First off this post is going to be light on pictures. I’m just getting the hang of making a record. After doing some research about the odd boost 141 hubs that came on the bike. I found that the 148 hubs had the same offset but they were just 6mm wider. The front wheels looked like it would work if the end caps were removed.
Starting with the rear hubs the original plan was to buy endcaps and adapt it that way. On closer inspection that would not work due to the way the axle was setup. after removing the axle I took it to my uncles machine shop and had him take 3mm off of each side. once it was finished I assembled it and found that I had damaged a bearing during disassembly. I temporarily took one from the front wheel. After that hassle it was time to tighten the axle . My lack of cone wrenches made this difficult it took an adjustable and channel lock pliers to eventually get it. The wheel was set in temporarily it fit the offsets appeared right. Great!
Once the brake rotor and cassete was installed. The alignment of the chain and caliper was checked it all looked good. While I waited for the adapter that would allow me to finish the install of the wheel. It was time to check the fitment of the front wheel.
Once the endcaps were taken off it fit between the forks. It was looking promising till I realized the offset of the brake rotor mounting flange was wrong. Meaning there was no way of getting the rotor in place. It is going to have the mullet setup for a while.
So Monday comes along and the rear axle adapter came in the mail. I got it installed minutes before I had to leave for a ride. Once I hit the trails I did not immediately like the feel of the wheel. Although it had allot of traction it felt slow like it did not roll well and wasn’t as soft as I was expecting. This was at WERP a very mild trail system riding with kids.
The next day I hit Hypsie Gap. this is a much tougher Trail system with allot of techinical and rocky sections. I lowered the tire pressure by 5 psi and left. It Road amazingly it was smooth, fast and had tons of traction. I went through some sections of trail almost 30 seconds faster. The mullet setup is fast although I do notice the tires on the climbs.
cant wait to try a full 27.5 setup!
Newton HQ 