Originally Posted by
Cal398
Great nuanced discussion here, “different spokes for different folks” 😁. As mentioned, I’m definitely not putting 650bs on my road bike anytime soon. Does anyone know if there is a bike with 700c x 2.1” clearance with a low bottom bracket, no toe overlap, and agile gravel geometry (possibly an impossible combination of features?).
What’s the groups personal anecdotal experience on speed between 650b with fat road slicks vs 700c and narrow road slicks? I don’t trust Jan’s work at all, my personal experience with the Rene Herse knobbies can be blamed for that.
It's definitely terrain-specific. 650b just doesn't make much sense for the type of riding and terrain I have available but if I was regularly on bumpy fire access roads with lots of climbing I would strongly consider it.
My Otso Waheela C that I just got a couple weeks ago has clearance for up to 54mm/2.1 in tires. I'm running 700x45mm right now. I'd like to get some fat MTB tires just because I can but honestly it's not because I ever ride on anything that would require that. Think "lifted 4x4 pickup in a shopping mall parking lot".
A couple of the other bikes mentioned like the Fargo and Cutthroat are more on the bikepacking side of the equation and those bikes tend to blur the lines between MTB and gravel bike. When I first saw the Otso I wrote it off as a Cutthroat, but then when I looked into it more (and because of the bike shortage and not wanting to wait a year to get a new bike) I decided to give it a shot.
You could definitely bike pack on this thing but it's a perfectly capable fast-group-ride gravel bike. My average speed has been slightly higher since I got it although that's probably due to new bike placebo effect watts. It's not slowing me down at any rate.
The Otso has an adjustable dropout system called the tuning chip so I could move the rear wheel slightly forward. If I was going to be on a really technical course with lots of climbing I would consider 650b wheelset with some fat knobbies on there and slide the dropouts forward. But there's just not a lot of riding like that where I live.
This isn't an ad for Otso, I just like my new bike with fat tires. I wish the temperature would come down below 90 though.