Craftworks Cycles is based in South Australia, but founder Kain Galliver was in Taiwan during our tour and showed me his latest creation: A 650b conversion for his 150mm travel mountain bike.
Where many tinkerers are content to squeeze in some wheels and adjust tire size to accommodate the frame, Galliver took it to the next level to correct suspension and frame geometries as well as shock tune and travel. And he went about it in a rather interesting way.
Rather than create entirely new dropouts and frame mounts, he designed concentric mounting axles for the shock. This allows the BB height to drop 3mm, ending up where it should, and adjust the head angle. Detail pics and more below…
He also worked with Rockshox to develop internal spacers to modify the air volume. This had the combined effect of reducing travel to 130mm and tweaks the shock tune for the shorter travel. This was necessary to prevent the tire from hitting the seat tube since the stays are just 420mm long. Galliver says it’s quite supple off the top then ramps up nice and progressively.
It’s using a proper 650B fork from Rockshox. Tires are Maxxis Ardent 27.5×2.25 up front and Crossmark 27.5×2.1 out back.
