Yup, and you typically gain room for fenders on a bike that doesn’t have room over decently fat 27”/700C’s. I use short reach calipers with 700’s (pads at the bottom of the slots), and Tektro 556 calipers (early version of the 559’s now available) with 650’s.

The 650Bx38’s on my Marinoni, installed for about 1,000 miles so far this year, are noticeably more comfortable on Seattle’s crappy pavement and just a touch more “relaxed” feeling compared to the 700x32’s also used in this bike. Here’s the 650B setup without the fenders for best visual comparison:
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-...-8wbQpM3-L.jpg

And with 700x32’s:
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-...-QcggPxm-L.jpg

That's it!

Thank you !

And now you're selling it on eBay?

Yes, I am. I've decided to move it on.

It's a gorgeous bike. GLWS.

Love the build and the color scheme. The all silver with the tan walls and the dark leather bits...unreal!

You weren't asking me, but I also have this fork and wanted to add to what @amedias said. Very nice fork, build quality seems great, looks excellent in person, rides nicely.

The only thing I really don't get is the bottom of the crown / steerer area. The steerer comes down quite a bit under the bottom of the crown which leaves very little room for a fender and decent sized tires. I'm currently running a 35c tire without fenders and there is about 4mm of gap between the bottom of the crown/steerer. I doubt I could run a 32c tires with a fender...or it would be super tight.

Still a great fork for the price (even though they raised it this year by ~$30)

I really appreciate going color-coded with the stem and seatpost on a vintage bike. That sort of aesthetic has been fairly exclusive to modern carbon bikes and apart from a dark/black anodized seatpost and stem on a black vintage bike (or some crazy custom painted custom or Italian bike), this has been absent the vintage bike scene. Not that rocking silver componentry is bad, since so much of it is beautiful, but sneaking in some modernity gives us the chance to evaluate things. The black headset is a good choice, IMO. And as always, a modern groupset, certainly in silver, looks great on this bike.

@branko_76, as I think you know, the bead seat diameter (BSD) of a rim and tire does not have leeway. Your tire's BSD must match your rim's BSD.

Switching from 700c or 27" wheels to 650b can often get you wheels whose outside diameters (including the inflated tire) are very close to original. Sometimes the handling changes a bit, and sometimes it doesn't. In the case of my conversion, my outer diameter is slightly less, so my bike stands a little closer to the ground. But having wide tires at low pressure is a pleasure. It added a bit of weight, but I don't mind. I think I've figured out the handling weirdness. It tends to oversteer, i.e. it pulls the bike in the direction I'm turning a bit harder than I expect. And the solution is to figure out the ideal pressure for the front tire. I'm experimenting with that now.

Sneaking in another image of the Fuji S12S, might inspire someone to convert one of these as it will take 42mm with fenders and enough room to spare. I might have it stripped down and have canti as well as rack mounts brazed in place but the bike is fine as is though a nice paint job and new decals would be welcome it is a pleasant daily rider.


I disabled the Campy ergo shifters and went with traditional down tube mounted Suntour Power Shift and looking into a pair of Origin8 brake levers.



https://i.imgur.com/IQ2shyuh.jpg

That looks every bit as nice as the Trek "Frek" bike, very well suited to the 650B conversion. Nice job! I need to get started on my Motobecane Grand Tourer 650B project soon: Gold frame with black accents, black V.O. Zeppelin fenders, black SOMA Oxford handlebar (mounted upside-down, natch), black Brooks Professional saddle, and black drillium V.O. double crankset. Not sure about the rest of the drivetrain yet, or the grips, so TBD. When it built itself in my mind it looked stunning! I hope the reality lives up to the vision.
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I've heard that
28=29er=622
650b=27.5=584

So... It means that

• 27" is larger than 27.5" by 46mm?
• 27" is larger than 28" by 8mm?

Am I getting this right?
🤦🏻😂


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Yup, that’s right. And to add to the confusion:

26” = 559mm
26” = 650A = EA3 = 590mm
26” = EA1 = 597mm

Sequoia 650b Dinner Cruise
 

Took Sequoia out on a dinner cruise last night - Taco Tuesday at the Mississippi Pub. I'm including both color and B&W images here, because they both turned out very nice.

Coming:

https://i.imgur.com/N3fHrt1.png

https://i.imgur.com/Rzzngdo.png

Going:

https://i.imgur.com/relfSDz.png

https://i.imgur.com/T2DJjpX.png

... and the tacos were excellent too.
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Progress on my budget 650b swapped '82 Team Fuji ($50)
Cycles Toussaint 650b wheelset ($245 shipped)
Soma Grand Randonneur tires 42mm ($80)
Sram PG970 11-32 9 speed cassette ($28)
Ultegra long cage rd (free),
Tektro 559 rim brakes and Levers ($110)
Nitto Olympiade B115 drop bars ($5)
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2803c311c0.jpg
Fresh out of a barn
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9408d5131f.jpg
First ride, nothing fell off.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...315b77ef30.jpg
Plotting next steps

Those wheels look like a great deal.

Nice bike,
interested in parting with those front and rear reflectors and brackets?

Indeed. Was thinking about having a wheelset made before finding these. Cycles Toussaint is in Alberta Canada and makes a low trail 650b based steel frame bike kit for a fair price. The wheels have Chosen hubs, sealed bearings, 18mm width and double walls. For a build that's all about getting more time in on mixed terrain and exploring the world of wider tires, they're a great entry point. $169 retail, $75 for freight and tax to the USA.

Possibly. The brackets weigh a ton. Sadly, I dropped one. The plastic reflectors are fairly brittle from age and it broke.I boxed up everything I removed with the intent of possibly returning it back to stock in order to rehome it if/when I found a another 650b project... Let me think about it.

It's a cold rainy day in North Central Texas so I'm not braving a ride today but it's a good day to peruse threads on bikeforums.net.

I thought I'd add my 650b conversion from about 7 months ago.

1978 Peugeot UO10 .

Although not a high end frame and of straight gauge steel, I think, this bike puts a smile on my face each ride. It's just fun.

Peugeot had a knack for cool decals.

I've done up to 40 miles on it in great comfort.

Tires are Gravel King smooth tread 650b x 42.
I like those tires and they are a decent price point.

Dyad rims on some basic Shimano hubs.

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https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...377ff20bab.jpg

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https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...624eb49976.jpg

Also Schwinn middleweights. They take a 571 BSD wheel and tire stock, but since the 584 BSD of the 650b is close, they make nice wheels for those as well, with a lot of wonderful tire choices

1974 Gitane TdF 650B Build
 

I've still got some tweaking to do before tearing it all apart and working on the paint, but I couldn't resist taking my 1974 Gitane TdF 650b conversion on a short shakedown ride today. The bike came to me as an unloved auction-site frame, and has been built up a mix of parts from my first Gitane TdF build from 40+ years ago, and some shiny parts that have been borrowed from my 1986 Raleigh Portage build. I'm very pleased with the ride quality, and can't wait to start racking up the miles on it. The job I did on the bar tape is kind of a mess, but it will probably do until I can find a better replacement.

Most of the parts used in the build are probably obvious to this group, but I'll happily share the list if anyone is interested in what I used for the build. Unlike my 1972 Gitane TdF build from 2011, the only significant mods I did to the frameset were the brazed in stem tube for the Rene Herse stem, and adding rack mounts on the fork (both of which are reversible). I also modified the Rene Herse M-13 rack to work with Mafac Raid centerpull brakes, and resurrected the Soubitez taillight and Radios No. 16 headlight to use modern B&M led internals.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...70622e443.jpeg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bdb8d5238.jpeg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e73d2e83c.jpeg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b55dafa11.jpeg

Wow, there’s so much to unpack here, [mention]lutemake3[/mention]. This bike deserves its own build thread (if it doesn’t have one already. The lights themselves could be a thread (that I would readily consume!).

I love the aesthetic - it’s a great modification of a classic French racing frame that still embodies the speed of a fast randonneuse.

Félicitations!