Bandera, Back when we were in our ~3 year drought and the shoulders of many of the FM roads were opening up with some large cracks I used my touring bike for my distance rides to give me a fighting chance of not dropping my front wheel into one of those cracks.

The touring bike is about 6.5 lb. heavier with much of that in the wheels and tires. Distance riding, once up to speed, was pretty similar to using my distance roadie. There may have also been some positive flywheel effect using the heavier tires and wheels, I've no way to really know.

While it would be out of the question to use that bike in a pace line, crit, or a sprint, it did do well eating up the miles. If I were to consider a 650B build, it would be simply, and perhaps solely for a comfy distance bike. If 650B continues to regain popularity I suspect there will be more competition level choices available.

Brad