I’ll not bore you with the details, but having been pondering a new full sus to replace my ‘old’ Nukeproof Mega AM (26″, since you ask) I finally settled on a Mondrakrer Crafty R+. It was everything I was looking for, aside from having the wrong wheel size and being on the steeper side in the head angle department…
I’d spied the Crafy a while back, ‘cos it had a 157mm rear hub, which is what my hardtail has so I don’t break 29er wheels so easily. There are no other production non-DH bikes with 157mm rear ends. Why that is is beyond me, there should be more ‘cos it makes sense, but I digress. The wheel size thing though, in theory a 650b+ tyre has a similar outside (rolling) diameter to a 29″ tyre. So I could just bung 29er wheels in, right? I ummed, I erred, I didn’t do anything. Then FactoryJackon picked up a Crafty as a “Frankenbike” project, so they’d say if it worked, but they never did (as if the time of writing, end Sept 2016). In the end, with nothing on the horizon fitting the bill in anyone’s 2017 line up, 2017 Crafty prices being £500 more for the same bike, and 2016 bikes being over £800 off, I figured I’d shit and get off the pot, so bought one.
So what is the plan? Simple, ride it. But ride it and do the “Frankenbike” thing properly. With 650b and 29er wheels, with the standard headset angle and with a slackset. What works, what doesn’t? What difference does it all make? I like to fettle, but there is a lack of fettling advice so I figure if you want something done properly, do it yourself. Let the fun begin!