Peugeot 3-speed with buckled 650b rims.... what next?

In the process of moving my 1987 Peugeot Tradition round to my girlfriend's house, I was riding at dusk without particularly good lights on a road I didn't know, which turned out to have quite substantial potholes in it... and I hit some of them too fast and too hard.

So the heavy old steel rims are quite substantially dented - I can still ride the bike, but comfortably for the 10 mile commute to work. I've done a bit of research and they're what seems to be a fairly obscure old French size - 650b, or 26 x 1½ - although it seems 650b wheels are gaining a following in mountain biking circles. Anyway, I've had problems getting tyres for it before.

What would you say was a cost-effective solution to get it back on the road? The annoying thing is that I'd just had it serviced and it was running beautifully.

I know the bike itself isn't worth much, and replacing wheels or rims may cost more than its worth, but the steel rims have been the worst thing about it - hardly any braking capability whatsoever in the rain - and I've idly considered upgrading them for ages.

Just for the improved braking really, although I assume it would help a bit to have lighter wheels, it's never going to be a lightweight. But it's a good, lugged frame with a nice comfortable ride and has got me to work reliably in various locations for a good 12 years now - and I always appreciate a Sturmey Archer in city traffic, and having the ability to surprise hipsters on fixies by casually leaving them standing at the traffic lights as I snick up seamlessly through the gears.

So does anyone know of any good cheap 650b rims out there on the market, or anyone that may have NOS wheels? And is this the kind of job that could be tackled by someone whose technical level of expertise currently amounts to being able to adjust brakes or raise a stem?

On another note, I'd bought a Shimano 600 mini groupset recently which came with two hubs, and I'd had half a mind to get some rims and try and build them up for the Raleigh tourer with a Reynolds 531 frame I got for £20 off eBay.

How hard is wheelbuilding? I suspect it might be beyond me, or sit in the shed as an unfinished project for far too long...

Would *really* appreciate any advice anyone has to offer - unless that advice is, scrap the Peugeot... I'm too attached to it to do that.

Cheers,
Drew

By the way, the rims are 36-hole. I've just counted the spokes.

Steel rims are awful in every way. They are heavy and have appalling braking performance in the wet. Frankly the sort of hubs likely to be laced to steel rims are likely to be similarly poor - rough and poorly sealed.

It's simplest to buy a set of new wheels, but you may well find then that it's and old frame with narrower spacing. From then the problems spiral outwards. If the bike is simply transport, buy another decent secondhand bike with the £100+ that the new wheels will cost.

More than transport, I'm afraid - I've had it 12 years and I'm rather attached to it...

The front hub is nothing special, I'm sure. Although it's got through an awful lot of miles in the last 12 years with no hiccups and the minimum of maintenance. I certainly wouldn't miss it though. But the rear is a recently-serviced Sturmey Archer 3-speed in, as far as I know, pretty perfect condition.

Those aren't that rare either, but would anyone be selling a ready-built 650b wheel with one of those at its centre?

I'm guessing that, if it is beyond DIY, then at the very least I'd have to take the old back wheel to an understanding bike shop and say, can you put a new rim on that for me?

Looks like there are some 650b rims out there (see the SJS website) but they all seem specific for disc brakes only. Hopefully someone will know a supplier stocking a rim-brake version.

If 650b rim-brake specific rims turn out to be made from unobtainium would the frame have sufficient clearance to run 26" x 1 3/8" wheels? In the ever confusing world of tire sizing systems 650b is 584mm ISO whilst 26" x 1 3/8" is 590mm ISO. Doesn't sound like that much of a difference so maybe too good to be a working solution?

Seeing this article on Sheldon Brown's website I'd have some hope that suitable 650b rims are available but at a price - unless there's a supplier in France who ships within Europe at reasonable rates.

go and see a good lbs sure they should be able to help its amazing what a good one can do

Hi Drew,

I have some suitable alloy rims. These are vintage rims used on Highpath bikes in the 1980s. However, Due to the age and rarity of these rims Highpath normally sell them at & £100 a pair. I have recently checked with Highpath who own the rims, and they are prepared for me to but them on eBay with a starting price of £45.00 for a pair.

These are double wall/box section rims and the strongest that were available.


In a few weeks time I may have a pair of used, slightly wider Mavic Module4 rims for sale. These would be much cheaper but are likely to have slightly corroded steel eyelets.

There are modern 650b 36 hole alloy Japanese/US rims that are suitable for use with rim brakes but these would incur import duty. Details of these can be found here:
viewtopic.php?f=43&t=278186&p=2080625

I hope this helps.
Graham.

Re:

It does, massively. Thank you!

Does anyone have experience of changing from steel to alloy rims on a relatively heavy frame? Does it make much of a difference? I'm sure I read somewhere that because of centrifugal force amplifying the weight of the wheels as they rotate, having lighter rims can have a much bigger difference in terms of riding the bike than just the weight difference between one set of rims and another. Is that right?

Thanks to Graham, and Popup Bikes near Manchester Victoria station, I now have a nice set of Mavic 650b wheels, with the rear built around the original Sturmey Archer hub and the front around a 36h Maillard hub that I got for 99p plus postage on eBay.

Does anyone have tips for buying tyres to fit? I'm sure I read somewhere that 650b refers to the size of the wheel plus the tyre, rather than the size of the rim - is that right? In which case, what chance do you have of making sure the profile of tyre is right for your rim?

I'm still not sure the tyres I had on mine before were quite right, and anyway they need replacing. One is a 26 x 1 3/8 or 650 x 35A which has stretched and come away from the rim (it also says 37-590 on it), and the other says 26 x 1 1/2 x 1 158, as well as 650 1/2B as well as 44-584. Can anyone decipher what all that means?

I got the female equivalent of my Peugeot for my now ex-girlfriend, and that had the original thicker tyres on it that I remember were on my Peugeot when I originally got it. They'd be ideal for Manchester's potholed roads.

I've googled and searched on eBay for 650b tyres but it's a far more common size for mountain bikes and hybrids so those don't seem to be a good idea.

Would these do?
http://www.xxcycle.com/tyre-michelin-wo ... w,,en.php?

The key bit of information is the ETRTO number, which for 650b is 584mm and will be written on the tyre sidewall. This is the diameter of the rim for the tyre bead. It is an awful minefield of numbering otherwise.