Swapping out 29s for 650b wheelset

Pooleyman

I have a Boardman Pro 29er with Mavic XM319 wheelset with Formula hubs. Not being the most burly of chaps I want to swap these out for some 650b wheels in an attempt to make the bike more agile. I believe I'll lose rolling speed but not too bothered by this.

cooldad

Apart from lowering the BB height, I doubt you'll notice much more agility.

JGTR

Shorter stem and wider bars made my 29er feel much more agile.

rockmonkeysc

It won't make the bike feel any more agile. It will make it ride like a sack of crap and you'll be running in to ground clearance problems a lot.
Try a wider handlebar and shorter stem.

Pooleyman

RockmonkeySC wrote:

It won't make the bike feel any more agile. It will make it ride like a sack of crap and you'll be running in to ground clearance problems a lot.
Try a wider handlebar and shorter stem.

What makes you say it will ride like a sack of crap? Interested to know as you may be saving me a whole heap of cash!

Bars are wide as standard so may just need to adapt my riding style to the bike

JGTR

29ers can take a bit of getting used to, hated mine at first, few minor spec tweaks and a bit of time learning to ride it now I love it, ride same trails etc as everyone else. 29ers can be fast but they just take a bit more man handling and commitment than some of the more agile bikes.

How wide are your bars? I went from 720 to 750, not much but made hell of a difference when combined with a 20mm rise and shorter stem.

rockmonkeysc

Pooleyman wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

It won't make the bike feel any more agile. It will make it ride like a sack of crap and you'll be running in to ground clearance problems a lot.
Try a wider handlebar and shorter stem.

What makes you say it will ride like a sack of crap? Interested to know as you may be saving me a whole heap of cash!

Bars are wide as standard so may just need to adapt my riding style to the bike

You'll be lowering the bike quite a lot and altering the geometry. You would need to change the fork offset to maintain the geometry and keep it steering properly.
You'll be bashing the cranks on things a lot.

Pooleyman

Bars are 720mm and flat. Might try a bar with a rise and mess around with the stem. Thanks for the advice, definately saving the cash and sticking with the wheel size, just might need to update at some point.

LimitedGarry

The thing about this is that some people covnert their 29ers to 27,5+. With the plus tire, the difference won't be as big. That said, it's not ideal and you may end up pedal grinding a few times more often than never.
People who have a pair 27,5+ wheels for their 29ers have them because they actually like their 29ers and want to have an option to try something different without having another bike.

cooldad

Assuming there is enough clearance for fat tyres.