ehcoplex 

That was the most seriously arduous fender fit ever. I think I may have done permanent damage to my carpometacarpal joints 'massaging' the radii, and I must have mounted/unmounted the wheels and fenders, oh, at least ten times!

52telecaster

A minnehaha bag by banjo brothers. Excellent bags.

beicster 

That is what I thought. I have the smaller seat bag and I like it. I’d like to have one of those bigger ones. I haven’t been able to find one anywhere.

52telecaster

I looked for them after you asked and I don't think they make them anymore. A real shame.

ehcoplex 

Aw man, you just missed an Acorn Bags restock today- they sell in minutes. Really nicely made bags (not cheap, though). Might be worth getting on their mailing list- they restock every three months or so....

seagrade 

Having capitulated from riding in the face of an adverse weather forecast I eroded much of a midweek afternoon off to prove a lingering concept. Picked up some 48-61mm Gran Compe 610 centrepulls a year or two ago thinking they could almost reach a 650b rim on a close clearance mid 90s Italian racing frame. My c. 1997 Bianchi TSX barely clears GP5000 25mm front and 28mm rear under short reach sidepulls with pads near the top of the 39-49mm slots. Sure enough the GC brakes will reach the 650b rims, although I’d need to downsize tyres from c. 42mm to more like 38mm for chainstay and fork blade clearance. Also drops the bb from c. 274mm to c. 267mm for the 42s, so maybe 263mm for 38s. Getting low…

The frame although perhaps ideal with numerous touch-ups and chrome under almost all the paint is to my mind still too good to expose to the mercy of local gravel, to say nothing of breaking the 700c lineage back to at least Felice if not Fausto.

Now a close-clearance Merckx, Moser Leader AX, Gazelle or Masi in a more tired condition could be a different story.

cooperryder

This is my 1978 UO10 Peugeot converted to 650b.

It's a great riding bike although not very lightweight.
So far I've ridden it up to 40 miles in comfort.

Tires are smooth tread Panaracer Gravel Kings in 650b x 42 on Velocity Dyad rims.

I did a thread on this bike here.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...l#post22955168

nlerner

Just saw these nutted brakes available on AliExpress:

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2255800338426691.html

90mm of reach! Convert your 27" wheeled road bike to 650B!

amedias

Tektro 900A is another option at 92mm max reach, and they're a dual pivot brake. They normally retail here in the UK for about £25, so a bit more expensive than the above link, but not really mega-bucks!

https://www.tektro.com/index.php/en/product/49

I've not used the Ali Express ones above but the 900A is 'acceptable' performance wise, it's never going to be great at that reach, but DP Vs SP helps.

BTinNYC 

One more photo because I like this bike!
32 mm GP 5000s at 72 psi...such a comfortable ride.

arsprod 

I'm on my 3rd set of tires trying to get something narrow enough to fit on the rear. The last set was Panaracer Gravelking 27.5 x 1.75 - too fat. I'm wondering at what point the tires are too narrow for the benefit of cushier 650's. I've got about 46mm space in the rear, currently have 700x40. Any advice?

ehcoplex 

Hmm- you can fit 700x40, but going to 650B and 1.75" (44.45mm) won't fit? I wouldn't think it worth what a conversion requires for a gain of less than 4mm... But 40mm should get you a darn cushy ride. Tire quality/suppleness is (almost?) as important as width- I've got some Rene Herse 700 x 35c tires on one bike that are as cushy as the cheapish 650b x 42c tires on another..

arsprod 

Yeah, good point. Schwalbe Marathon Supremes currently - great tires but not what I'd call cushy! Minimum tire pressure says 50psi

ThermionicScott 

Minimum, schminimum. Use one of those online tire pressure calculators to figure out what you ought to use for your weight. If a tire lists a minimum pressure, I'm pretty much always under that in front.

arsprod 

Minimum, schminimum, my new favorite phrase!

mountaindave 

Depends on your goals. My personal minimum is 38mm tires for road, 48 for dedicated gravel - though I much prefer super supple 52mm. (I did set up my kid’s C’dale with 32mm 650b‘s, but that was better than 25mm 700c‘s and they weighed under 100 lbs, bike included.)

A few of my conversions are from late 80’s road bikes that can barely fit 28mm 700c tires (one can’t even do that) to get 38mm 650b tires to fit - no fenders.

The other conversions are older sport tourers that could do 32-35mm 700c tires, but I can now do 38mm 650b’s with fenders. With chain stay indents I can sometimes go to 42mm.

ThermionicScott 

What bike is this, by the way? One thing that helps when converting older frames to 650B is that the chainstay clearance usually opens up as you move backward. But the chainstays on some newer bikes are already manipulated to maximize tire clearance with the intended 700C wheels, so going to 650B wheels is just a lateral move. If I had such a frame, I'd probably just pick some supple 32-42mm 700C tires and call it a day.

arsprod 

2014 Fairdale Weekender, same dimensions of that vintage Surly Disc Trucker (before they put 26" wheels on them). Here's a pic of the clearance with 700x40 and I think you're right, 650B's not giving me any more clearance. Time for a new bike!

seagrade 

Persevered with the 650b-ianchi concept and got it on the road for a couple of hours this arvo. Rides pretty well with no unwelcome traits at this early stage, although the low bb is never far from consciousness. Yet to test it climbing and descending but spring started yesterday in the southern hemisphere so there’s plenty of time to come for that.

First time I’ve used centrepull brakes and there’s not much bite in them. A little more wear to the pads may help but compressionless housing is probably not far away, followed by some research into leverage ratios and such. Coming from a road sidepull/dual pivot background I’m accustomed to all levers working well enough with all calipers…

Beyond that a 170mm crankset to replace the 175 Chorus on it now could be worth a try, especially if I can track down a Victory with something like 35/50 chainrings. The rear cassette is 10-speed 13-29 but with down tube friction shifters to maintain the classic theme…

mountaindave 

Nice work!!

Centerpull brakes can take some dailing in.

What rims and tire size are you sporting? I’ve not heard of Grand Prix 5000 in 650b.

BTinNYC 

The 650b 32mm GPs are plush!

The bad news is I could only find 32mm in Tubeless Ready, and they were a horrible bear to mount on standard clincher rims. Pumped these nice little tires to a ridiculous 115 pounds before they seated. 😱

The rims on that Bianchi look a lot newer and are probably TR.

seagrade 

Cheers thanks.

Centrepulls are uncharted territory for me. I couldn’t find anything online to say some other lever than the TRP RRL SR I’m using would greatly increase braking power, so for now I’ll tinker with settings, further wear them in, and perhaps try compressionless housing…

The tyres are Conti GP5000 TLR 650b 32mm and were indeed a chore to fit on silver anodised 650b Velocity Quill tubeless-compatible rims. Three tyre levers and a tube were sacrificed in the process. I have some thin Kapton tape coming to replace the thicker Ritchey rim strips. Hopefully that will allow a repair in the field as and when the time comes…

ehcoplex 

I've got Rene Herse tires on a couple bikes that were an absolute NIGHTMARE to get mounted- soap & water, high/fast pressure (and a couple blown tubes...), mangled tire irons, very sore hands from kneading-pulling-pushing-squeezing-prodding, multiple types of rim tape tried.... The good thing is that they stretch out some with riding- I've since moved the tires to different wheel sets and it was much, much easier the second time around!

Piff 

You might try some vintage Shimano SLR brake levers, they should have a higher mechanical advantage to your more modern ones. Note, I'm not talking abouting 'Super SLR' brake levers.

Look for Shimano brake lever models: 6400, 1055, A451. There are probably others too. I believe the 7400 dura ace models are also SLR brakes.

Classtime 

I had a pair of those Grand Cru centerpulls and was not impressed and I used Cane Creek levers. I think my Vainqueur 999 work better with Weinmann levers.