shoota 

I give up. lol

Chris(NJ)

McMitchell

Danny01

I have a steel gravel bike with two wheelsets. I use it for gravel/road touring in the warmer months and as a road bike in the colder/wetter months. One pair of wheels has 700c HED Belgium+ rims, 28x Sapim Lasers front and rear laced to WI CLD hubs. Tires are Schwalbe G One Microskin 35mm. The second wheelset are Velocity Aileron 650b, 32x Sapim Race spokes laced to WI CLD hubs. Tires are Schwalbe G One Microskin 38mm. Both are set up tubeless. I had the HED wheels first, however they weren't great for when I went touring. They would make noises like a broken spoke, even though the spokes seemed fine. Made me nervous with the heavy load, heavy braking and rough gravel roads on 28 aggressively butted spokes. (Sapim does not recommend Lasers for disc brakes, however I have zero issues when not loaded down) I now use this wheelset for everything other than loaded touring. The 650b wheels are used for touring and the ride is much stiffer. With 36 thick and short(that's what she said) spokes, there are no more disconcerting noises when heavily loaded. These wheels with the 38mm tires definitely feel slower though.

I also have a road bike with Zipp 404 FC. These are rim brake, so when the weather gets nasty or there is salt all over the roads, I use the gravel bike for road rides with the 700c wheels for the disc brakes and wider, tubeless tires. Getting back on the road bike always makes me feel like I'm flying.

I like having a road bike and gravel bike and 2 sets of wheels on the gravel bike. Yeah, it is more money but it's a one time expense... at least until the itch hits.

If you dont tour, I don't see a point in having 2 wheelsets for the gravel bike.

shoota 

As would 99% of people. The other 1% post in this forum.

chas58

Clothing: Toes for me are the biggest problem. I have neoprene toe covers, and full shoe covers. I have a "rain" cap I can put over my well ventilated helmet - that and a head band for my ears. Merino (or similar) wool wicks, breathes, insulates and keeps me warm. I wear 1 or 2 "salvation army" merino wool sweaters to cover any conditions. If its real cold, I'll wear ski goggles. Oh yeah, my water bottle freezes if its too cold.

I've made non tubeless tires and wheels tubeless, using skinny strippers to ensure it doesn't have a catastrophic burp. I like G-Ones in the winter. Seems to me that tires with side knobs give me the biggest benefit when I'm trying to steer out of a rut.

chas58

Glad you found it. It is an interesting term to google for (especially the original name "fattystripper". Most of the search results are blocked at work. ;-)

I originally used these to go getto tubless (before I was sold on tubless). But even for a good tubless set up, the elimitate most all of the problems I hear people complaining about - making removal, tire swapping easier, eliminating burping and any mess. Super cheap insurance.

@Noonievut (OP) Keep in mind if you have 2+ tubless wheelsets - you need to keep all wheels regularly rotated or your sealant will pool and dry at the bottom of the unused tire.

Hmmm

Quick question to all you 650b users: Once you go 650b for off road riding/all road riding, is there ever any going back to 700c?

Chris(NJ)

Happy Feet

One would think the purpose of going 650b is to run bigger tires (unless you are physically too small for 700c) so the BB should be roughly the same height if you do that. There's a chart somewhere on the net that shows what 650b tire size equals various 700c sizes. Basically, a 650b with a 44mm tire is equal to a 700c with a 25mm tire.

Here it is: BikeCalc.com - How to calculate Bicycle Wheel Size

The bigger issue is brake reach from 700c to 650b. If you are running disc no problem but you may need a different caliper if the reach isn't long enough on a road bike. Once you have gone to that trouble you may not wish to revert back to 700c if you tossed or sold the originals.

McMitchell

McMitchell

Danny01

I like both. Big tires on 650b rims feels noticably slower to me. I don't think I need to mention why I like 650b considering the thread.

Noonievut

McMitchell

Elvo

You use 650B so you can use wider tires that your frame geometry will not let you use in 29" due to lack of clearance, toe overlap, gearing, or excessive bottom bracket height. The wider 650B tires typically have more volume than narrower 29" tires at the same height so you can run lower pressures especially with tubeless. But you have to be mindful about tire clearance and minimum bottom bracket height.

Metieval

if you have to ask why you need something (650), you probably don't need it.

chas58

I'm not too keen on droping my BB height, as i tend to smack my pedals. But a 54mm 650b has roughly the same diameter as your 40mm nanos. Thunder Burt looks to be a good choice for me. I found some 700c TBs on sale, and put them on my bike - because hey - our forks have a lot of clearance these days. It made the bike ride too much like a mountain bike for my tastes - although it is super fun on single track and rough/soft conditions. It tended to slow the bike's responses down (more trail?) which is good. I then tried a 2.0" Furious Fred - and that gave me everything. Super fast and responsive, lots of cush (I need about 27psi in it to get the same width contact patch as in my 40mm @ ~40psi). No BB height problems. I think 650b is good if you must really go wide and don't care about weight/acceleration/climibing. But most people will get what they want just putting a fatter front tire on their bike.

McMitchell

McMitchell

McMitchell

chas58

For what it is worth, companies like Continental don't think tubeless is worth it below ~30mm. They don't make tubless in those sizes. There is a good argument to make that there is no benefit in weight, or rolling resistance in those sizes, and certainly it is super easy to change a tube in a traditional tire rather than the stiff and super tight beads tubeless tires have (and the semi-annual maintenance). I do get occasional pinch flats if I take a tire that small off road (or sometimes just with the potholes around here on the roads).

chas58

Yeah, that was me. I was reminded of that again last night (photos posted in photo thread). I'm riding along at speed (20-25mph) on "gravel" roads that this time of year are almost velodrome smooth (well, my bike helps a bit too), then we get to an asphalt patch and its all chuncky cracked patched and messy. Yeah, our gravel has some rough spots at turns and intersections (washboard, divots, real gravel), but it can be super smooth for a long stretch.

They put some kind of nasty oil mixture down around here (to keep the dust down), but it makes for a pretty smooth ride in the right conditions (summer/fall).

Happy Feet

Noonievut