Donc, considere Le Lierre et la Cypres.

Je ne considère pas les Cypres 32mm. Le 38mm Moto Pari, cependant, serait très agréable.

Agreed. That still leaves you choices in the 38mm range (pari motos, Lierres, and the Soma B-lines (skinwall, not hypertex)). Looks like you have enough BB height for a smaller 650B tire, but your clearance will still be very tight. (5mm less clearance than I had, and if you go with a tire that is 4mm smaller, that still leaves you with less net clearance than I had to work with).

You could always go with Cypres at 32mm, but then that sort of defeats the purpose of conversion, IMO. And you might start running into BB height issues.

I'll shameless pug my 33mm Maxy Fasty tires here if things don't work out.

I'd love to hear you say that out loud in your Kentucky accent. Ah, it would probably sound perfectly Parisian.

jar351, the sound that the tires make may be disconcerting, but don't worry about losing traction. Do they hum? Hetres hum rather like the sound you make when you rub a wetted finger along the rim of a wine glass. I love that sound.

Je suis tout à fait en accord avec vous, Justin. Le but de cette transformation c'est atteindre la capacité pour les pneus grands, c'est à dire 38mm au moins. Quand même, les Paris Motos ne seraient pas ma choix preférée, à cause de la manque de longévité.

They don't make much noise at all when riding in a straight line. It's only in corners that they really start to squirm to a noticeable extent.

Right. I think those Lierres look really nice, though I haven't used them. Still eager to see if you an squeeze those Hetres in there.

Et voilà!



As you can see, and as I thought, the clearance is too tight to make the Hetres practical on this frame. The only way I can get a decent amount of space between the rear tire and the chainstays is to have the axle all the way back or nearly all the way back in the dropouts. (With the wheel in the front of the dropouts and the tire at 55psi, it practically touches the frame.)



In front it's tight too, but feasible:



So Hetres will likely get socked away for my next conversion. But as long as I had them on, you know I had to take 'em for a spin. After riding the CLDVs for a week, the Hetres were positively zippy! But all was not peachy. Wouldn't you believe it, after a 4-mile jaunt to the bank I flatted half a block from my house! Here's the culprit, a tiny, arrowhead-shaped shard of glass:



These Hetres have some miles on them (maybe as many as 1000) so it's not a huge surprise, and it could just be rotten luck, but still it's hard not be a little disappointed. BTW, I don't fault Justin. I also gave them a thorough inspection when I opened the box this afternoon and I saw nothing to be concerned about. In fact, the tread was less worn than I was expecting. I think that shard would have cut through the rubber and casing even if the tire had been brand new.

Bummer the Hetres won't fit. And yeah, the flat was probably just an anomaly. I've never flatted my Hetres Hetre over probably 1000 miles of gravel, rocks and dirt, but one walk through about 20 feet of prickly bramble and the tire picked up a thorn and flatted soon after. Happens.

Very nice!

They sure do... you just have to be riding under the right conditions to hear them. The first time I heard mine... I was riding out through the middle of nowhere with a tailwind that sort of lessened the wind rushing past my ears. I was startled to hear those Hetres steadily whining over the smooth pavement. They sort of make that bouncy echoey sound that you hear when you kick a kid's inflatable kickball. Except that it is constant. You can't hear it with the wind rushing past your ears, though.

It's a real conversation starter on local group rides. Nobody... I mean nobody... has seen 650B tires around here.

That's a bummer, but you have them for another conversion. Black tread will look best on that bike anyhow, I think.

Ce que vous dites est vrai, bien que la terre cuite rouge des Hetres aurait l'air tout à fait agréable.