[Closed] 650b, it's the future.

How is it "future"?

OK, it's the future, the past, the present; it's french, it's american niche, whatever it is, it works for me and it is my future wheel size of choice. Maybe.

I hope the standard gains acceptance, because I'm not buying a Rivendell Bombadil with bull-moose bars until I can be reasonably sure of getting hold of replacement tyres.

29ers, fine if you are lanky and want to travel long distances on unchallenging terrain.

[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheldona/3244304449/ ]A 29er being ridden over a long distance and challenging terrain[/url] 😉

650bee's are for fans of the ladyboy wheel. 😆

[img] [/img]

650Bs are for gayers, period.

I wonder if 650b wheels would fit in a Ragley Blue pig?
I quite fancy a cheap pizza now.

sheldona - Member

650Bs are for gayers, period.

And you should know. 8)

Oh and Stu, you didn't ride it, just after the shot you walked down!

I can't see that from here mate. 😉

I wonder if 650b wheels would fit in a Ragley Blue pig?

yup.

A 650bee being used in anger.

[img] [/img]

😯

650 what? When did this new size turn up? That's just annoying. I've only just accepted 29 as a wheel size (and only because the Singular Swift is such a lovely bike).

Lol @ stu nice pic!

Benefits of 650b:
Very few people have them. 1 point
Difficult to get rims, tyres, forks, so you can tell everyone how much of a nightmare it was to build your 'steed'. 1 point
Niche-niche-ness. 1 point
Spooky bikes have them in there line up, and Spooky are cool as ****. Lots of points
Haro bikes make them. Not that Haro bikes are cool, but Bob Haro was. More points
Guitar Ted doesn't like them. Lots and lots of points
Makes 29ers, 36ers look so old hat. points, points, points.
So there you go, lots of points which mean nothing, and I bet at SSWC09 there will be loads of 650b riders all trying to out slack each other, or growing beards, or pretending to ride drunk.

Guitar Ted doesn't like them. Lots and lots of points

lmao

Thanks for that jupiter, now I understand. I'll ignore it then until I see a bike that's just lovely and only come in 650b size...

Makes 29ers, 36ers look so old hat. points, points, points.

36ers?? I'd never even heard of those.. Do they actually work?

I'm looking at the spooky at the moment, the 650b wheel size is only a small part of the reason for wanting it and will probably run it at 26 to begin with to save cash. I have never ridden a 650 or a 29er but cant see the 27.5 (650b) wheels making a massive difference to the ride , slightly improved traction, ride comfort slightly slower acceleration. If it rides like a bike i'll be happy

650b is just part of the present!!!!

So we all agree, 650b is the future wheel size of choice for some people.

personally, when i had mine, the difference between 26 and 650b, it was noticeable, not in the same way that a 29er is noticeably different....

For Long day rides, endurance racing i would pick a 29er anyday, and for XC racing id pick a 650b over a 26, but id pick a 96er over them both for XC. The problem i had was tire choice. I was lucky enough to get some proto 2.0 Race tires, as the only others available were aggressive 2.3. they were great in the dry and rubbish in the wet, so i binned them off. Now the choice in tires is a bit bigger, im going to give it another go..........

The spookys are very nice , and a good choice, bit expensive though.

For Long day rides, endurance racing i would pick a 29er anyday, and for XC racing id pick a 650b over a 26, but id pick a 96er over them both for XC.

so what's a 96er then? Is that a 69er with the big wheel at the back? Choppertastic! 8)

With 24", 650b, 29" blah blah there's huge potenttial here- must be just about enough combos to let everybody have their own personal niche.

carver 96ers* are the same format as 69ers but the latter sounds cooler

Trev have you seen or ridden a spooky my mates in the states and i'm thinking off getting oe but not much info about its loking about £650 - 700 quid in my hands

[url= http://twitpic.com/amrfe ]I was experimenting. OK.[/url]

Just to show how cool 650b is here's a pic of the last ones I sold nearly 20 years ago 🙂

[img] [/img]

I've got a pile of 650b Michelin world tour tyres if anyone is interested 😉

seen the spookys on the net, the new head guy at spooky is pretty pro 650b, so much so he has set up a few US racers on them. They ar every nice, but i thought even after import, vat etc they are near a £1k in price?

and i meant id pick a 96er for XC and a 29er for marathon stuff. but if i had to chose 26er or 650b id go 650b now the kit is more readily available.

until I see a bike that's just lovely and only come in 650b size...

They fit in a Hummingbird - will probably will work best with a suspension fork though... Got some coming for experimenting

[img] ?v=0[/img]

reckon they will fit in the back of a Ragley no probs, if you use either the 2.1 version of the neomoto, or a firexc or RR

Trev yeah gona try and avoid certain taxes with mate bingig it back via a military plane , sya no more about that.

Sam was also loking at the HummingBird, do you have a weight for the frame only ?
Thanks

I do like a good niche-off. You go girls.

26" wheels will remain 'the future' because the majority of mountain bikes are not uber-niche ones with frames made by hermits in caves in Colorado, they are the run-of-the-mill ones, often brought from places such as Halfords. Its this larger market share that dictates what component makers make and thus what standards are catered to by the big players. Of course some of the bigger players in the bicycle component world are producing 29" or 650b parts/bikes but this is purely to jump on the back of the current bandwagon before it rolls out of town.

Of course in the rarefied air of the STW forum the 26" riding masses don't exist.....

I don't know about this 650b malarkey, but the last time I owned a mountain bike with an odd wheel size (one of ye olde Big Hits with the 24" back wheel) I was inundated with offers of free tyres from people who had already owned and got bored of them. So my advice would be, get a 650b, stash it in the shed for a few years, then hoover up all the cast-off wheels and tyres you can get your hands on. 😉

What are the pros and cons of 650? I wont be swapping out my wheels anytime soon though as they've served me well for 6yrs so far.

so why does it interest you then?

650B is hardly new, when I was a kid practically every adult sized bike had those sized wheels, only they were called 27.5". My first full sized bike, around 1963-4, was a BSA Starrider, Sturmy 3speed, trials bars and Avon 'cross tyres, used to go 'dirt tracking' down the woods and exploring local tracks and trails. 650B is just an old wheel size being brought up to date. It makes much more sense than 29" for a mountain bike; fewer compromises in frame sizing for smaller riders, lighter tyres, but greater ability to roll over trail imperfections and roots. I would much rather have a 650B than a 29er, and visually the proportions are better, too.

[i]I'll ignore it then until I see a bike that's just lovely and only come in 650b [/i]

Soma B-side. mrs mocha's got one, it's lovely :o)

650B is hardly new, when I was a kid practically every adult sized bike had those sized wheels, only they were called 27.5"

Not exactly. 650b (584mm bsd ETRTO measurement) is an old French size previously seen really only on French tourers and tandems. Very few UK & US made bikes used the size. You may be thinking of either 26 x 1 1/4" (597) which was used on lots of British utility bikes, or 27 x 1 1/4~1/2" (630) which was very widely used and still is quite common. "650b" in its current off road guise shouldn't really be called 650b at all. The French measuring system (650c, 700c, 650b etc) represented teh approximate outside diameter of the wheel in mm and width of the tyre denoted by a letter. So 650b & 650c have the same outside diameter but are different width tyres and thus different size rims (584 and 571 respectively).

It makes much more sense than 29" for a mountain bike; fewer compromises in frame sizing for smaller riders, lighter tyres, but greater ability to roll over trail imperfections and roots. I would much rather have a 650B than a 29er, and visually the proportions are better, too.

It makes more sense for some sizes (you might say most common sizes) of bike. I maintain that wheels should be in proportion to a frame's and a person's size - in a prefect world we'd all have custom wheels for our custom frames. However with the realities of modern mass manufacturing I'm not convinced three distinct wheel sizes can survive, particularly where 650b is not that different from 26". The tinkerer in me wants to give it a try, and for some it is probably the ideal, but I don't think it will last for the reasons sooty notes. However I do think 29" is here to stay for the enthusiast market.

650b is not the same, i have some 26x1 3/8 wheels from my old cycle speedway bike, and the 650b tires didnt fit......

650b is not the same, i have some 26x1 3/8 wheels from my old cycle speedway bike, and the 650b tires didnt fit......

26 x 1 3/8" is 590, in fact that's probably most likely what the Count is thinking of as it was a size common on 3 speeds - pretty close but not the same...

Sam

have you got a weight for the hummingbird frame only?

Thanks

Damn you Sam, damn you... 😉

Loving the tags by the way.

Stonemonkey - gotta prep one tonight so will weigh it for ypu when I do. Should be around 4.5 lbs, maybe a bit less.

26ers, 29ers, 69ers, 650b wheels!?!?

B*gger it, I can't take all this wheel size nonsense anymore. I'm off to buy a penny farthing.

B*gger it, I can't take all this wheel size nonsense anymore. I'm off to buy a penny farthing.