On Sunday, April 5, 2026 at 5:54:29 PM UTC-6 iamkeith wrote:
How high is the bottom bracket with the 26" wheels installed? Are you certain it wasn't converted from a 700c frame rather than a 26" frame?! That would be my first guess, and would seem more likely. Thinking more about it and rationalizing my own comment/theory: Remember that: 1. Rivendell HAD reintroduced 650b wheels and tires while the Atlantis was still being made at Toyo, however they were kind of the exclusive realm of the Saluki and Bombadil, which existed explicitly to use that wheel size. I don't remember a 650b Atlantis until much later, as others have mentioned. (I actually bought one of those, but traded it for a store credit before it arrived, when I accepted the fact that it wouldn't fit well.) 2. By the time the Atlantis was made, most All Rounders, in the larger sizes, had already switched fron 26" to 700c wheels. The Atlantis was just an All Rounder made in larger volumes at first, to be more affordable. A 56 frame doesn't seem small enough to have warranted 26" wheels. If your bike was indeed changed from 700c to 650b as I suspect, it's already gotten you closer to the small-diameter, plump tire option you desire. I don't think you can reduce the wheel size further, without the bb being too low. I am sorry to hear it's not what you thought it was going to be, but it's a beautiful bike. Try it and see if you like it! On Sunday, April 5, 2026 at 5:21:02 PM UTC-6 Wyatt wrote: Maybe it's just me, but if I was that close to building up such a gorgeous bike and discovered that it fit 650b wheels, I'd finish building it up and give it a shot. Looks like you already have a 650b wheelset on hand. Throw some 48s on there and let it rip. Always possible you decide that you have to have that Rat Trap Pass lifestyle and decide to get the posts move, but wouldn't you want to know how it rides as is? On Sunday, April 5, 2026 at 3:07:09 PM UTC-7 Ben Miller wrote: My 2 cents: move the canti posts and repaint it Atlantis Submarine Green! Sure 650bx48 is a good tyre size, but 26x2.25 is much better for an Atty. On Sunday, April 5, 2026 at 2:51:40 PM UTC-7 Jamie D. wrote: Thanks for all the opinions and insight so far everyone. Bob, I have to agree and I think your previous rabbit hole venture confirms the frame is highly likely to be a 650B-ified Toyo Atlantis. It feels a bit strange to have an Atlantis that can't fit a 2.1 tire... but maybe there's some advantage to keeping it 650B? On Sunday, April 5, 2026 at 3:43:47 PM UTC-4 [email protected] wrote: Should read "double eyelets *at* the fork dropouts,…" On Sunday, April 5, 2026 at 1:42:06 PM UTC-6 Bob wrote: Re: 650B Atlantis I once spent too much time digging through archived RBW materials ( https://notfine.com/rivendell/) and archived rivbike.com webpages (on archive.org). So far as I can tell, the pre-MIT 650B Atlantis was made by Waterford in 2016–2017. The earliest reference I found in this group is a post by Bill Lindsay on December 2, 2016 ( https://groups.google.com/g/rbw-owners-bunch/c/keexAOoYrrA), which includes a photo of an Atlantis. The earliest dated mention on the RBW site I found is in the May 2017 geometry chart ( https://web.archive.org/web/20170602082329/https://www.rivbike.com/pages/geometry). The first archived instance of the 650B Atlantis on the model page is July 4, 2017 ( https://web.archive.org/web/20170704052849/https://www.rivbike.com/collections/framesets/products/atlantis). This is also the brief, shining moment of the 650B Hunqapillar, which I sadly seem not to have noticed was available until after it no longer was. Bill's photo and the photos on the archived model page from 2017 show mid-fork braze-ons for a front rack, double eyelets and the fork dropouts, and a kickstand plate. Many photos I've seen of the Toyo-era Atlantis do not have the mid-fork bosses, and some do not have double eyelets at the dropouts. Seems like you have a 650b-ified Toyo Atlantis. -- Bob On Sunday, April 5, 2026 at 9:10:10 AM UTC-6 Jamie D. wrote: I have what I believe to be a 56cm Toyo Atlantis: • The serial number is AT0299. • The frame measurements match the geometry chart. • It has the curvy chain stays. • The lugs look to be the style used on Toyo frames. Imagine my surprise when I go to put my brand new, fancy 26" wheel set into the frame and something looks off... the canti posts look too high. I go and grab a brake caliper to check and it's confirmed, too high for 26" wheels (sigh). I then put a 650B wheel in and the brake caliper lines up correctly. Since the frame has also been repainted, I'm assuming a previous owner had the canti posts moved for 650B wheels. The fork clearance horizontally inside the fork and in the chains stays where a 26" tires would go is 65mm. With a 26" wheel in the fork, the vertical clearance is 65mm from the top edge of the rim to the bottom edge of the fork crown. With 650B wheel in the fork, the the vertical clearance is 52mm from the top edge of the rim to the bottom edge of the fork crown. My impulse is to get the canti posts moved back into the original position and repaint. I got good deal on the frame, I'm hoping this will be a "forever bike" and it will be fun to choose my own color. Do you agree that the canti posts have likely been moved? Is there any reason not to move them back other than the cost of moving the posts and repainting? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/7b7ac1ac-d65c-4dff-abfb-ddc59eb17149n%40googlegroups.com.
