Catnap 

I'm thinking of converting my 26" - wheeled Surly Long Haul Trucker to 650B wheels. However, after reading the Velo Orange article on the subject, i'm wondering if it would make any noticeable difference at all.

The reason I want to try 650B is because while the LHT is great for loaded touring and general hauling of stuff, it feels slow and "spinny" when I try to get it moving faster than a casual pace. I was hoping 650B wheels might make it a bit faster on the acceleration without compromising the stability and hauling capacity.

From the research I've done, I've mostly seen positive things about converting a 26" wheeled LHT to 650B, but the Velo Orange article made me think that I might be switching one set of wheels for essentially the same thing.

Currently, I'm running 26" wheels with Schwalbe Marathon Supreme tires, which are two inches / 51mm in width. This means the outside diameter (according to the VO article) is 665mm.

If I switched to to 650B wheels with Grand Bois Hetre tires (42mm width), what would the outside diameter be? I couldn't find a formula to calculate this.

repechage

With decent miles in my legs I never had a problem keeping up with a pace line while on my mtb. wearing slicks. And made a few riders blow a gasket while going up hills. Nothing seems to make an aspiring road racer feel worse than a guy in a mtb. beating them up a hill. I have not purchased road going tires in a 26" size recently at all. If I remember the Schwalbes are not a "preformance" tire, more commuting. I think tires would possibly make more of a difference than rime diameter. The options for "preformance" tires in 650b seems to be growing.

illwafer

you will probably be disappointed going from 26 to 650b. however, if you have another bike (like a 700c) that you would like to convert too, why not buy a wheelset and play mix n match and see what you like?

sykerocker 

I've done both sides on a road setup, although not with the same bike. A couple of years ago, I had a Bianchi Nyala that I ran 26x1.95 street tyres on as a heavy tourer - and was rather disappointed with the results. The bike felt slow, heavy handling, and definitely inferior to my main tourer, a Dutch Magneet running the Kenda 27x1-3/8" damned near cyclocross tyres. More recently, I put a GT Tachyon (which is supposedly a touring mountain bike, a classification that obviously never took off) on the road, using 650b's as a replacement for the now-nonexistant 700d's. After the experience with the Bianchi, I had my doubts . . . . . . which turned out to be completely unfounded, as the bike had no problems keeping up with my riding partners on their vintage or modern road bikes. While some of the difference probably had it's basis in geometry (although both were early 90's mountain bikes of one form or another), I'm giving a fair bit of credit to the wheels. While I'd always look askance at 650b's (what do I need another wheel size for?), the bike showed me the size's value.

Puget Pounder

I'm building up my LHT with 650B wheels right now. Not because I think it's cool or better, but it's because I don't feel like finding 26" wheels right now when I already have wheels on hand.

If you are worried about speed at all, then you shouldn't be riding an LHT. Unless you are getting hetres for the 650Bs, any (probably negligible) difference that can be attributed to rim size can be made up in tire selection. And if you ever tour, 26" is the way to go.

I'm with Illwafer. 650Bs are great for rando bikes/conversions.

Catnap 

wellll, i am planning on running Hetres on the 650B's, and while I do loaded tour on the LHT, I would like to bring it a little closer to a randonneur bike for the times when I'm doing a credit-card / local tour. I have an RB-T with 700c wheels as my light touring bike currently, but I'd like to have one bike that can both instead of two ultra-specialized ones.

i appreciate everyone's input so far, but can anyone tell me the formula for determining the outside diameter of a wheel with tire? i'd like to be able to make a side-by-side comparison of the outside diameter of a 26x2.0" wheel versus a 650B with 42mm (Hetre).

Puget Pounder

Sorry, I missed that you were doing Hetres in the original post.

You can usually just add the width of the tire to the BSD to approximate the total diameter. This was discussed here: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...rsion-question

Catnap 

thanks Puget!

So based on my calculations, 26x2.0" = 661mm BSD and 650Bx42 = 668mm BSD. that's a 7mm difference. seems pretty negligible. I wonder if I should email Jan Heine for his opinion?

noglider 

The point of 650B isn't that it's the perfect size for any purpose. 650B has become popular here because people want wide tires to fit on bikes built for 700C wheels. The outer diameter of a fat 650B is close to that of a thin 700C tire.

I don't expect you'll see an appreciable performance difference between MTB wheels and 650B.

If you want a lighter bike, get a lighter bike. Now some will point out that lightening rims and tires makes more difference than any other upgrade on any bike. This is true, but your bike isn't a good candidate for lightening. Even if you spent a lot on lightening your bike, it would still be pretty heavy. Start with a bike that's made to be light.

ThermionicScott 

I haven't ridden the Marathon Supremes, but just upgrading to Panaracer or Compass 26" tires might be enough to speed you up. I agree with many of the others that tire selection makes a bigger difference than the size.

Although you'd be hard-pressed to find a wide tire that "feels" as fast as a good-quality narrow one...

Catnap 

The performance of the Marathon Supremes is actually quite impressive for a two-inch wide tire. Does not feel like it at all, actually. It's the recommended touring tire from Rivendell and held up quite well on the tours I did last summer and fall.

I guess I should accept that I won't be able to appreciably speed up my LHT by changing the wheel size. I can't lighten it up much without removing its ability to haul stuff, either. Guess I will try taking my RB-T on a loaded tour this summer and see how it handles with the extra weight.

NightShift

The only 650 conversions I've done were a Raleigh Easy Ridin' 6 which I converted to a 650a ('cause that's what I had laying around) single speed and a J.C.Penney's Foremost which I converted from 650a to 700c.

I was very happy with the Raleigh. I just used the cheap Bell 26x1 3/8, but it made for a nice lively ride.
I changed the Foremost back after a couple rides, and I've been considering trying it going a little the other direction (I may be able to get a good deal on a set of 650c).

For me it's mostly been a question of mixing and matching parts that I have or can get a real bargain on. If I was putting much money into it I would definitely try different tires before buying new wheels.

What pressure are you running your current tires at?

You said it feels slow and spinny; any chance this is just a cadence issue? Maybe try a different cassette or a couple tooth larger chainring? Also, if you have them available to try without put extra money into it, you may want to try longer cranks.

ColonelJLloyd 

Hetres are pretty light and you may feel a difference, especially if the wheelset is a few hundred grams lighter. But, an LHT is a dog and will always feel sluggish compared to a lighter frameset with sport-touring or racing geometry.