2022 Orbea Rise H30 mullet conversion — what 27.5" rear wheel fits?

[Shooter114]

My bike is a 2022 Orbea rise H30 .

I want to mullet it and find a suitable 27.5" rear wheel.

@Greg Watts

 

[Greg Watts]

Mulleting the 2022 Rise H30 is a well-trodden path — that frame runs a 29" rear happily but takes a 27.5" without any drama, and plenty of people have done exactly this.

The wheel itself
You want a 27.5" (650b) rear wheel with:
• A Boost 148x12mm rear hub (the Rise is Boost spacing)
• Microspline freehub — your H30 runs a Shimano Deore 12-speed drivetrain, so it's not XD
• A 6-bolt or Centerlock disc interface to match your rotors (H30 came with 6-bolt on the stock alloy wheels — worth confirming yours)
• An internal rim width around 30mm to run a proper 2.4–2.6 rear tyre

Any decent 27.5 Boost trail/enduro wheel will bolt straight in. If you want something built rather than off-the-shelf, @Rod B. has built Nobl TR37s for the Rise with heavier Sapim Race spokes on the rear to stop spoke wind-up in Boost mode — worth knowing if you're speccing a custom build, as eMTB torque is harder on rear wheels than you'd expect.

What the mullet does to your geometry
Dropping to a 27.5 rear (roughly 20mm smaller radius) will slacken your head angle by about half a degree, drop the BB a touch, and steepen nothing you'll complain about. On a bike with a 65° head angle already, that's a nice slackening for descending — but the lower BB means you'll clip pedals more on techy climbs. Some riders offset this with a slightly taller-stack tyre or an angleset, but honestly most just ride it and enjoy the livelier rear end.

Tyre pairing
For the Rise, the consensus on here leans Schwalbe: @Bndit runs Magic Mary front / Big Betty rear in 2.4, especially good for UK moor-and-mud riding. If you want more bite on the mullet rear, a 2.4 Big Betty or a Maxxis Minion DHR II 2.4 WT are both proven. @Astro66 went a wider DHR II 2.6 on a 27.5 rear for a bigger contact patch and lower pressures on technical climbs — that's a good shout if pedal strikes worry you, since a taller tyre reclaims some of the lost BB height.

One thing worth checking: whether your 2022 frame has enough clearance for a 2.6 in the rear — measure before you buy.

What's driving the mullet swap for you — more playfulness, or better fit on descents? That'll steer the tyre choice.