I bought a Fuji Connoisseur frame last September from Nashbar. They had a labor day sale for 25percent off so I paid $221.25 for the $295.00 dollar frame. I was incapacitate due to a broken right arm at the time however I could not pass on this great deal. So I want to build a bike with fenders. I was thinking about converting this over to a 650b bicycle to allow wider tires and decent fender clearance.

I also was thinking of putting albatross bars on this converted bicycle to I have a more upright position and this will be my daily 20 mile exersize bicycle and grocery getter. Also maybe I may take up randoneurring so I have this in the back of my mind. I would change to drop down bars if I do this. Has anybody out there done this and what has your experience been with this? I also am thinking about a dynamo hub probably shimano and lcd lighting for my randoneurring. Can I do this? The frame I bought is 56cm and I am five feet eleven inches. Thanks

Do you have a 26 x 1 3/8 wheelset from an old cruiser around? That give you an approximation of how much clearance you'll end up with 650b, the different is 6mm between the two sizes (590mm vs 584mm). I imagine you'll need long-reach brakes for this to work as well, since the difference is radius ~19mm for the change you wanna do (if I did the maths right). I can't comment on 650b rims but there are more and more being sold these days, velo orange and long leaf bicycles seem to have a good selection of stuff, but tektro brakes are available everywhere and they still make dia-compe centre pulls that should give the needed reach too... lots of great stuff has been posted about 650b conversion here too.

I was going to buy my wheels from longleaf bicycles for the 650b. I was wondering about clearance since the 650b wheels should drop down whole frame which would make it closer to the ground. I was reading on the Harris Bicycle Website the late (Sheldon Brown) about his 650b conversion and he seemed to be an enthusiastic supporter of this. I am thinking about building my Fuji as just another 700c roadbike with roadbike tires or something different to accomodate my advancing age. I am 56 and I no longer have any ambitions regarding a racing bicycle! I really worry about the turning radius on 650b and will the bottom bracket closer proximity to the ground affect my ride?

I would check and see if the frame would fit wide enough tires for it to be worthwhile.

The frame is still in the original box. Next week I am going to treat it with Weigle frame saver which I have and than start my conversion. I will be putting downtube shifters on this project and either Nitto stems or Velo Orange. Velo Orange seems to be out of a lot of parts lately which I will probably go with the Nitto Quill. The albatross bars take 25.4 stem diameter so I will shop for that. I am old school as I do not like unthreaded forks or stems. I am leaning towards the 650b as I have another bicycle with 700c wheels which I could always change to. I need a grocery getter right so I think I will go the 650b route.

Before you go down the road of a 650B conversion you really should read this thread.

Well a 584 with a 40mm tire is apparently pretty close in size to a 622 with a 23mm tire, or so the oft-repeat mantra around here seems to go. This is why BB drop isn't really a huge issue. That's also why I suggest checking for clearance with a 26x1 3/8 wheel with tire before going any further on the project... if it fits you should have all the room you need for fenders. A racing frame might give you adequate clearance even with smaller wheels but the fatter tires end up using all the extra space... negating the whole raison d'etre for the conversion. I haven't seen the frame so I can't really say.

I understand the concerns. I wanted to use 28mm tires with fenders. I just dont want to be hitting the ground with either the pedals( I use 170mm crankarms) or the bottome bracket which I dont think I will do. I do not have an old beater with 26*1.28 wheelset however I am going to try the frame with 700c wheels from another bike I have and than see about changing over to 650b. In regards to the link from photogravity I think the 650b tire and wheel world have more products available to it today than it did in 2008. I use to fool around with triathalons back in 1989 and I seen to remember 650 wheels. I do not know if they are still around however it was the up and coming think,

I don't think it's easy to do an accurate prediction of pedal strike for any planned frame setup, but I do think you can estimate how big a future problem might be. I'd look at the difference in diameter between a, say 700x28c setup and a 650x38b setup. The overall diameter of the wheel can be estimated as the rim diameter (622 and 584, respectively) plus twice the width of the tire. For the 700x28, the estimated diameter is 622+2*28 = 622+56 = 678 mm. For a 650x38b, it's 584+2*38 = 584 +76 = 660 mm. The estimated difference in total diameter is 678 - 660 = 18 mm, and the estimated change in radius or ride height is 9 mm.

Top vintage Italian (and other) racing bikes have often used an 8 cm BB drop. If the BB drop of your frame is 7 cm, the conversion to 38 mm 650b's will lower the bike by 9 mm. The resulting pedal height will not be lower than that of some renowned vintage builders, such as DeRosa, and modern KOFs like eRitchie.

I don't think it's likely you'll have a pedal strike problem. It's always possible, but I don't think it's likely.

Many people think bikes with lower BB (lower center of gravity) feel good as you pedal, in a way that I haven't seen expressed well. I like lower BBs, so I think it will be an improvement.

I don't see a change to 650b affecting turn radius of the bicycle.

A 56 cm frame sounds like it might be a little small for someone 5'11".

+1. I'm 5'8" and ride a 58cm.