Thanks for all the advice, folks! I'm not committed to fatter tires; I really like the 28's I have on there compared to the 23's on my last bike. So, I figured I'd like another size up at least as much. And Catalogue #3 says that the Road Standard will take up to a 35 so I figured there had to be a way.
And the way is 650B. When I'm done riding the heck out of my Road on 700c 28's, then maybe I'll give 650B a whirl. It's nice to know that there are still options. Also, if I ever send the bike to Waterford for repair/repaint, they could raise the brake bridge. Their website says they often remove/refit the brake bridge when they stretch the dropouts on an old lugged frame. It's 40 degrees but it's sunny, so it's time to ride the Rivendell. Tim On Sat, Apr 20, 2013 at 11:13 AM, Jeremy Till <jeremy.t...@gmail.com> wrote: > To echo what jim and joe said and hopefully add a bit more clarity: > > Tire/Fender clearance is determined primarily by the frame, not only in > how much room there is around the wheel but also in the distance between > the brake hole and the braking surface of the rim, which is called "brake > reach." You can only fit a brake which will have the proper amount of > reach for your frame, and so you are limited in your brake choice by your > frame, as you are discovering. So while longer reach brakes may offer more > horizontal clearance, in general you can't simply switch brakes for one > with more clearance. > > As others have said, your bike comes from kind of the "dark ages" of brake > availability, when all Rivendell had to work with were "short reach" > (39-39mm reach) brakes. Post 2000 or so, they had first the Shimano > (47-57mm) long reachers and then the Tektro Silver (55-75mm) super long > reach sidepulls to work with, and the Riv Road evolved into the Rambouillet > and then the A. Homer Hilsen, and now folks are fitting 35mm+ tires under > their fenders and sidepulls no problem. > > There are a couple of confounding factors, however. As we have discovered > on this list, slight difference in brake design between different brands > for the same reach caliper can offer more clearance: Tektros, for instance, > often have more clearance than the equivalent reach Shimano, thanks to > thinner arms (they pay for it in being flexy, however). Furthermore, if > your frame is designed to utilize the maximum reach of a give brake > caliper, say 57mm of a 47-57mm reach caliper, then sometimes you can gain > more clearance by switching to the next longer reach, say a 55-75mm reach > caliper, since there is often a couple mm of overlap. Thus some on this > list have gained a bit more clearance on their Rambouillets, for instance, > by switching to Silvers from the original Shimanos. But since your brake > reach has to fall exactly within that couple mm of overlap for this to > work, and since we've discovered there was some variability in the exact > brake reach from frame to frame in a given model, this is never a slam > dunk. > > To get back to your specific situation Tim, unfortunately I don't think > you can gain much since your limiting factor is vertical clearance, which > is determined by the frame. Your brake pads look like they're at the > bottom of their 49mm reach so in theory you could switch to a 47-57mm > caliper like the 539's, but that would only really gain you horizontal > room, not any more vertical room. If you're really committed to getting > fatter tires and fenders on there, in the long run a 650b conversion would > probably be the answer. > > > On Friday, April 19, 2013 3:11:45 PM UTC-7, Tim Gavin wrote: > >> Ladies/Gents- >> >> I have a '97 Riv Road, currently on 700c x 28mm tires. I'd like to put >> fatter tires on there, but right now I have Shimano 105 Brakes (39/49 >> clearance). I can barely squeeze my 28's between these brakes, so I >> obviously need something with wider reach. >> >> However, my bike also seems to have very little vertical clearance above >> the tire. (pictures) >> >> I tried Silvers, but these are way too deep for my bike. Even at the >> shallowest pad depth, the pads are on the spokes and not the rim. The >> Tektro 539s seem like they'd work, but they're listed as replacements for >> Tiagra 47/57s, not 105 39/49s. I suspect that the 539s will be too deep as >> well. >> >> I suppose I could just swap the Silvers for 539s (I have an offer, >> thanks), and trial and error some more. But, looking at the pics, can >> anyone assure me that the 539s will actually give me more clearance between >> the bottom of the brake and the tire? I only have about 1mm there right >> now. >> >> And I understand that I could use the 539s or Silvers with 650B wheels, >> but I don't have any of those. Brakes seem like a cheaper switch than >> wheels right now. And my Riv is a 59cm, so it should be able to take 700c >> x 35 tires (catalog claim). >> >> Thanks for your advice, >> Tim >> >> Thanks, >> Tim >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en-US. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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