I rode my first 650b-27.5in mountain bike and i liked it and i was wondering if anyone makes a 27.5in unicycle i like how it rolles over stuff like a 29er and feels light like a 26er so i think it is a great compromise.
650b is a totally silly size for a unicycle. (Actually it’s a silly size for a bike, too). You’re talking about a 38mm difference in rim diameter between 650b and 700c, which is 50% less than the difference between a 26" and 24" rim (507mm, typical unicycle rim diameter). Would we really need a 25" unicycle to combine the advantages of 24" and 26"?
i just thought it would be a good idea
I’m sure you can make one if you want to. Buy a rim and have it laced around a uni hub. Put it in a frame large enough, and done. It probably hasn’t been tried, so it could be a great new thing, I guess.
i got the rim and tire. would you recommend using a 29 frame or a 26?
Depends on the tire. If it’s a small tire, you it could probably fit in a 26" frame made for a large tire, but it’ll almost assuredly fit in a 29" frame, as long as it’s wide enough for the tire. What tire/rim do you have?
wtb prowler rim and a 1.95in tire
Should fit in a 26" frame but if you are buying a frame just for the 650B than I would go 29 for the extra mud room and piece of mind.
In my mind 650B makes perfect sense for a unicyclist as wheel size is our gearing as opposed to a bike that can just switch out a cog but the reason that I would not consider 650B is it’s lack of real wide rims and tires.
On the other hand if there is a good spikey tire around 1.95" wide for cutting through mud it might be the perfect wheel to swap out a wide 26 when you want a skinnier mud tire without loosing wheel height.
The difference between 700c and 650b is a little over 6%. So it would be like a fixie rider swapping out a 16-tooth cog for a 15-tooth. It’s just not significant enough to be worth it.
This year ALL the cool kids are doing it
27.5" wheels apparently are catching on and this seems compelling to me. I love the speed of my 29er and the handling of my 26"… The MTB review sites say the 27.5 / 650b come pretty close to delivering the best of both worlds. Could it be that easy? I’m looking at a Velocity P35 rim and an Ardent 27.5" tire built on a 32-hole hub.
I’ve been recently thinking about getting KH26 and putting another 650b wheel for road and light offroad use, so that I could use narrower tire, but I would not loose the speed (circumference). But up to now 650b parts are not that available in LBSs here. We got 2 years behind when 29ers came so I expect I would need to wait a bit more for 650b as well.
Don’t buy the hype. The difference between 27.5 on a 650b and 28" on a 700c is probably not even distinguishable except as placebo. It’s silliness, difference for the sake of being different.
NOt only is the difference quite small, but if you factor in the difference in tire height, you could make a 26" into a 27.5 by picking a taller sidewall tire, vice versa you could make a 29" into a 27.5 by picking a shorter sidewall.
To do it right, you need to go up on your frame size for clearance, then for brakes, well you are either going to need a Magura adaptor, a custom frame, or an Oracle disc hub plus D Brake.
The cost of a hub, rim, and tire is not cheap.
Having been a single speed mountain biker, there is something to be said for going up or down a single tooth, but usually I went down a tooth for mud season, then back up a tooth for dry season, mostly changing out in order to reduce wheel spin.
On a unicycle we can change crank lengths and walk more or less, so building a whole other wheel is like splitting hairs.
This. My 26" with a Continental Trail King 2.4 is 27.5". I’ve seen reports of a 650b Hans Dampf measuring 712mm (28"); pretty close.
I have a 700c wheel with a 700x45 that measures 28.5" while my 29x2.2 wheel measures 29.5", so technically 650b does offer a way to get a diameter between a 26 and a 29 while using a big tire, but as Tom and Ben said, the differences are pretty small.
This. My 26" with a Continental Trail King 2.4 is 27.5". I’ve seen reports of a 650b Hans Dampf measuring 712mm (28"); pretty close.
I have a 700c wheel with a 700x45 tire that measures 28.5" while my 29x2.4 wheel measures about 29.5", so technically 650b does offer a way to get a diameter between a 26 and a 29 while using a mountain tire, but as others have said, the differences are pretty small.
The other factor is rim width; I like my muni rims wider than 35mm and I haven’t seen any wider 650b rims. Going from the 38mm KH XC rim to the 47mm KH rim on a 29" made a surprising difference in stability.
This is true. My 26" with a Continental Trail King 2.4 is 27.5". I’ve seen reports of a 650b Hans Dampf measuring 712mm (28") in diameter; pretty close.
My 29x2.4 wheel measures about 29.5". I have another 700c wheel with a 700x45 tire that measures 28.5" but this is a road tire. So technically 650b does offer a way to get a diameter between a 26 and a 29 while using a mountain tire but, as others have said, the differences are pretty small.
The other factor is rim width; I like my muni rims wider than 35mm and I haven’t seen any wider 650b rims. Going from the 38mm KH XC rim to the 47mm KH rim on a 29" made a surprising difference in stability.
This makes sense if you really want to keep the diameters between the big tired 26" wheel and the smaller tired 650b wheel as close as possible. But I’m missing why a narrow tired 650b wheel would be better than a 29" wheel for road and light offroad.
This is true. My 26" with a Continental Trail King 2.4 is 27.5". I’ve seen reports of a 650b Hans Dampf measuring 712mm (28") in diameter; pretty close.
My 29x2.4 wheel measures about 29.5". I have another 700c wheel with a 700x45 tire that measures 28.5" but this is a road tire. So technically 650b does offer a way to get a diameter between a 26 and a 29 while using a mountain tire but, as others have said, the differences are pretty small.
The other factor is rim width; I like my muni rims wider than 35mm and I haven’t seen any wider 650b rims. Going from the 38mm KH XC rim to the 47mm KH rim on a 29" made a surprising difference in stability.
I was about to pull the trigger on the new KH26 after selling my 24 a few days ago, only to find out UDC is out of stock. I spoke to Josh who said Kris is coming out with a KH26 with 650B wheel. They don’t know what tire it’s being specd with. Anybody else know about this?
I may just stick with the 26 as I’m moving to Israel at the end of Summer and it may be harder to get tires/spokes etc there and 26 is more common. But it’s worth considering I think.
I had a 29 and found it too big for an all-around Muni and urban ride while the 24 is too small. 26 may be perfect or maybe the 650…
Yes this happened to me two weeks ago. The new ones won’t be out until April. Josh mentioned that the tire, brakes and seat were changing. I didn’t ask other details though.