^-Classy bike.

The bike industry is phasing out 650c rims/tires. racers were tired of buying fancy wheels for TT's and Tris and having to buy another fancy set for road racing. there is a reason that Trek's CF TT bike used to have 650's and now has 700's. That being said, in my garage right now, I have bikes with 20's 26's 650's 700's 27's and old schwinn standard. I love planned obselesence.

Like you said, it does change the trail which has the same affect on handling as changing the head tube angle. I don't feel like thinking about how it would affect the handling but it's something to keep in mind.

thatz why i'm stock piling them : )

That's too bad. 650c's made a lot of sense for smaller riders. But I guess they have to remove one tire size if they are going to push 29'ers and 650b's on us now.

"The bike industry is phasing out 650c rims/tires."

This is not true... An entire industry can't "decide" to phase out anything... The MARKET makes decisions by voting with its dollars. 650c rims and tires will continue to be manufactured as long as there are people buying them, which there are.

I understand that you may have noticed a trend of fewer 650c products, but you're overstating the situation by stating that "the industry" is phasing them out.