Picked up a his and her Raleigh USA bikes called Touring/Off Road bikes from the trash a month ago. Put air in tires and they rode fine. Daugther likes the woman's frame and rides it to the pool. Cool.

I looked at the man's frame and decided once I ordered a 350mm 25.8 (odd small diameter) seat post from Sheldon I might be able to adopt it as my daily commuter. Put on my blinkies, rack, reflectors, SPDs and off I went with 165 cranks and old ratchet Suntour stuff. Oh ya, and the tires are 650Bs.....ugh and yet cool at the same time. So, $25 into it and I figure at $3/gal all I need to ride is 110 car avoidance miles which is just ONE week! New tires will set me back $80....the PITA about 650Bs. I'll ride these 44-584s until they die!

Well, today I rode her in. I have decided to name her Eleanor for the Shelby 350 GT in 'Gone in 60 Seconds' which I watched while trapped in a hotel room a couple of nights ago. Right color and rare, just not quite as fast unless Lance was to twist the crank!

In a nutshell, she rode fine. 650Bs are cool and seem faster than a MTB (559) I used to ride but not a road bike (622). Eleanor is a keeper. Need to improve braking power. But I LOVE riding a $25 bike to and from work! Although I covet them, no Phil Wood hubs for me. I enjoy the thrift of the daily commute. Oh ya, how do you spell hot & muggy in Memphis! But it goes with the territory so I can b!tch.

Anyone else ride 650B wheels to work?

650B Primer