mbliven

I am purchasing a touring bike with S&S frame couplers. I already have two S&S hard-sided travel cases for our tandem, which has 26" wheels and 1.4" tires. Those wheels fit easily in the S&S cases. My question is whether or not I can expect 650B wheels with similar size tires to also fit, without taking off the tires? I would prefer 650B wheels on the touring bike, for better ride comfort and other advantages, but the frame maker insists the 650B wheels won't fit. I know there may be some advantage to also selecting 26" wheels for the touring bike (same as the tandem), but I would like to settle the fit question. Does anyone have any experience and can share some advice? Thanks!

Tourist in MSN

I do not have 650b experience. I think you need to carefully measure your case inside dimensions with as much precision as possible. The stiffer the case, the more important precision is.

Before I bought my S&S bike frame (26 inch wheel model), I had a lengthy conversation with a Co-Motion Americano (700c bike) bike owner that had S&S couplers, he said that the tires had to come off and that the rims had to be set at a slight angle to fit. And I think he used a hard case. A 700c rim has a bead seat diameter of 622mm, if you assume that the rim has an extra 10mm of sidewall to hold the tire in (it probably is less than 10mm), a 700c wheel without tire would be 642mm in diameter, or 25.28 inches. Thus, his case was probably smaller than 25 1/4 inches across inside.

Same calculation for 650b, 584mm bead seat diameter, plus 20mm (20mm is probably an exaggeration), is 604 mm diameter, or 23.78 inches. Adding the tire, depends on size, tread thickness, tread stiffness, etc.

I use the S&S Backpack case for my bike, the sides of the case have a bit of give and I suspect that it would fit better in such a case than in a hard case. I deflate my tires when I pack it, they are 57mm wide and I need to deflate them to fit it in.

Co-Motion makes a 650b touring bike with S&S, call and ask them how well the wheel fits and with what size tire you plan to use. I do not have a Co-Motion bike, I mention them because I know they make a 650b with S&S.

pdlamb

The rim will certainly fit, since it's 38 mm smaller diameter than the 700C (622 mm) rims on my bike. You may or may not need to unmount one or both tires, depending on what size (and model) you run. I just squeeze my back tire in the bottom, but I've learned that if I take the tire off the front rim (away from the stem) and put the stem toward the hinges, TSA doesn't pull the compression struts out when they open the case.