davei1980

Those SOUND AMAZING!!

The problem is, the frame I am working on is an early 90s, double butted crmo frame with some paint chips which I got from my brother for some work I did on his bike. Nothing cool or amazing or high end, just kinda cool and unique to me. so I don't really want to put "lipstick on a pig".

The frame should fit me just fine with smaller wheels, hence the search.

Does that make any sense?

JohnDThompson 

Yes, the TS Isaac bikes we have were built in Boulder CO in the late 70s. My wife's is pictured above. Here's mine, which was one of the frames he built for the 1980 US Olympic cycling team:

noglider 

Those wheels sound perfect for your bike.

tinkerbike

Doesn't appear to be very much tire clearance in that unicrown fork. You'd want somewhere around 43mm clearance at 320mm from the axle center if you're going to fit 650x38B tires. Smaller 650B tires aren't worth the effort, in my opinion.

Ed.

davei1980

You're correct - my brother once tried 26x1.5 (very close to 38mm wide) tires and they did not fit. I was thinking 650x34b. The goal is not so much to get a wider tire but get the bike lower to the ground by a little bit. I am not Totally positive those will fit unless either, I will have to measure.

I had my mind all made up to put 26 x 1.25s on it like my brother had it, I found some used wheels and they turned out to be a bust: bent axles, just crappy. Now I am back to 650b thinking but, you're right, should measure some more before sinking any more $ in to it.

tinkerbike

If the frame doesn't really fit, trying to make it lower to the ground with 650B wheels will yield a small change. It will only give you 10-15mm more stand-over clearance.

I think you'd be better off selling that frame and buying something that fits you - and maybe that bike or frame would be a better 650B conversion too.

davei1980

I think deep down I know you're probably correct. The problem is, as is the case with transactions with family, is Sam gave me this frame knowing that I could get joy out of building/riding it. I would feel bad just cashing out, I would probably just turn it back over to him. So, at this point, it's either figure it out of give up on it.

It DOES look neat hanging on the wall in my garage at the moment and that brings me joy!

I do think you're right: this is a 58cm frame. I have a 49 cm at home that's way to small and a 54 that's just about right with 700c's and a 110mm stem. I think a 56 w/ 650b's and a short stem would be way cool.

bikemig 

Very nice; I have a PR 10 that would make a good platform for this kind of conversion . . . .

bikemig 

Very nice. I have a 1979 Trek 510 that I'm thinking of using for a 650b build. Your build is giving me some ideas . . .

USAZorro

The options are a bit scarcer, but not absent. Col de la Vie's are quite nice tires that really don't sacrifice much in the way of performance, while providing a smooth ride over many surfaces.

agmetal

Here's my frankensteined 1974 Raleigh Professional MkIV with 9-speed Ultegra components. I originally built it up with 700C CR18s and 28mm Pasela PTs with Tektro R539s, and really enjoyed the ride other than how it felt like a skittish skinny-tire bike compared to my usual 35mm tires on the rest of my bikes, on rough Boston-area roads. So far, I've only done a couple short test rides with cold wet roads, but my initial impressions are mixed - mostly having to do with the noticeable difference in brake response with the R559s and pads all the way at the bottom of the slots, and I'm also slightly concerned about how much the bike was lowered, since the widest tires I could fit were 38s...but at least I'm not the type to pedal through corners.
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mountaindave 

Wow, you really are at your min tire clearance. Interesting comment about the Tektro 559’s, I haven’t noticed a significant difference in braking when changing out short reach side pulls.

agmetal

I'm hoping it'll improve as the pads bed into these rims a bit...and I've used these levers with 559s before, so I'm surprised that they felt so different.

seat_boy

Here's my 1981ish Fuji America with GB Hetres:



Good clearance up front, but they barely fit at the chainstays. Anyways, a nice, smooth rider.

For the wheels, I didn't want to spend much, but wanted to avoid the Zac19 rims from ebay (too many negative reports for tire mounting). Instead, for about $100, I got a pair of Alex1000 wheels from Niagara cycles. The rims turned out to work fine, but the advertised 130mm hub was actually 135mm. I wondered why the rear wheel was so hard to install, until I measured it. I ended up cutting down the axle and redishing the wheel. Sounds hard, but only took about 20 minutes.

teejaythomas

Nice.

teejaythomas

Sweet. Love it.

Jmclay

I've been using automotive urethanes for the past 10 or 15 years but on my most recent frame I decided to try Rustoleum, “Stops Rust” alkyd oil with no clear. I'm no hotshot painter but am pleased with the results. Where I got everything right it was plenty glossy; where not, less so but still OK for my non-contest purposes. Being new to this list I can't post links yet but if you search Flickr for jmedclay photos and look at the “Fork Raking” album you'll see the results of 50% Kubota Orange and 50% Sunburst Yellow. It's not as durable as the urethanes but that frame has maybe $5 worth of paint on it. In urethane the material cost would have been north of $100. They have the stuff in rattle cans too and a local guy has gotten fine results with it.

You can get a very nice looking frame with some elbow grease and a fraction of the cost of a professional urethane paint job.

John Clay
Tallahassee, Florida

MeatloafOvadose

Here is my Grand Jubile

650B Grand Jubile by Ryan Silva, on Flickr

VintageRide

Although I have posted this '81 Fuji S12S in other threads one more will not hurt.

abshipp 

Here's my work in progress:

1985 Schwinn Tempo
New powder coat
Velocity Atlas rear, Synergy front
38mm Pacenti Pari-Motos

Tektro R559 arriving tomorrow.

Looks like I'll still have room for 45mm fenders!

gugie 

Most of the 650b mods I do are on early 70's frames that have practically nothing brazed on. They work well due to the bigger clearances built BITD. I often skip the chainstay bridge mod, with horizontal dropouts I find the @nlerner cork method works well - you can push the tire against the fender, the cork squishes down a bit to allow the rear axle to clear the dropout

Besides, it's kinda hidden.

Here's a price list from Norther Cycles in Portland for frame mods, just to give you an idea.

abshipp 

Threw the brakes on yesterday and finally finished my conversion:

1985 Schwinn Tempo - 25"
Velocity Atlas Rear w/Velocity hub
Velocity Synergy Front w/Tiagra hub
Pacenti Pari-Moto 38C - actual measurements on rims 37.2mm
Tektro R559 brakes
12-28 8 speed cassette
Suntour 6-speed shifters in friction
Suntour derailleur of unknown model, label fell off years ago and I have never researched it further.

First neighborhood ride impressions:

Still feels as quick and lively as with 700x25 Veloflex Master clinchers. Nice and smooth ride. Tons of grip! I'm shocked at how planted this bike feels. The drop in height is more noticeable than I thought it would be, but it shouldn't take long to get used to.

~2mm tire clearance on each side of the chainstay. Plenty of room for fenders at the fork, although i'm limited to 45mm wide fenders without dimpling the front fender. As is typical, I won't be able to extend the fender down through the chainstays, I will have to have full coverage end at the top of the chainstay, but that should be okay with me. I don't ride in a super wet area, so the bottom bracket won't get soaked all the time.

eom 

Well done!

noglider 

@abshipp that's really nice. Coasting through tight turns isn't hard to learn.

brockd15 

Yes, that it super nice.