JohnDThompson 

Tim Isaac was a custom builder in Boulder CO in the late 70s; he built the frames for the 1980 US Olympic Cycling Team. That gig got him a job as Trek's frame designer in the early 1980s, where we met him. After Trek, he did design work for Raleigh USA on their "Technium" frames, and started Match Bicycle Company, which built the last of the steel Schwinn Paramounts under contract. Several West Coast builders got their start at Match. The last I heard, he was living in Hong Kong, doing design work for a camera company, his other passion.

Yes, half-step plus granny, or pretty close anyway: 47-42-27. She mostly uses the middle ring, but the others are there if she needs them.

Dfrost 

Tim/Match also built Rivendell frames for a while in a shop near Redmond, WA. Rivendell sponsored an owner tour of that shop at one time, and I recall Curt Goodrich was working there at the time.

And in way of the “small worlds”, I recall Tim occasionally riding with the racing team that put up with me and other beginners outside Denver back in the early 70’s, along with several other later notables. Our team leader, Jack Janelle, was a seriously strong racer who attracted these notables and even the occasional European rider, and was also my office mate at Martin Marietta, doing rocket trajectory simulations.

julianadam

Why not 650 A? Love these conversions though!

noglider 

They make nice plush tires in 650B but not 650A. It's too bad.

ThermionicScott 

+1 to Tom's post. There are a few high-quality tires in 650A, but none of the really light and zippy high-performance tires that we love in 650B.

Fidbloke

Just as a matter of interest, has someone talked about the nicer 650A tyres on BF before?
I may be moving towards getting hold of some in the near future, and I'm primarily interested in 650A, as it seems to be better supported in Britain than 650B at the moment.


Edit: And I mainly have three-speed type bikes. (hang on, that suggests I should dig around on the 'English three-speed' forum, doesn't it?)

rhm

650A, also known as 26 x 1 3/8, and properly known as EA3, is actually a popular size of wheel / tire in Japan. In Japan, I am told, you can get 650A tires just as nice as any 650B tires. I have seen them on eBay more than once. I also once found an internet seller who stocked them. I think they were in Malaysia.

I'll look for links... but... for now, that's all I can tell you.

Edit:



**********???? 650A

Grand Bois 'Renard' tire. Haven't ridden them, but if it's Grand Bois, well, you know.

ThermionicScott 

Yeah, there have been some really good discussions here. I even built up a bike around 650A once, but ultimately wasn't satisfied with the tires I got. The "Renard" mentioned by @rhm is intriguing, though -- I don't know of anyone who has tried them. The tread pattern is still a little too "chunky" to excite me (I'm a confirmed file-tread guy), but if they've got an extra-light casing and folding bead, they're probably more spritely than my Panaracer Col de la Vie's were.

rhm

Okay, having contributed enough to the 650A-ish drift of this thread, I'd better post another photo of the bike I've been riding the most lately, my Gugificazione Holdsworth 531 Special:

nlerner

Ah, @rhm's post prompts me to offer recent pics of my gugificazione Raleigh Int'l now with Compass 650B x 42mm tires:

Dfrost 

Neal,

Love the wine cork as fender spacer! Might have to use that idea next time fenders are installed.

And I’d post my own Gugificazione’d bike photo to extend this thread sub-theme, but it’s not a 650B (insufficient tire space).

gugie 

Stole that idea from Neal and threw it back at him. Works a heck of a lot better than the "spring thing" that you can get from Velo Orange or make yourself. The spring thing rattles, the cork doesn't. It keeps the fender line, yet compresses just enough to get a rear wheel in and out with horizontal dropouts.

mountaindave 

My dad has his own small vineyard - why didn't I think of this? I just used some old aluminum spacer stock that I cut down to size. This is way classier.

gugie 

And, if it wears out, there's an excuse to open a nice bottle of your favorite wine.

rhm

Well, I don't see why you would ever need an excuse to open a bottle of wine. But if that works for you, I'm in favor. Or beer, for that matter.

If you're trying to get a nice rattle-free French fender line, however, there is a better solution.

In case you've forgotten, first you do this





And eventually you have this ...



And then you don't need no stinkin' corks.

gugie 

True that, but for the budget conscious, a cork works reasonably well.

BTW, I've got a personal project I'm working on to do the same thing, but I removed the seat stays first. Makes it a LOT easier to align everything instead of having to fit 4 different points of contact and braze them in at the same time. Seat stays are pretty easy to replace. I'll post when the project is finishing up.

ThermionicScott 

I'm not gonna lie, there are many times I wish my rando-commuter had vertical dropouts, too. Hmm...

mountaindave 

I thought vertical dropouts removed adjustability and were a step backwards... until I tried to remove a fully inflated rear wheel on a fendered bike.

palincss

Yes that would save you from a huge pain in the a$$ but depending on where the chainstay bridge is located on the frame, you might still need a spacer to achieve a good fender line. Of course, if you're doing that much work on the frame, you could relocate the chainstay bridge to the proper position while you're at it, and then for sure no spacer would be required.

rhm

Yes, that's exactly right.

You have to think through the expenses. I'll let @gugie give you an idea of what individual modifications cost; but my sense of it is that moving one thing or another is not a big deal. Things add up, of course. But the important point is that on top of it all, you're going to have to paint or powder coat the thing, which is going to cost a minimum of $100; $200 is not unlikely. You can spend more.

If a frame modification involves destroying much paint, which is usually the case, you're looking at a complete repaint; so it doesn't really make sense to hold back from individual modifications that add only a little to the total cost.

davei1980

I am trying to convert this frame to 650b - the rear spacing is 126mm.

Where are all of you finding your 126-130mm wheelsets? All I can find out there are MTB wheels with 135mm hubs!

I found a set on Amazon set up for a freewheel (non-freehub body type) which has spacers, I suppose if I took 3mm worth of spacers of each side I would be ok/no need to re-dish.

Or maybe my best option is just to re-space my frame? Not a huge deal but it is a big difference and it's CrMo which is not as forgiving as mild steel. I have done this before so not uncharted territory for me.

ThermionicScott 

@davei1980, Pacenti sells complete wheelsets, for one: https://pacenticycledesign.com/colle...1speed-shimano
There are eBay sellers like "uglyrm" who cobble together cheaper wheelsets using not-so-fancy parts. Good way to get your feet wet.

A bunch of us build our own. I use older 7-speed/126mm Shimano hubs, and find it enjoyable. I've been rounding up parts for a Tricolor/Pacenti Brevet set recently. Should turn out pretty sweet.

noobinsf 

You might also try posting a “want to buy” (WTB) ad on the 650b google group, which is pretty active, or see what is posted for sale there.

davei1980

Thanks guys!

rccardr 

I have a Peter Chisholm built set of 650b's I'm thinking of selling. They are silver Velocity A23 rims laced to low flange Campagnolo Record hubs with double butted spokes, complete with correct skewers. 126 spacing, freewheel; they have less than 200 miles on them.

Peter (former owner of Vecchio's) built them for my Pelizzoli as part of a swap deal. Liked 650b so much that I had Gugie modify a late 80's Voyageur frame and then built up a dedicated 650b bike (the lovely Schwinderella) so these have been stored in bike bags for the past year.

Not cheap, but probably the strongest freewheel 650b rim/hub combination known to man. PM me if interested or e-mail at rccardr@cox.net