# 29" wheels on Specialized SL vs. 27.5



## dirtmistress (Sep 2, 2005)

No matter what anyone says, being 5'4" on a bike with 29" wheels is a challenge. The other issue is that I really don't like 29" wheels. 
I have the new Specialized SL and I really like it, but I'd like to set it up with 27.5 wheels. Have any of you done that? Would I need to get a new fork? What would I need to possibly replace? 
I won't bother if it's going to be too much of an expensive hassle.
Thanks


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## rangeriderdave (Aug 29, 2008)

It could cause some issues with ground clearance and pedal strikes . Might steer a little quicker, depending on tire size. A set of wheels that would stand up to use on a ebike could cost over $500 .


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## Flyer (Jan 25, 2004)

You will have major issues with ground clearance unless you ride buff trails. I agree than many not-as-tall riders will often not like 29 wheels. I'm 6' and prefer them but my Pivot came with 27.5+. Too bad the SL cannot fit fatter tires like the 27.5 x 2.8. That is a drop of maybe .25" but it may be better for you.


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## ruthabagah (Jun 4, 2018)

*do it*

Aside from the potential pedal strikes (overblown risk IMO), I'll say Just do it. You should be able to fit 27.5 wheels with no problem. Try to stay with an inner width of 30mm and can probably go up to 38mm. Tire sizes wise, I would probably stay at 2.6/2.5. 2.8 is great, but it will feel heavy on your bike. The good news: since it seems that 27.5 is out of fashion there are TONS of used wheelset you can find on your favorite marketplace (whatever that is). I picked up 4 sets of 27.5 this summer, paid less than 200$ for one of them, and they are a premium brand, true, and in almost new condition.


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## rangeriderdave (Aug 29, 2008)

If you did put 27.5's on it ,you could end up having almost the same overall height . Some 27.5+ tires are just as tall as 29 tires. You might look into a smaller (shorter ) 29 tire.


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## levity (Oct 31, 2011)

Here's mrs levity's small Comp Carbon SL with 27.5x3.0 tires on i45 rims.


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## Bigwheel (Jan 12, 2004)

Looks like the cranks are shorter than stock on that bike to help also which was mentioned previously. Some people go all the way to 150mm.

That looks nice and you both ride together alot so obviously it works for her. 

To me the happy in-between for the OP would be an i35 carbon rim wheelset, lighter the better, with 2.5 tires on it and shorter cranks. Tubeless @ low teens psi should give you all the grip you need and give you your lowest possible position? A plus would be good at timing your cranks.


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## levity (Oct 31, 2011)

The small SL comes with 165mm cranks same as what she runs on her Stumpy. 160mm might be even better, but much shorter and you begin to lose some front-rear stability.

The 27.5 wheels do give a low bb, good for some situations but not all. We're currently in the Moab/,Canyonlands area so she swapped her front wheel/tire to 29x3 for more ground clearance. Having a 27.5 in back ("mullet") with the flip chip set high provides enough ground clearance, and the smaller diameter rear wheel allows her to get down and back without "butt-buzz" from the rear tire. Here she is starting to descend Silver Stairs in the Needles District of Canyonlands.


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## RickBullottaPA (Mar 4, 2015)

levity said:


> Here's mrs levity's small Comp Carbon SL with 27.5x3.0 tires on i45 rims.
> 
> View attachment 1370699


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## Lambow (Sep 29, 2013)

I hope people realize that 170mm vs 165mm cranks is less than a 1/5 inch difference and that is only in the fully down position. I had much better lucky with pedal strikes by reducing my sag to just what was needed. Also adding 27.5 wheels may effect your speed sensor, their maybe an adjustment for that in the software.


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## levity (Oct 31, 2011)

RickBullottaPA said:


> Can you post a closeup picture of the tire/frame clearance in the rear?


The pic below shows a 27.5x3 Rocket Ron on a i45 rim.
There's 6mm clearance between the seat- and chain-stays and about 20mm between the tire and the seatstay cross bridge and the lower yolk.


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## Whiterabbitt (May 16, 2020)

Would it be possible to manage the drop from 29 to 27.5 by swapping out the rear shock with a unit that has 7mm more eye to eye or so?

The biggest reason I did not get an SL was that I wasn’t confident I could drop to 27.5” wheels.


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## mtbbiker (Apr 8, 2004)

Whiterabbitt said:


> Would it be possible to manage the drop from 29 to 27.5 by swapping out the rear shock with a unit that has 7mm more eye to eye or so?
> 
> The biggest reason I did not get an SL was that I wasn't confident I could drop to 27.5" wheels.


The only way you are going to know for sure is to try it. What's the stock eye to eye and stroke? What are you going to replace it with eye to eye and stroke? The biggest thing you need to worry about is throwing the geo way off and hitting the frame.


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## Whiterabbitt (May 16, 2020)

That ship sailed for me, I bought a Kenevo as the only 27.5" Brose motor E-bike option on the market. Google searches at that time pulled up zip for 27.5" converting a Levo SL and maintaining a proper BB ground clearance.

But the compelling factor is that the 57.6 lb weight of the Kenevo is so brutal, compared to a Levo SL would could be made, at the end of the day, as light as my 37 lb real bike. (before the battery gets installed).

It's still an interesting question though if anyone has tried it. My biggest worry would be the linkages not clearing enough to fit the longer shock.

------------------


But to answer your question academically, given a nominal wheel size change of .75" radius, I would be targeting a shock with an eye to eye increase of 0.25". The stroke I would target to increase as much as could be found with the expanded eye to eye, with the caveat of not wanting to hit the frame with the rear wheel. I think that would be an unlikely scenario. Probable target would be to increase the stroke by 0.25" as well, for a total travel increase to ~165mm, give or take.

one would assume the bike would be available to play with on a stand to check the clearances for feasibility. Which for me would be a $6500 experiment without guarantee for success. Thus, the Kenevo.

But I can always ask folks online what they've done .


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## Flyer (Jan 25, 2004)

I'm going the other way on my Pivot...starting with a 29er front wheel though. I'll run a 2.4/2.5 in front and stick with the 3.0 at the back. I think this will be an interesting combo, basically giving me a little more rollover ability and MAYBE slackening the front a touch as well. 

dirtmistress- what did you decide to do? If you want to swap wheels, I'll tell you what I would do myself- DT 350s and maybe DT Competition spokes 32x32 and some wide DT alloy rims with a 40mm internal width. Use 2.8 or 3.0 tires (I prefer the latter) but if not super rocky, 2.8s will be great.


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## dirtmistress (Sep 2, 2005)

Flyer, I haven’t done a damn thing. I’m not at all mechanically inclined and all the crank size talk and tire width and pedal strike and mullets and this and that just wore my poor wee brain out. I’m going to take it to a shop called Bike Improv and see what he says. I stopped getting notifications for this thread so I thought people stopped commenting. I keep an eye on it from now on and let you know what I do.


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## Flyer (Jan 25, 2004)

Well, we have a lot of bike geeks here. Many know way more about setup and specific bikes than shop guys. Basically, you just need new wheels and run 27.5 x 2.8 tires unless you can find 3.0s. I stocked up on 3.0s since they are very tough to find. It seems like Levity confirmed that the clearance is okay in the rear. It appears that the fork is fine too, so all you have to do is let the bike shop make sure that 27.5 x 3 will fit in the fork. I bet it will. Then you just need a wheelset and that is it. The main thing is to have the shop check the fork for width clearance.


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## JillRide45 (Dec 11, 2015)

*29" wheels on Specialized SL vs. 27.5*



Flyer said:


> Well, we have a lot of bike geeks here. Many know way more about setup and specific bikes than shop guys. Basically, you just need new wheels and run 27.5 x 2.8 tires unless you can find 3.0s. I stocked up on 3.0s since they are very tough to find. It seems like Levity confirmed that the clearance is okay in the rear. It appears that the fork is fine too, so all you have to do is let the bike shop make sure that 27.5 x 3 will fit in the fork. I bet it will. Then you just need a wheelset and that is it. The main thing is to have the shop check the fork for width clearance.


I run a 29 x 3.0 XR2 in the front Fox Rhythm 34 fork, 27.5 x3.0 rear (yep stocked on them). The front does not have mud clearance but I am not running a XR2 in the mud.

I have run 27.5 x 3.0 front and rear. No problem at all with fit on comp carbon.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## fos'l (May 27, 2009)

I built my wife a "27.5" using a 29" hardtail frame I had already and BBS02 drivetrain, and it works fine, no pedal strikes or handling quirks. For the OP, I purchased 27.5 wheels and 2.2 WTB tires for $100 delivered from Bikes Direct. You just need to locate a set of wheels with the same hub specs, transfer the cassette and good to go.


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