Whatever happened to 650b?

It was hailed as the next big (in between) thing, then went a bit quiet.

Sounded like a good idea, well as good an idea as 29″ anyway. Can you get 650b stuff here or is it just US still?

Dinasour bikes sell 650b here in the UK

I’ve got 2 650b equipped bikes and know of 4 or 5 more.

nah it’s still good for kids road bikes 😉

Dinasour bikes sell 650b here in the UK

Due for extinction then, I guess.

Because bigger wheels are bobbins, and only STW needs another niche, it’s not popular.

They’ll be waiting for the 29er niche to get bigger, then they’ll drop in the “650 is betterer than both” and hope the market is big enough to make some money.

I just think 29er got to the party first and got all the press. Not too sure how people will react to another new boy on the block.

I’m waiting for 675b.a

(or 36DD)

Still a big thing with the nichety nichistas (just check the use name of the only person on here admitting to owning one 😉 ). I don’t think anybody else was ever really bothered.

it’s still good for kids road bikes

I think you’ll find that’s 650c – your confusion neatly summing up the nicheness!

i have some 650b rims, been gathering dust for ages – we were going to try them out but decided 26 or 29 was a good enough choice and 650 wasn’t really one thing or the other )

only one set of rims was ever sold.

try hards tried hard – a size for short arses who cant cope with 29ers or whos frame designers cant design for 29ers 😉

650B isn’t going away

It’s a great idea but the ‘concept’ is pretty hard to market… not to consumers but to retailers

Retailers who are still trying to ease people onto 29ers don’t want the hassle of explaining the virtues of a smaller wheel while trying to espouse the virtues of a larger wheel !

You are only seeing so many 29ers on the UK market now because the powers that be (big corps) in the US are simply making more of them and less 26″ models .. retailers have little choice in the matter.

Haro ‘tested the water’ by bringing out the beasley – but retailers (and thusly consumers) didn’t know what to make of it.

IMO .. It’ll be another couple of years before the honeymoon period with 29ers ends and people actually start addressing their flaws and looking at better platforms for FS designs.

It became too mainstream for the nichewhores.

hmm, what about chainstay lengths?

a 26″er with normal chainstays (430mm ish) and a decent reach is getting close to the practical limit of what you can manual (it can be done, but it’s tricky)

a short manual wheelie is a handy skill for clearing stuff – it’s fun too, but it’s already quite hard on a 26er, surely bigger wheels will only make this harder still?

[Quote]Because bigger wheels are bobbins[/quote]

😛 calm down shorty 😉

Haro have a bike or two in the range with 650b wheels IIRC. Moore Large messed up 2010 bikes, but they stock tyres (no tubes though).

Ahwiles you’re talking crap about manualing with big wheels!

yeah its easy, so long as you have a wok to use as a counter balance 😀

I’ve got a bike built with them, you can just squeeze one in the back of a Hummingbird. Coming from riding 29ers almost exclusively the past few years they feel like just going back to 26″ wheels. The rim diameter is only 25mm greater than 26″ so it’s really not that big a difference.

IMHO – if they had arrived at the same time as 29ers I would guess that 650b could have become the system that dominated. This is just my opinion. Now that the big boys and even some of the mid size boys have taken on 29er so heavily it would seem VERY unlikley that they would add/shift to a new wheel size.

If 650b had been proposed at same time as 29er I think the fact that it incorporates some of the rolling benefit of big wheels while at the same time being easier for frame designers to create new frames for.

Aren’t the 650b rims fairly widely used for utility/everyday bikes in a lot of countries so I think the rims will be around for a long time. Probably just tyres/tubes for off road riding that may disappear or at least remain difficult to find.

a 26″er with normal chainstays (430mm ish) and a decent reach is getting close to the practical limit of what you can manual

Tries not to laugh too hard.

Bikes with chainstays a lot longer than that can be manualed by anyone that knows how to ride.
Besides that there’s quite a few full sized wheel bikes with chainstays shorter than 430mm. So getting a 650b frame with equaly short stays should be quite easy.

Ayatollahofniche – Member

Ahwiles you’re talking crap about manualing with big wheels!

that’s a bit strong! – i was mostly asking a question…

my bmx is dead easy to manual – just move back and up comes the front wheel.

my hardtail 26er has 430mm chainstays – needs a bit of a shove to help it.

i had a Dh bike with 470mm chainstays – and i simply couldn’t manual it.

so where does a 29er / 650b’er fit in? – the chainstays must be a bit longer than a 26er, is it enough to notice?

so there – sod off.

i had a Dh bike with 470mm chainstays – and i simply couldn’t manual it.

I’d say that was more to do with the rear suss than the chainstay length.

i’ve got a friend who can do no-handed wheelies, and coaster-manuals till next wednesday.

he couldn’t work his magic on my Dh bike either.

(he’s a darnhiller with an elite racing licence)

that’s a bit strong! – i was mostly asking a question…

my bmx is dead easy to manual – just move back and up comes the front wheel.

my hardtail 26er has 430mm chainstays – needs a bit of a shove to help it.

i had a Dh bike with 470mm chainstays – and i simply couldn’t manual it.

so where does a 29er / 650b’er fit in? – the chainstays must be a bit longer than a 26er, is it enough to notice?

so there – sod off.

430 is pretty long for a 26″ wheel bike, as Stu said, you can get some 29″ wheel frames with chainstays that length. Most 29ers have around 445-450 chainstays.

chainstay length (and bb drop) definitely do have an effect on ‘wheelie-abbility’ though it’s certainly not impossible on a 29er.

As this thread’s about 650b’s though, as the wheel diameter is only 25mm larger, the chainstay length only need be 12.5mm longer, which can be designed around if short chainstays are you thing. Personally I think short chainstays are over rated.

I think it’s also got a lot to do with rider size. Manual-ing is about moving your body’s centre of gravity in relation to the wheels. This is more difficult for a short rider to do on a big bike than vice versa.

Sorry, missed the ? At the end.
I managed to flip my 660b IF over a few weeks back land on my slr, cracking my ribs and the lens. Too easy to manual if you ask me! Although after a week laying in the car I should have checked my rear brake before performing said manual!

thankyou, a sensible answer.

only a few more like that and i’ll remove you from my ‘seems like git’ list.

X

I wouldn’t bother……. I am a to55er

🙂

Oh my God … Ahwiles it’s obvious that you don’t realise who you’re addressing 😉

Ayatollahofniche – Member

I wouldn’t bother……. I am a to55er

It’s true you know he does like to toss of other mantwigs.

Fu*k I wish you hadn’t said that Stu … that’s one to many scary visions I’ve now got in my head, ta.

Points and laughs 🙂

Who’s being rude now

I know at least two people who like 650b and one of them would have no idea what chainstay length would be.

Yeah alright KOS, no need to tell everyone!