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I could just as easily post this in Alt Bike... or SS/FG, heh.
OK so here's the bike set up with 20" tires. These are 406 rims, tires are 1.95 wide. BB is 10" high.
Looks like a very strange BMX bike...
Rides amazingly well. And fun? Woah, let me tell you it is way fun just to throw this thing around, hop curbs, cruise. When I think about it, it's still going to be a pretty twitchy bike, and shortening the trail probably doesn't help with that, but the steering didn't feel as different as just the lighter weight and accelleration of the wheels. 20" bikes are fun. Didn't go for a big ride, and it wasn't the best test without shifting. And only a coaster brake, so basically all the controls up there are dummies that I just didn't want to disassemble. What can I say, I'm lazy. Seems like I got a way tighter turning radius. I keep the inside pedal up, outside pedal weighted when turning anyway, so pedal strike in corners wasn't an issue. They are somewhere between .5-1" lower than where they are on my other bikes, but the only time I hit was when I was intentionally trying to, doing very tight circles at increasing speed. Otherwise, no pedalstrike. I could live with that.
Digging into a coaster brake hub for the first time was fun. Brutally simple and elegant mechanism. This hub was a Chinese YCC knockoff of a Shimano hub and the exploded diagram from Sheldon's site helped. The axel swap was a piece of cake. Took off the fenders and rack. I was off by a half link trying to run it off the 36 middle ring, but the 48 big ring was perfect... just had to swap them around for some kind of chainline.
Pretty goofy, but enlightening. Going with 20" wheels is certainly a possibility. Still not sure I want to tear into a perfectly good 26" wheel setup. But maybe an excuse for another set of drum brake hubs... Only thing keeping me back at all is the thought that it takes away the utility and turns it into merely a wicked fun bike--I'd have to do some serious rigging to get fenders to fit. Although just the rack would turn it into a nice fair weather commuter... which is just the opposite of its role as a winter beater... although part of the whole reason you got your uber commter with IGH and tire clearance to fit studded tires was for possible winter duty...