650B for Touring Bicycles?

[hartleymartin]

Well, here is my Raleigh with the new 650B wheels.



- Brooks "Flyer" Saddle (very comfortable)
- Carradice Camper Longflap
- Scwhalbe Marathon 650B tyres (depending who you believe, about 40-42mm wide)
- SKS 50mm mudguards, fitted with larger mudflaps front and rear.
- Racks are an odd-sortment of Beto (rear), Bor Yueh (front) and Blackburn (lowrider) but they all bolt together and carry all my stuff. The mid-fork mounts are a bolt-on adaptor from Tubus.
- Pletscher Bipod Kickstand.
- Brake levers are (I think) Tektro. I needed ones with more ergonomic hoods than my old Shimano Golden Arrow ones.
- Shifters are Dia-Compe Retro-friction in bar-end pods.
- IRD 6-speed 14-32t freewheel, 48/44/28 Shimano Biopace Chainrings on Sugino GT 110/74 triple crankset.
- Derailleurs are vintage suntour items. AR front and GT rear. I originally had a V-GT Luxe rear, but that got full of grit and I've been meaning to service it and put it back. The "temporary replacement" has been there for 5 years so far.

[rifraf]

Its looking great.

Having you noticed any handling differences after all the upgrades?

Look forward to hearing and seeing more.

[Thoglette]

Nicely put together.
Yehuda would approve!

[hartleymartin]

The bicycle sits about a half-inch lower than before. It actually feels much more stable and "planted" and the wider tyres iron out the bumps and general road vibrations. The steering also feels more stable. I suspect this has something to do with a slight difference in trail, but also the heavier wheel perhaps has more of a flywheel effect and tends to keep things in line.

Of course, the slightly smaller wheels has resulted in a slight reduction in overall gearing. Bottom gear is now 23 gear inches and top gear is 90 gear inches, though that does not account for the slight difference made by the Shimano Biopace chainrings.

I actually find that I ride faster with the 42mm wide 650B tyres than with the 32mm 27" tyres, not because they are intrinsically faster in any way, but because I am less afraid of bumps and irregularities in the road surface. A lot of my cycling involves local cycleways (with a seam bump every metre or so) and local roads, which are often full of various potholes and patches, and the surfaces tend to be very uneven. I also needed to run the 32mm tyres at about 90psi, which was always difficult to achieve with the frame pump. These wider tyres are rated up to 100psi, but I run them at about 70-75psi

Back in 2011 when I rode to Wombeyan Caves, The 48km to Wollondilly River Station took 7 hours because I had to repair the punctured rear tyre 3 times.

I decided to retain the archaic gearing set-up that I implemented back in 2010. The 48-44-28 chainrings with the 14-17-20-24-28-32 6-speed freewheel suits my style of riding quite well.

I mostly ride with the 44t chainring. I can use all 6 rear cogs with this. Most of the gear shifts are about 18-21% in size. Once I am down to 44/28 (41 gear inches) if I am struggling, I just bail out into the 28t chainring for 26.5 gear inches and I can downshift once more into 23 gear inches. I joke that if I struggle with that gear, it is time to get off and use 24 gear inches (i.e. two-feet) to push the bicycle up the hill. The 9.1% distance between the two out chainrings gives me four close-spaced gears at the top end: 68, 74, 82, 90 gear inches.

Oh, and I still wear the Red Merino Jerseys we bulk-purchased here back in 2010/11. I bought two of them and take them on all my tours. Just looking to get some good quality wool Knicks to replace the spandex ones I currently have (also looking to get two pairs and not paying through the nose for them either!)