Hi All, I’ve currently got a Saracen Hack which is all fine but have been thinking about upgrading the wheels and sticking the existing ones in another cx frame I have hanging in the shed.

A thought occurred that now that there are a few 650b slick options about it could be an opportunity to convert it to 650b as there’s only enough clearance for 700 x 32/35 really and I ride a fair bit of towpath on it and it might be nice for a few rougher rides.

Has anyone tried this? If so how did you find it and what tyres are you running

Cannondale have with the Slate so might be worth checking any reviews on that out. Though I do remember reading the tyres they used were rubbish in terms of punctures.

Been reading the slate reviews which kind of gave me the idea and there are a few more tyre choices out there now – Maxxis do a detonator in 1.5″ and Schwalbe have a big apple clone too.

Just wondered if anyone out there had done it

Is this (‘road plus’) of any use?

Read this, but just ignore the bits about the brakes (it talks about caliper brakes not discs).

Cheers guys, next question is going to be what 650b wheelset….

And where to get 650b x 47 tubeless tyres (this side of July)

Direct from Compass is a good bet or from Velovitality in the UK…

Interested in this as the wheels on my Pinnacle Arkose 2 are on their last legs and the 650b wheels may well work well for what I use the bike for.

I put new 650b disc wheels on our 26″ tandem- not really the same as your plan but the experience has been fine; the 36h Mavic EN519 rims have proven bomber so far. Hubs are Hope.
The relevant bit- TYRES are a mixed bag, having started with 42mm Grand Bois Hetre from ACycles in France, I dropped to 37mm (‘Liere’, I think) for the 3Pistes Sportive last year and they’ve proven a bit delicate; but hey, the tandem works it’s kit hard. The larger size has proven stout enough and the skinwalls look great.
I don’t remember anyone flaming us for using discs at that sportive and topping out at over 80km/h on the ski roads I was happy to have them.
However, I’m thinking of fitting warblades to my hubs for the Tour of the Highlands 3-dayer next month… Shame the stoker has withdrawn her services for that one, I’ll just have to do it on my CdeFer.

I have the same frame, and did wonder about temporarily fitting some 26″ MTB tyres to it. You won’t get a huge amount of extra width though, the Michelin 2.15 semi slicks I measured up won’t fit in the rear end even with the drop to 26in (chainstay clearance). I think something like a 26in-47 might fit.

I would’ve thought you could get a reasonable amount bigger than the 700×35 tyres they come with in if you wanted to, particularly if you don’t run mudguards. Even then a 35c tyre at lowish pressures should be comfy enough for towpaths etc.

Edit – p.s. sorry for questioning what you want to do in my final sentence there, I can’t help myself.

Hi Phil, no problem questioning what I’m doing – I have a few failed experiments to my name.

Mines a 2014 Hack and I think I have 32c tyres in at present without much clearance at the back. As I need to buy a new pair of wheels for another cx frame I have I was flirting with the idea of going to 650 x 42 to make it a bit more off-road capable.

I’ll measure across the stays at the relevant point and see what the score is, I think 42 = 1.5/1.6″

Yeah, 42mm = 1.65″. I only got to measuring at the relevant distance from the axle centres, 2015 model.

Surly do a 41c knard in 650 and schwalbe are bringing out the G-one (G for gnarmac) in 650b as well.

I’ve gone the opposite way and put some 650b wheels and 40c tyres on my 26″ bike to use as a commuter and it’s been fantastic. You don’t even have to have disk brakes, there are certain v-brakes that have enough reach.

I put some Compass BabyShoe Pass 650bx42 tyres on my road bike. Used Arch EX rims.

Very tight fit on the rims and had to try the front out tubeless as I couldn’t get the tube in without puncturing it.

Running fine tubeless and I’ll probably do the rear soon.
I swapped the carbon fork for a Salsa Vaya one with more rake to keep the trail figure down.

Rids very smoothly.
Mudguards need a bit of fettling to get rid of the big gaps.

Front rack next for the Bicycle Quarterly wannabe look!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/G6DwUC]Moots Psychlo-x YBB with 650b Compass Cycles Babyshoe Pass tyres on Stan's Arch Ex rims. Very very tight fit! Front running tubeless. All great so far…[/url] by Jones96er, on Flickr

well thats quite a thing

See I was wrong on the side of not bothering and then Atomiser posts that pic and sanername remind me that if it doesn’t work I’ve got a spare 26″ frame they can go in. Bum!

Sheldon Brown approves http://www.sheldonbrown.com/650b.html

It might be worth checking the actual diameter of what you have now against your proposed 650b combo to make sure the BB height (hence pedal / ground) clearance would be OK. I know on my gravel bike thing I wouldn’t be keen on dropping the BB at all for this reason.

My BB was already pretty high being a CX bike originally. Smaller wheels brings it back to more road normal.

So I finally got round to measuring the clearance I’d have across the stays with 650b wheels – turns out it’s less than with 700c as they’re curved in dramatically for hell clearance. Without guards looks like plenty of room for 700x 42 anyway

Now I’m wondering how much clearance there is for a fat 650B on a Pompino. 🙂

Where this mod would be good is if you have a 1930s sport bike with 26″x 1 ?” (aka 650A with 590mm rim) or 26″x 1 ¼”wheels (597mm rims)

The recent availability of larger section tyres opens up a lot of options.

The brake positioning is much closer, so less hassle in needing long drop brakes, or if there’s Resilion cantilevers, it’s just a matter of shifting them down a wee bit.

I’m planning a 650B wheelset so I can ride these bikes without worrying about damaging irreplaceable parts such as ultralight steel 597mm rims.