Wheel / Fork compatibility

treble

Likes Dirt
This may have been covered before, but I searched and couldn't find anything.

So, I currently have a 26" wheeled bike, I like my 26" wheeled bike. I have no real problem with 27.5" bikes, I'm sure i'll own one some day, but for now, I'm quite happy on 26" wheels. However, I would like a new fork (preferably a 170mm or 180mm Lyrik) and they don't make em in 26" anymore.

Can anyone explain why I should or shouldn't just buy a 27.5 fork and run it on my bike? (with a 26" wheel)

The axle to crown of the 27.5 Lyrik is actually a few mm shorter than my current Fox 36 Talas (180mm).
 

moorey

call me Mia
No reason. I run 27.5 forks on 4 of my bikes with 26" wheels. Go nuts. Have swapped back to 26" forks periodically, and noticed sweet fa difference.
 

Knuckles

Lives under a bridge
Go for it. Quite a few are running twenny sevan and a bit forks with 26" wheels, at least one douche, I know of has trialed sixfiddy-bee wheels and gone back to the man size.

#knuckleswasadrunkenchunt
 

Boom King

downloaded a pic of moorey's bruised arse
Go for it. Quite a few are running twenny sevan and a bit forks with 26" wheels, at least one douche, I know of has trialed sixfiddy-bee wheels and gone back to the man size.

#knuckleswasadrunkenchunt
I may be said douche and I have no probs with my 26" wheel in my tweener fork.
 

SummitFever

Eats Squid
27.5" fork has more offset than the 26" version. This is to give it similar trail with a 27.5" wheel as the 26" fork/wheel combo. Using a 26" wheel in a 27.5" fork will give you slightly less trail (sharper steering, less wheel flop) than when using the 27.5" wheel. However, the 27.5" fork will have more axle-to-crown giving you slightly less head angle and slightly longer wheel base. You pretty much end up back to square one. So all the 27.5" fork does is raise your BB slightly. Even that is almost insignificant. eg. 12.5mm longer fork will be 9mm longer after 25% sag and will raise the bottom bracket maybe 6mm, which is all but unnoticeable out on the trail.
 
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