as you want? My current setup is barely low enough to be acceptable, I'd like to get the bars lower. Tried a 55mm and wasn't wild about it.
With a 50mm stem, the Ø31.8mm RF Atlas bars sit just barely in front of the fork tubes. So, you should be able to run it as low as you want, but rolling the bar back would be a limiting factor. A 55mm stem would give you more freedom there. I don't run mine very low, but that's what I've noticed setting up other bikes and messing around with mine.
You can also do the trick of shortening the travel of the fork a little bit by connecting a shock pump, pushing the fork down however far you want, then releasing the shock pump. That will reset your top out point to however low you want it, at the expense of some travel.
 

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,580
2,005
Seattle
@mtg: Are you actually running your fork low enough to interfere with the fork? Seems wild that you would be given how different our MT setups are. I'm running this stem, a flat bar and 15mm of spacers, on a size L current gen DHR, with the fork as slammed as it gets.