• It was ridable though and someone might like it. Maybe the weight distribution was off with my setup, though my position was the same as on roadbike.

    I just built a 650b wheelset for my Pelago Sibbo, a gravelbike with pretty much roadbike geometry. It's lots of fun like that, quicker to turn than with 700x40 and better grip, easier to adjust your line mid corner and easier to do tighter turns. On gravel that is. On paved road it actually kind of oversteers with these tyres, making sharp turns weird, not as smooth as roadbike. On gravel with the wide 650b (48mm GK SK measures almost 50mm on the i25 rims) it feels kind of like what narrow 700c feels on asphalt. Though the change is really not that dramatic as 700x40 or 35 is great on gravel too and I think more versatile and the difference isn't that big but anyway.

    And obviously the bigger volume should help me to not dent rims that often and it also helps keeping the traction on a rocky climb as the softer tyre doesn't bounce off rocks like the narrower one on a rough gravel road.

    And while this all might be obvious, it's interesting to try them.

  • I had 650X38b tyres on a bike that was designed for 700X40c so I know exactly what you mean. The lower BB helped with stability but the change in trail did not help the front end.

    The BB on the Sibbo is pretty high, no? 68mm is in road bike geo territory in theory (pretty high still) but if you fit fat tyres on the resulting BB height is going to quite substantial IMHO. But then I like low BBs...

  • Yeah it feels somewhat tall with 700x40. And 650x48 lowers it to the basic roadbike height. Good for using two wheelsets of different size.

    Interesting how much like a roadbike Sibbo feels on gravel with the wide 650.

About

Avatar for Lolo @Lolo started