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So, supposedly they don't work, but looking at the clearance on my Five, the only limiting factor is the cable for the front mech. If I went 1x10 it looks like there would be miles for bigger wheels.
Anyone tried it? Are they purely saying "no" to sell the new model?
Probably, but why would you want to put bigger wheels on a Five? Is the bottom bracket too low or something?
Dunno, just curious really, as supposedly it wouldn't work but I'm struggling to see why 🙂
Can't say I'd ever buy any 650b wheels and raise the bb on it.
mate tried it, raised the bb and it felt like you were perched on the bike, and the back wheel rubbed on the seat tube like a gooden.
Wouldn't recommend it.
Ah, so it would rub. Cheers for the info 🙂
I guess you could let all the air out of the shock and see how close the tyre gets to the seat tube (or whatever it hits first) at full compression. You need around 13mm clear to fit a 650b wheel (with similar sized tyre) I think.
I see that Orange have made the chainstays on the 650b Five 6mm longer than the old model and shifted the bottom of the seat tube forward a bit (so seat angle now depends on the height of the saddle). So I'd guess the 13mm clearance wasn't there originally.
Tyre clearance isn't that great in the Five normally tbh once you take into account the swingarm flex (hence all the missing paint inside the swingarms of your average Orange) I dunno, personally I wouldn't want to mess with the geometry, it's so well sorted as it is...
Mine's got little plastic bumpers inside the swingarm, haven't noticed any loss of paint tbh. There's a good amount of room even with Smorgasbords on the back, was this a maxle model that was flexing? I'd need a good 1cm or so at the tyre end to touch.
There's at least 6mm of between the front mech gear cable and the seat tube. Seems like quite silly routing to be honest. It could well be slightly different as it's a bonkers 22" model though.