Originally Posted by
Chr0m0ly
I HAVE been wanting to convert my 710 over to 650b. I have this idea it would be a sweet gravel grinding build. It's set up with 28mm tires right now, and that's about the limit for clearance.
It IS a very pretty bicycle, I was stopped at an intersection and a driver asked me if it was Italian... Got to be that "sunrise red"!
My ‘79 912, which was originally quite similar to your lovely 710 although with more tire clearance having started as 27”, was
not a good 650B candidate, since it would only take 32’s even at the smaller 650B radius. Heck, it will take 700x32’s (or 28’s with fenders). But our own @
gugie did a great job transforming it into a “travel bike” with the low trail modified fork (made from the stock fork), custom racks, his very clever decaleur and front bag. It’s now a different sort of tourer and works very well with a wide variety of front loads. BTW, not yet mounted for the photo below, this is also my dedicated fender bike, handy around here in the PNW.
I also wanted to create something different, since the 912 and the Marinoni posted above had become quite similar. No room around here for an additional bike, but this set of modifications far exceeded my expectations. With the Marinoni above in either 700x32 or 650Bx38, I have effectively three different but satisfying bikes.
