[Closed] Orange five - 26" to 27.5"

Email orange and ask them what they think?

Pretty sure you can't swap out a 26" swingarm for a 27.5" as the pivot location/means of attachment has changed, would double check with Orange though.

I would be amazed if they have not forced you to upgrade everything completely in order to achieve this minor change

1) Can you not just put 27.5 wheels in?
I seem to remember there is a lot of clearance on an Orange
2) why?

For some reason I wanton orange 5.

Just sayin.

When 650b was decided as the next big thing for us someone from one of suspension tuners maybe or a sponsored rider went to great lengths with shortened shock and geometry tweeks to get 650b in a 26 five frame. Can you not just do the fork if you have an itchy shopping finger and have 650b-26er? I'm surprised I've not seen more of those.

Orange replacement swinging arms are very expensive. I'd try it with the original swinging arm first.

For your info' I'm running 27.5 on my 26" Nicolai - they actually fit better. To explain, the chainstay is shaped to accept a tyre but when I use 26" the tyre isn't big enough to go in there meaning at its widest point the tyre sits at the narrowest point of the chainstay. However, with a 27.5" it sits in the shapes area perfectly. Additionally, it's only 5mm higher at the bottom bracket and even on full compression the wheel is nowhere near hitting anything like the seat tube etc.

That said, it hardly feels any different toe 26" so makes me wonder what the fuss is about.

Why don't you borrow a set of 650B wheels & see how the bike rides before you spend a lot of money on it?

I am more than happy with 26" wheels but my forks are on their last legs and was just thinking long term (probably should have thought it through more before posting). I actually think it would mess up the rear suspension as you would probably need a shorter shock and any bottom bracket height increase would lose the bikes 'feel'. I will borrow some wheels just to try with the exising swing arm but I think they will buzz the seat tube on compression.

Why not sell the 26" frame then buy a second hand 650b? Bet it would work out costing about the same if not less as I can't imagine a swingarm will be less then £200/300.

Just replace your fork with a 27.2" one and keep running 26" wheels until you want to update the rest?

650B fork with your existing wheels will work fine, just check there isn't too big a difference in the axle to crown height. I've done this with my five.

^ that. unless you're running 160mm travel it'll be fine.

+1 for keeping 26" and just replacing the fork,
it will work perfect..

mildred - Member

For your info' I'm running 27.5 on my 26" Nicolai - they actually fit better.

What model Nicolai, Mildred?

Del - Member

^ that. unless you're running 160mm travel it'll be fine.

Even then it's not necessarily an issue. I swapped a Fox 36 for a 650b compatible X-Fusion Slant - same A-C length

When I had my Five, a 2.3 tyre would catch the seatube on full compression. 650b wheels simply wouldn't fit.
Putting a 650b fork on wouldn't be the end of the world, you can compensate for the slightly higher front end by reducing the bar height. Although if you have an older Five, it will be a 1 1/8th headtube, so this would negate the upgrade as most (if not all) current 650b frames take a 1.5" lower steerer bearing.

What model Nicolai, Mildred?

2013 Helius AM.

[i]I am more than happy with 26" wheels but my forks are on their last legs and was just thinking long term (probably should have thought it through more before posting). [/i]

Buy a 26" fork, you can get deals plus loads nearly-new s/h.

I'm running 650b forks on a 26" bike with 26" wheels. I am still alive, and the bike rides fine, can still clear all the climbs I used to and don't notice any difference anywhere else except that my new forks are nicer than my old ones!

The good people at Orange spent years tweeking the 26" Five to get it just right and now you want to slap in bigger wheels and a longer fork? Why? Are you just trying to ruin the ride so that you can justify buying a new bike 🙂

Stick with 26" wheels and keep the A-C of any fork within the recommended range. If you are planning on getting a new bike soon and want to re-use the forks then you could choose a 650B fork with the right A-C, but chances are that it still wont be right for whatever you get next and if you are going to be changing bikes that soon why not just wait? If you still want new forks then there are plenty of good 26" options going for peanuts second hand. In fact, I've got a tidy set of 140mm 2012 Fox 32 RLC Factory Float jobs (tapered, kashima etc) in the shed somewhere 🙂

Honourablegeorge - you can see with the 26" there's lots of mud room in front of the tuts but even the neoprene chainstay protector rubs the side wall of the tyres:

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But with the 27.5" the shape of the tyre seems to fit perfectly with the shape of the chainstay:

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The 26" tyre is a geax gato 2.1 & the 27.5 is a specialized ground control 2.1.

The ground control is also slightly wider than the geax, even though they're both labeled 2.1.

When I had my Five, a 2.3 tyre would catch the seatube on full compression. 650b wheels simply wouldn't fit.

2.5 Minion is very close on mine, you would have to run a low profile tyre, would be surprised if anything larger than a 2.1/27.5" would fit.