REVIEWS DEALS BIKESHOPS TRAILS

650b for road/gravel duty

11154 Views 35 Replies 16 Participants Last post by MMcG, Feb 16, 2010

MMcG

Discussion Starter · Dec 23, 2009

Who out there is also rocking 650b wheels on their road/gravel grinder type bikes?

If so, what is your bike set up and post up a pic or two.

I need to add a road/gravel grinder/all purpose bike to my stable for 2010 and am considering doing up something in 650b if I can do it affordably.

Please chime in with ideas/inspiration/recommendations etc. etc.

Budget is a $750 ceiling or thereabouts. Could it be doable somehow?

Cheers,

Mark

1 - 20 of 36 Posts

88 rex

· #2 · Dec 23, 2009

MMcG said:
Budget is a $750 ceiling or thereabouts. Could it be doable somehow?

Cheers,

Mark

Whole bike or frame and fork?

If frame/fork then Rawland is a no brainer.

MMcG

Discussion Starter · #3 · Dec 23, 2009

$750 would be my whole bike budget - I know - not much but I gotta be smart/frugal/prudent whathaveyou.

umarth

· #4 · Dec 23, 2009

Stick your nose on ebay. You didn't really mention tire size, or whether you want gears. A 26" Monocog could give you a fun bike, and with a dingle on the back, it would give you light trails and a good all around ratio. An ala Carte frame and fork went for under 200 a couple weeks ago, and that would give you a geared option.

Currently I'm working on turning an early 90's Rockhopper into a 650b commuter. It will probably fit a Quasimoto (my '89 sorta fit a 2.1 Nev). Nice thing about the Rockhopper is you can pick up a complete bike for <200, pick up a rim brake 650b wheelset off ebay for ~100. The only hang up will be with finding proper rim brakes, but even if you get the Paul's Components, you'll still be way below 750.

MMcG

Discussion Starter · #5 · Dec 23, 2009

Yeah - I'd want this bike to have more road like geometry I think though........I think.

rmb

· #6 · Dec 24, 2009

I would email Rawland to see if they have any more half price ($350) frame/fork other than what is listed on the website. I have the DSOGN and a Drakkar coming. I use the DSOGN for everything, just did a CX race with it too.

umarth

· #7 · Dec 24, 2009

Buy and old road frame then. Most have some decent space, and you could at least fit Fatty Rumpkins in them. Tektro R556s have ~73mm of reach, so as long as the bike's brake calipers reach tops at 54mm on a 700c wheel, you should be able to make the conversion work. And make Grant Peterson proud.

88 rex

· #8 · Dec 24, 2009 (Edited)

umarth said:
Buy and old road frame then. Most have some decent space, and you could at least fit Fatty Rumpkins in them. Tektro R556s have ~73mm of reach, so as long as the bike's brake calipers reach tops at 54mm on a 700c wheel, you should be able to make the conversion work. And make Grant Peterson proud.

I can vouch for these brakes. I have an old 80's Schwinn (27" wheels) that I'm converting to SS CX bike. Stripped it down, removed all tabs and am preparing to paint it. But my point is these old steel bikes have a lot of room. I never fit a 650b in it, but I could mock it up to see if it fits. I was planning on 700c with some knobbies, but if Kurt ever makes that Mini Moto then ......

.

These brakes open up a lot of possibilities (and I got the entire bike for FREE). Nobody wants these old bikes and they are just giving them away. I'll have a whole lot less than $750 invested in this bike and it can definitely do some gravel grinding when finished. :thumbsup:

EDIT: A Hutchison Pirannha (34c) fit comfortably in my old Schwinn. Not 650b, but I don't think there are any real gravel grinding type tires out there....are there? When I think gravel grinder, I think CX tires, not treaded road tires. Once, again......Mini Moto please?

SteveF

· #9 · Dec 24, 2009 (Edited)

2

My Rivendell Saluki with Mitsuboshi Trimline tires (similar to Panaracer Col de la Vie) is a great dirt road roller. I have my Rawland Olaf set up for all 'rounder style right now, too, with Fatty Rumpkins and a fixed gear drivetrain...

Couple of pics:

[/URL][/IMG]

[/URL][/IMG]

See less See more

rmb

· #10 · Dec 24, 2009

SteveF said:
My Rivendell Saluki with Mitsuboshi Trimline tires (similar to Panaracer Col de la Vie) is a great dirt road roller. I have my Rawland Olaf set up for all 'rounder style right now, too, with Fatty Rumpkins and a fixed gear drivetrain...

Kewl, nice bikes.

kiatkiat

· #11 · Dec 25, 2009

2

My folding bike with fatty rumpkin tyres

See less See more

rockhound

· #12 · Dec 25, 2009

umarth said:
Buy and old road frame then. Most have some decent space, and you could at least fit Fatty Rumpkins in them. Tektro R556s have ~73mm of reach, so as long as the bike's brake calipers reach tops at 54mm on a 700c wheel, you should be able to make the conversion work. And make Grant Peterson proud.

umarth is right.

Google "650b conversion".

Before the 650b mtb thing took off, people were talking about converting road bikes to 650b with long reach Tektros.

I've seen some Surly Pacers done like this.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/650b.html

http://www.bikeman.com/content/view/1161/33/

http://www.freewebs.com/650b/conversions.htm

http://www.bikeman.com/content/view/1888/147/

See less See more

lml1x

· #13 · Dec 26, 2009

SteveF said:
My Rivendell Saluki with Mitsuboshi Trimline tires (similar to Panaracer Col de la Vie) is a great dirt road roller. I have my Rawland Olaf set up for all 'rounder style right now, too, with Fatty Rumpkins and a fixed gear drivetrain...

Pretty lookin Saluki. What are tire and fender sizes?

Poutineyum

· #14 · Dec 26, 2009

650B all rounder

Hey Mark-

I built this thing in the spring: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=502570

It's seen a lot more miles than the Soma Bside I built around the same time. Lots of fun riding the road out to trails with this one instead of driving.

Frame, fork and headset came as a set from bikeisland.com (http://bikeisland.com/cgi-bin/BKTK_STOR20.cgi?Action=Details&ProdID=1287)

That's a nice cheap start to the build. Frame is a cyclocross frame with disc tabs- identical to last year's Fuji Cross Pro frame. Fork is great on the fire roads and milder single track.

Only drawback is the rear spacing at 130mm, as the only hub I could find at the time for disc at that spacing was a Velocity road disc. Nice hub, and relatively inexpensive, but you should know there is that limitation. But, since Velocity is one of the few rim makers for disc at this size, you can make a nice matching set.

Cheers

Stewart

See less See more

SteveF

· #15 · Dec 26, 2009

lml1x said:
Pretty lookin Saluki. What are tire and fender sizes?

Thanks! It's a 54cm frame, the tires are 650bX38mm and the fenders are SKS/ P-50's.

el-cid

· #16 · Dec 31, 2009

That Motobacon looks like a good (fairly cheap) start. Too bad you didn't get in on the black friday Vassago Fisticuff frameset deal Mark ($229 shipped). I just couldn't help myself and snagged one. Mine is getting built up with 29x1.9 Bontrager Dry-X tires though but the frameset can take any size 650b tire you can buy.

MMcG

Discussion Starter · #17 · Dec 31, 2009

That Vassago Black Friday deal was nice and that would have been a good option at that price. A few days late and a few dollars short I guess.

rockhound

· #18 · Dec 31, 2009

MMcG said:
That Vassago Black Friday deal was nice and that would have been a good option at that price. A few days late and a few dollars short I guess.

Yeah, but what's with the name of the company?

Anyone ever heard why it's called that?

MMcG

Discussion Starter · #19 · Dec 31, 2009

I'm not a fan of the company - their marketing drivel is annoying to me.

Wet Cat my ass

But the price on that fisticuff was pretty nice.

umarth

· #20 · Dec 31, 2009

Vassago is the Prince of Hell who rules over the twenty-six legions. So the name choice was clever.

1 - 20 of 36 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.