Nicole It's hard for me to make a recommendation for what would be best for you. I was introduced to 650B last year, and I'm very happy with it. I have a 58cm Hilsen and use it as a brevet bike. On lousy quality pavement it's great to be able to run a cushy tire at low pressure and not have it weigh a ton. It's also appealing to me to run ultra strong rims that are super light as well (a 650B Velocity Synergy weighs only 15 grams more than a 700C Mavic Open Pro). A wide tire on 650B has the same total diameter as a super skinny tire on a 700C rim. That said, I have four bikes, 2 650B and 2 700C and would not change the wheelsize on any of them even if I had a magic wand.
On Jan 26, 9:21 am, NME <nicolemea...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi All, > > This is sort of a goldilocks question and a little bit rambling, so > please bear with me! > > I just put a deposit down on my first Rivendell, an AHH. My PBH (81) > suggests a 54cm (650b). I test rode a 54, but for some reason, it > didn't feel quite right -- a little twitchy. There are about six > thousand possible reasons for that: I had never ridden 650b (only > 27"), the standover (78.6) was a centimeter shorter than I was used > to, I hadn't ridden drop bars in 8 years, and the stem seemed very > high. Overall, it was a great ride, but somehow not perfect. Besides > that, the frame looked (visually, psychologically) too small, somehow. > > They didn't have any 56cm's built up, so I tried a too-big 57cm > (700c). Visually, it looks more like "the right size," even if my PB > was touching the top tube (83cm standover) when in bare feet. The ride > felt more stable, even if the top-tube was too long. Jay suggested > that it was perhaps because of the longer wheel base on the 57. > > It's hard for me to explain why the 57 felt better than the 54: was it > the stem height? The longer wheel base on the 57? The larger wheel > size, which is closer to what I am used to? The larger frame? Or was > it purely psychological because the 54 "looked" small? > > So now I'm left with a choice: the 55cm (700c) or the 56cm (650b). > The standover is virtually identical for both, halfway in between the > 54 and the 57. > > I've never owned a bike with either wheel size, so they are both a > little abstract for me right now. I know there have been a lot of > discussions on this topic before, and this group encouraged at least > one person to go with the 650b size. > > I'm actually leaning a little toward the 55cm 700c because this bike > might travel with me to Russia at some point, and I'm not sure about > the availability of 650b there, and because I am wondering if it was > the longer wheel base that made the 57 feel better to me. But I'd > rather have the right bike, and if that's a 650b bike, then so be it. > This would all be easier if I could ride both side by side, but that's > not possible right now. > > What are your impressions about how the two wheel sizes ride > differently? Any insight you might have would be great. > > Thanks so much! > Nicole -- 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.
