I picked up this nice old classic road frame with S&S couplers last summer. I realized after buying it that it has very classic road bike sensibilities and only clears a 700x23c tire. Rather than cutting my losses and selling it like a reasonable person I decided I wanted to try running 650b wheels on it to eke out some more tire clearance.
I wasn’t sure if this idea was going to end up being a fool’s errand, so I put off this build for a long time. I finally stopped hemming and hawing and built the wheels up, and the rest of it came together pretty quickly. I’m very pleased with the result. It’s a lovely old steel frame, and paired with the 38c Pari-moto tires, it’s like riding on a cloud.
Some build highlights:
– Ronic Custom S&S coupled frame with campy lugs and dropouts – best guess early 90s era
– Velocity NoBS 650b rims, laced to a Son12 Dynamo in front (lights aren’t installed yet) and an Shimano RS400 hub in back
– Panaracer Pacenti Pari-Moto 650bx38c tires
– A Selle Italia leather saddle with goofy “tour de france” branding
– 160mm Promax BMX cranks
– The limpest and longest LD stem I could find at my local bike co-op
– A lugged tange fork of unknown provenance from the bin at the bike co-op, because I realized after building the wheels and installing the tires that while the frame cleared the 38c tires comfortably, the fork didn’t. Oops.
– Origin 8 stainless steel citi classic bars
– Shimano Essa RD
– Single suntour downtube friction shifter
by Clear_Room_5526
4 Comments
Nice build
This is so perfect 👏
Love it.
That fork story is killin’ me. You built the whole dang thing up, laced the wheels, mounted the tires, then went to install it on the frame and realized the fork wouldn’t clear. That kind of moment would’ve sent me back to the co-op in a huff, but you just grabbed whatever tange fork was lyin’ around and called it good. That’s the whole spirit of xbiking right there.
Also dig the 160mm BMX cranks on a classic road frame. The ground clearance with those 38c pari-motos must be somethin’ else. And the S&S couplers mean you can actually pack it up and haul it somewhere, which kinda defeats the purpose of building a travel bike you never take anywhere.