650B, Third Time the Charm?

For a wheel size that has been around for decades, rim makers have struggled to make a decent 650B rim. 650B has many attractions: it may allow you to squeeze fatter tires into a racing or sport frame, and there are some fine tires in that size. But it seems there are issues making a rim that fits easily with 650B tires.

My first attempt at 650B was with my Rawland rSogn. It was a great frame, both lively riding and practical, but both the rims and the tires were mediocre to bad. The Panaracer Col de Vie tires were somewhat sluggish, but the Velocity Synergy rims were downright bad: with a bead well that was too deep, it was almost impossible to get the tire evenly seated and rolling true (by the way, if you have an XL rSogn you want to sell, let me know).

650B try 2 was on my old Trek 620. This time, I had lovely, supple Compass Loup Loup Pass tires, but the rims were even worse. The Pacenti PL23 rims were nearly impossible to get a tire mounted onto. I pinched the front tube five times trying to get the damn tire bead over the rim. This was frustrating enough in my garage, but not something I'll live with on the road.

Is the third time the charm?

My New Workshop

The downside of buying a new house is an additional six years of grinding debt. The upside is my bike workshop has noticeably improved. Our garage has a nice bumpout in the back that makes a great shop area. We had to add some electrical outlets to the garage (it turns out the one outlet that Pulte provided wasn't quite enough), so after repairing and mudding that drywall patch, I painted it blank white and enlisted some help to liven up my shop area even more.

I told the kids they could paint what they liked. They thought for a moment and got to work:

Down on Jones Street

After a month of moving related activities, I had a free Sunday morning to head out mountain biking. Alas, Saturday night rains soaked the trails, so I hit the road on my Jones early Sunday morning for a library run:

Rockhoppin'

Just before we moved, I picked up a '98 Rockhopper off CL. It was so:

Not a bad find overall for $50, but there were clearly some issues that needed addressing: