Originally Posted by
RiddleOfSteel
I agree that a proper 650B setup would help me take advantage of the svelte 510's frame weight (remember, we're talking 25.5" / 65cm here) and flex. I'd have to put up with crummy braking, which I'm disinclined to do (and have been for a long while). Lucky that you can get 35mm tires on your 710! I'm 32mm max, or 30mm with the Tektro dual pivot calipers on there now.
As far as MTBs, that would be a decent idea if some critical things were met, chief among them being 1) they made it in a tall enough size 2) they didn't look absolutely hideous in their largest sizes 3) they didn't weigh a million pounds. I stick to touring bikes as they look great in all sizes, especially in the very tall sizes that I ride, and they normally don't weigh a ton. I'm going to have to peruse @
JaccoW 's 66cm Miyata threads again to see how large a tire he has fit or could fit. I really may have to get one of those things over here...
There is also the (fun) consideration, with regard to 650Bs, that big tires on a big 700C wheel mean one can
really roll over things a la "29er" MTB's. I dig that, and a super tall touring frame with large rubber just has this boss look to it. I dig that. Big likes big. I'm way too tall for exotic sports cars, but I fit in a big Lexus or '60s Cadillac just fine, and really really dig on the big land yachts. Stately, confident, powerful. I can rock that.
The Koga-Miyata Traveller is currently comfortably sitting on 40x622 tyres and I could probably fit 50mm ones in the front. Which actually sounds like fun. But if I were to go for supple lightweight tyres...
42
I keep coming back to the thought of trying 650B but one thing I have come to realize these past years is that the 650B rimbrake wheel is slowly disappearing.
I'm pretty sure the disc brake version will stay around for a while, at the very least because there have been a large amount of MTBs made with them, but silver rim brake rims? Those are disappearing.
And 42x622 is already pretty baloony when it comes to tyres.
And if you really want bigger, why not the
44-622 René Herse Snoqualmie Pass tires, the
45-622 Schwalbe G-One Allround Evolution line or the weird looking
42-622 Ultradynamico CAVA Race?
EDIT: I have dealt with tyres that
just fitted in a frame and it always ended up in headaches. Because it's virtually never the front wheel that gets hit and goes out of alignment but always the more critical rear wheel. The Batavus Randonneur GL for example can fit 38-622 tyres with fenders but became impossible to ride once I hit a pothole. And I have seen tyres that ate straight through aluminum frames over a very short distance. Steel does a little bit better but not by much.