I recently acquired this Terry touring bike that is currently outfitted with thin 650c wheels. Any thoughts on whether it would accommodate 650b wheels? She's going on the chopping block and I was wondering whether I could bill her as 650b compatible?

According to Sheldon, the 650b is 584mm, and the 650c is 571mm.

Any feedback is appreciated. FYI, she's built up with Campy derailleurs, ergoshifters, headset, cantis, and hubs, Sun rims, and a Shimano triple crankset. Full braze-ons, plenty of tire clearance, and fork rack mounts. She measures 51 x 51cm (ctc), and has a 30.5" standover height. Pretty interesting bike; wish that it were my size!

According to Sheldon Brown:

650C - 571mm ISO
650B - 584mm ISO

6.5mm or about a quarter inch on the radius.

pretty!

Ahh, sorry, I should've been clearer with my question. Is 13mm within the acceptable/designed range of motion for that canti? I don't have any real experience with cantis, so am a bit unsure about ideal adjustment range.

Thanks for any opinions!

I don't think you have more than 4mm of room to adjust those canti brakes up, and I know of no canti model that'll give you 13mm.

Neal

great looking bike! love thos Campi cantilevers

It looks like your brake bridge and fork crown have plenty of clearance for the extra 13mm. Check the chainstay bridge as well. Then the only other issue that I can think of would be your cantilever brakes, and whether they have enough vertical adjustment range to move the pads the additional 13mm higher.

I've never seen Campagnolo cantis!

Also, why would you want to switch to 650B? The most common reason is to be able to fit fat tires on a bike otherwise designed for 700c, without changing the geometry. If the bike was made for 650C, then the switch to 650B along with fatter tires would raise the bottom bracket significantly, as well as increase the front end trail.

What's the bottom bracket height as it is now? It looks low to me, although that could just be the camera angle.

I don't think those cantilevers will work either, but he only needs 6.5mm more than where he has the pads set currently, right?

Why would they design a touring bike to be used with 650C rims? Are there touring type tires available? You'd think they would have just went with 559 rims. It looks like a really nice bike otherwise.

If you can't, this is a 28c.

https://www.amazon.com/Terry-Tellus-T.../dp/B001C6BIOI

Btw, the piece of frame just above the tire with a hole in it...
that just might fit a different kind of brake. I am no expert, but a bike shop
could tell you if they could do something with that.

Bob, that is one of those bikes you can look at for a long time, because it's just so cool.
Any shorter rider who has any inclination to tour should snap that up.

In Chapel Hill NC, the Rivendell crowd would be all over that. Good value there.

If that frame was my size, we'd be talking, Cub fan or not.

Bikes like this make me miss East Hill even more.

Great points everyone. I am mainly curious only because of the greater variety of wide tires offered in 650B. Supposedly, there's a tire called Mitsubishi Trimline which comes in 650c x 38, but a quick search didn't yield any hits.

Basically, when I describe her for sale, I just want to know whether I could state that it could accept 650B wheels or not. I may part her out, and it might make a difference to potential buyers.

Also, I also found it strange that they would make what is clearly a touring frame if it didn't also fit 650B wheels?

But those vertically challenged people like to tour, too!

Neal

Seriously. I was sooooo tempted to title this thread, "East Hill Alert!"

Thanks, Robbie, and everyone else as well.

You can't find any info on them because they haven't been made for years. JH in BQ extolled their virtues of ride quality often. But, that was before Grand Bois and Pacenti were making high quality 650b tires. Panaracer has a 650b x 38 and a 32mm tire. With GB, Pacenti, Panaracer/Rivendell and Panaracer/Soma making 650b tires there are more choices.

The only way the canti brakes are going to reach a 650b rim is by removing and rebrazing the posts higher. Some long reach center or dual pivot brakes might reach a 650B rim as well as some Paul moto BMX v brakes ($$$).

Are both wheels 650c? I can't tell from the photo.

Yup, both wheels are 650c. I've gone ahead and listed it in the For Sale section, if anyone is interested. Let me know if you have any questions. I'll take better photos tomorrow.

Cheers,
Bob

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...Campy-equipped

I keep going back to this thread, just to look at the bike and components.

Price reduced and photos added:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...Campy-equipped

That's what I was thinking. Shimano makes a good long reach (57mm) brake. Dia Comper Mod 750 is even longer, 62-78

Skip the 650b conversion. Most opinions haven't taken into account the extra 15mm of tire (38mm vs 23) - it won't fit. Put a nice light set of mtb wheels on it. It's a common trick to get fatter tires on a recumbent designed for 650c. The brakes "should" work, you'll have more tire clearance (not less), and there are lots of wide, fast 26" tires out there (the Schwalbe Kojak 26x1.35 is my fave).

SP
Bend, OR

But based on the photo below, it appears that there is plenty of room at both bridges fir 38mm tires, even at the larger wheel diameter that 650B would introduce. However, I can't tell if that's true for the fork crown.

I do like your idea of 26" MTB wheels, however...