I'm thinking about getting a second wheelset for my bike, fairlight faran. nothing wrong with my current wheels, but I'm a bit torn about tires seeing how I use the bike for everything from training rides on the tarmac to bikepacking trips (and I want to take part in randonneuring events next year as well) so I figured I could use current 700c wheels for road and lighter gravel with lighter, slicker tires and get a second more bulletproof set with 32 spokes for tougher gravel routes and bikepacking/dirt touring.
That's for context, now for the actual question: the widest I could go on 700c wheels is 53mm which corresponds to 2.1 inch, which would let me use the narrowest Thunder Burts or Mezcals. Going to 650b would give me 62mm of clearance, so 2.4 inch and more options, but then realistically I'd probably mount something like 2.2 Race Kings and potentially switch it up only for specific trips, if required. Is this bit of additional width worth much in the context of otherwise fully rigid bike from a comfort POV? I would also have more clearance for mud, but I don't ride in mud that often anyway.
Any other 650b upsides/downsides for bikepacking I am not aware of?
by mcjsimka
1 Comment
Usually, width means lower pressures which then means that comfort does go up.
Rolling resistance will increase but it’s probably not as much as you think if you choose the right tires. Obviously, if you mount a Schwalbe Magic Mary/Hans Dampf combo, then you’ll be very slow on hardpack and tarmac but you’d have a killer off-road bike.
I recall that there are some Schwalbe touring tires in 650b. Some are technically for ebike use and are a bit heavy. Gravel tires almost universally aren’t available either in 650b or in that width. 650b and 2,4 gravel tires don’t exist.
The Thunder Burts are very fast though, so at the very least 29×2,1 is a very viable option.
I guess that touring tires would be the go-to?