OK so I made a sort of self-indulgent mod to my A. Homer Hilsen. I set up the normally 650B bike with a 700C wheelset and short reach brakes. It's a wheelset I already had, and a short-reach brakeset I already had. So now I have a single bike that can easily be taken on a ride with 650Bx(whatever) tires one day, and taken on the same ride with 700x(23-28) tires the next, or whatever.
I bought the bike because of the feel of 650B, and I'm thrilled with it. Like most of you, I've been skeptical of the claims from Jan H and others that fat tires are faster. That said, on brevets in the last couple of months, I've been surprised at how quickly I catch and pass riders on coasting descents when I'm on 650x38 at 50psi and they are on 700x23 and I presume 90-110psi. That's anecdotal, and doesn't necessarily mean anything, but it was surprising. So, now I think it will be fun to do a pseudo-scientific spot comparison between 650B and 700C. My commute to work is a 35-mile hilly ride through the east bay hills from El Cerrito to South Hayward. A good chunk of that is a non-stop stretch. I can usually get from my front door to a traffic signal in front of Castro Valley High School without stopping or putting my foot down. The next 10 times I do this commute, I'm going to alternate between the two wheelsets, and record my time for the same non-stop stretch for these ten rides. The 650B tires will be hetres at 50/45psi, and the 700C tires will be continental gatorskin 28s at 85/80psi. Anyone care to guess which will seem faster? Too close to call? Impossible to test unless the rider is blind to the wheel configuration? Any advice on keeping the data clean? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
