There are a few shops in Seattle that carry 650b stuff. I've seen a few beautiful custom 650b'ers around town, several Bleriots, and an occasional Kogwell. I think if more people would be willing to try them they'd be sold on the ride. Today I took my Bleriot, shod with 40mm Schwalbe Marathons, on a 75+ miler today on several of the converted rail-trails east of town....I'd say 90 percent was on gravel or dirt trails. Talk about a perfect match. Now I realize that riders of converted rail trails is a REALLY small niche, but I also think the tire size is perfect for the pot-holed streets of the city. I shudder when I see the skinny tire "racers" flying down the local bumpy, root infested Burke Gilman trail. I actually think many of the gravel trails are smoother..though my ass didn't quite agree after about 7 hours today!!.
FYI... I'm long legged (34" inseam), ride a 61cm Bleriot, have a stash of 650B Schwalbe Marathons in the basement (about$28 a piece...you can get Col De La Vies for around $17-18), and honestly would sell my "holy grail" chrome Paramount before I'd sell my 650b Bleriot. Rob Markwardt Seattle, ,WA On Aug 22, 5:33 pm, Brewster Fong <bfd...@yahoo.com> wrote: > On Aug 22, 12:29 pm, Steve Palincsar <palin...@his.com> wrote: > > > Your LBS stocks 650B tires? Wow. Mine doesn't. At least, they > > recognize them now (having worked on my three bikes). They aren't > > singling out 650B; they don't stock much of anything in tires other than > > 700x23 Armadillos and knobby 559s. Can you imagine riding a 12,000 > > racing bike on Armadillo tires? Maybe if you live in goathead country, > > and your only other alternative is a tracked vehicle... > > If your LBS only stocks Armadillo tires, it must be a Specialized > dealers. That's one problem with shops that sign on with a big mfr, > its very difficult, if not impossible for them to sell other makes or > brands. Trek, Specialized, C'dale and maybe Giant are all guilty of > this. Go into one of their "authorized dealers" and that's all you > find. Kind of sad. > > My LBS is A Bicycle Odyssey in Sausalito, CA. Even thou I live in SF > and have to cross the bridge, its one of the few shops I make an > effort to frequent. Tony Tom, the owner, stocks all kind of stuff. > From old-school parts to the latest gimmick. You'll see all the latest > carbon - Ridley, Scott, Somec, Time and Indy Fab; right next to high > end steel from Nobilette and Ron Cooper. His production line include > Bianchi, Marin, Soma and formerly Lemond. In fact, Tony is Ron > Cooper's main US distributor. Check it out: > > http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Bike_Shops/A-Bicycle-Odyssey.htm --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
