Archive for the ‘650b’ Category

Donderdag 17 Mei is in het centrum van ede weer de jaarlijkse MTB street race. Het fantastische parcours door de binnen stad en het nabij gelegen stadspark leent zich perfect voor een mooie MTB race. Het parcours bestaat uit een groot aantal goed berijdbare ‘natuurlijke’ (trappen, klimmetjes) en minder natuurlijke (lees vrachtwagens, pallets, hout) hindernissen. Dit uitdagende parcours is in zijn tweede jaar eigenlijk al een klassieker!

Voor de singlespeeders is er een apart klassement, met als prijzen wat leuke goodies uit DE Shop!

Inschrijven kan hier: www.mtbstreetraceede.nl

We have new stock Racing Ralph 650b tires, a little more as the 10 Super Moto’s that sold out in a few days last week, but these may also last short.. Get them here

Lately we get lots of inquiries and orders about the 29 and 27.5 inch(or 650b) tires of Schwalbe.

Currently the 2.25 models of the Racing Ralph is not available from Schwalbe, expected delivery time is mid/late october.

The 29″ tires are normal stock tires for Schwalbe, the 650b Racing Ralph is not (at least not for the Dutch distributor) we seem to have this tire is backorder continuously, but delivery times are always very slow. Currently we have our biggest ever batch on order for this size, and we expect those sometime in October.

Untill then we are only able to get you the Pacenti tires and the Nevegal. The Quasi Moto from Pacentyi is the more XC oriented tire, the Neo Moto and the Kenda Nevegal are more All Mountain oriented. Currently we are out of stock again of the Quasi Moto, we expect those back here early September. Bear with us for a little while…

It will never be as hot and booming as the 29-er is now, but there will always be people riding the “In between” wheels, or 650b. With 27.5″ just between the good old 26″ and the now finally widely raved on 29-er, the 650b size wheels can be seen as a compromise between the little less strong but fast 29-er wheels and the strong but less fast 26″wheels
NoTubes has been one of the few small companies providing a high end rim for 650b with their race rim 355, but now steps in with the more robust Flow, which is still not to heavy (500 gram) but strong enough for All Mountain use. Get them now here at SInglespeed Central!

Some facts:

P35 29-er: 34.7mm wide, 614 grams
Salsa Gordo 29-er: 35.5mm wide, 683 grams (the difference is pretty much the eyelets I suspect..)
Velocity Blunt 29-er: 490 grams
NoTubes Flow: 515 grams

Why would you want such wide rims? Not to long ago people raced their MTB on tires slightly wider then this.. Well, times changed, and bikes changed. With the return of the rigid MTB people are asking for large volume tires. A wide rim gives a tire an even bigger volume. More volume means less prone to snakebite. Also, these rims can be used on the hardcore XC and All Mountain Full Suspension MTB’s which are getting better available every week now. These bikes can be ridden at a higher speed, which means more high impact action for the rims. Not your average XC race rim, better used by the fun bikers out there!

Great feature: Available in 650b

So 29-er wheels are to big for you? But there is something inside you whispering a slightly bigger wheel would make sense? No worries, there is still hope for you, and it is called 650b, or 27.5″. That’s right, just between the currently so much hyped 29″ wheel and the 26″ wheels, known since the beginning of the MTB.

Why 650b? The biggest problem for 29-er tires is the more sluggish feeling they give compared to 26″ wheels, so people who have a very active riding style (lots of bunny hopping, short direction changes by lifting the bike, or in general, used to a lot of air time) may find the 29-ers limiting for their riding style. Also, a 29-er requires a complete new, special made 29″ frame and fork. 650b may fit lots of 26″ frames (Surly, Salsa, …, but try before you buy ), which results in a overal shorter wheelbase compared to 29″. So: a more active riding style possible and in some case no new frame/bike required. Another advantage may be small peoples bikes should not be tricked geometry wise to prevent toe overlap etc..

Like for every platform, there are disadvantages. Availability, slightly higher bb on a 26″ frame..

What tires are available?

Pacenti Cycle Design : Neo-Moto 2.3″, Neo-Moto 2.1″, Quasi- Moto 2.0″
Kenda: Nevegal 2.35″
IRD (Interloc Racing Design): Fire XC Pro 2.1″
Schwalbe: Racing Ralph 2.25″
WTB: Wolverine 2.2″

Also, quite some rims are available at the moment:

Stan’s No Tubes ZTR355
Sun Ringle EQ27
Sun Ringle CR18
Velocity Blunt
Velocity P35
Weinmann XM 280
WTB Laserdisc Trail
And more…

Finding a proper MTB worthy dedicated 650b frame may be a strugle yet, as most 650b frames are designed to be touring frames. Some smaller MTB brands offer a 650b frames (Siren, Carver), but also some bigger brands are kicking in (KHS, Haro, Jamis). As it was with 29″, it is just a matter of time for more options to become available.

Of course at Singlespeed Central you can find a selection of 650b parts, like the rims of Velocity and NoTubes, tires of Schwalbe, Kenda, Pacenti and WTB. Be sure to drop us a line if you need more info!