Originally Posted by
corwin1968
I just can't get those 650b conversions out of my mind. A 700c sized bike with fat-tired 650b wheels just looks so proportionally right to me. I don't have it on this computer but I have an image someone took of two identical frames, one with either skinny 700c's or 27" wheels and the other with 40'ish mm 650b's and the difference is astounding. It really makes me want to get a 650b bicycle and reading Jan Heinie's constant praise of the 42mm/650b combo doesn't help any.
My experiment with '90ish Schwinn Frontier wheels (40-584, steel rims, nutted hubs) on an '84 Raleigh (USA) Record frame was a lot of fun. The biggest impression was that it was very confident and predictable. I've tried the same wheels on a '75 Grand Prix, but the steering seems somehow too fast - sounds weird probably, but that's how it comes to mind to describe it. Brake reach is interesting, too - I recall measuring about 100m brake reach for one wheel on the Grand Prix 650b experiment, which I managed with some BMX brakes and is more than is claimed for either the R559s or the long-reach Dia Compe U brakes.