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In other bigger than 26" wheel news - 650b fits in the rear of a Soul Cycles Titan

MMcG

Ride till you puke!
Dec 10, 2002
15,457
12
Burlington, Connecticut
Just wanted to update folks on another frame that fits a 650b in the back.

I have a Carver Bumblebee (650b/29er) in for testing and review (we also have a Soul Cycles Dillinger in house as well) for the 29er forum in 2008 and I thought I'd see if the rear 650b wheel and tire would fit in the back of a Soul Cycles Titan Hardtail that I bought earlier this summer for my son to ride.

I'm here to report that the tire and the NeoMoto fit with good clearance for mud and muck. So you could definitely set up the Titan as a 650ber with a Fox fork or a X-Fusion or one of the Manitous that are reported to fit without modification.

This frame needs a fork - so I'm going to keep my eye out for a used Fox Vanilla 125!!! From there, the next step might be a Deore disc/Velocity Blunt based wheelset for it and some Neomotos.

I'll get some photos of the rear wheel in the new year.

I may also mess around with a 29er Reba and a 29" front wheel to see if we can't turn the titan into a Bumblebee like set up as well!

Stay tuned.

Mark
 

MMcG

Ride till you puke!
Dec 10, 2002
15,457
12
Burlington, Connecticut
I'll put up a review on it shortly once I get it set up properly.

I think that 650b/29er makes more sense than 69er for a hardtail as the slightly bigger rear wheel is less of a difference in size. For a FS 69er - a 26er/29er might still be the way to go. I had a Schwinn Rocket 88 disc set up this way and it worked real well in my opinion. Kept the shortish chainstays in back yet rolled over everything with ease up front.
 

BadDNA

hophead
Mar 31, 2006
4,257
231
Living the dream.
Your ride is here...


Seriously though, the Carver did look like a cool bike, I should've asked Paul for a ride on it when we were at Otis but I somehow doubt he would've enjoyed pushing my monster around.:cheers:
 

MMcG

Ride till you puke!
Dec 10, 2002
15,457
12
Burlington, Connecticut
Your ride is here...


Seriously though, the Carver did look like a cool bike, I should've asked Paul for a ride on it when we were at Otis but I somehow doubt he would've enjoyed pushing my monster around.:cheers:

We will be doing a full report/review on the Carver Bikes Bumblebee in this forum. Stay tuned. Paul's taking some good photos of the bike so we can properly show quality images along with our thoughts and feedback on the bike.

Oh and Eammon - if you want to throw a leg over it - let me know. we could meet up in the middle somewhere.


Cheers,

Mark
 

MMcG

Ride till you puke!
Dec 10, 2002
15,457
12
Burlington, Connecticut
The 650b is mounted to the Titan for a short time, with a Reba and 29er wheel up front. Road it around tonight and it felt pretty damned good actually. I'll try and snap some early a.m. photos.

Too late for that sorta stuff tonight.

Cheers,

Mark
 

MMcG

Ride till you puke!
Dec 10, 2002
15,457
12
Burlington, Connecticut
I took a pick of the Titan this morning at dawn - and here it is:



The bike feels pretty balanced (rode it around a little last night) in this 650b/29er configuration.

However I think it would/could really shine as a dual 650b sled with a 4 or 5" fork up front (Fox or Manitou Nixon) that could accommodate the 650b hoop up front to complement the rear.
 

ferday

Chimp
Jan 3, 2008
34
0
calgary, AB
that makes a lot more sense to me than a 69er...but i still question the 650b size for both wheels.

why not full 29er, or full 26er....i'm suspicious about the actual difference in ride with the 'tweener size.

that said....i'll probably have a 650b sometime soon just because i need to know....

btw. sweet ride MMcG!
 

MMcG

Ride till you puke!
Dec 10, 2002
15,457
12
Burlington, Connecticut
weird I thought I posted a response last night.

The Titan's stock bb height is under 12" so nope I don't think the bike is anywhere near 14" in the configuration below. Keep in mind it is sitting a top a pile of snow in the photo so that may throw perception off a bit.
 

MMcG

Ride till you puke!
Dec 10, 2002
15,457
12
Burlington, Connecticut
Yeah, I was basing the comment off of the pic & the fact that the bb looks similar in height to the front axle. It's got to be at least 13.5".

Certainly higher than in stock 26" form - which is fine in my book. Again - this is/was just an experiment.

The wheelset was temporarily borrowed from this bike:


Note: Photo courtesy of Quo Fan's Townhouse Photo Studio.