OMG 650b is tiny!

Fresh on my successfull bike parts for beer thread I find myself somewhat inebreated in the back garden. For the first time I have my 650b & 29er Clockworks out at the same time.

What is going on with those tiny wheels?

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It really is just a gratuitous excuse to post a photo of my lovely bikes.

What are you talking about? They're all huge compared to proper 26" wheels... :mrgreen:

Nah, a small 650b tyre (2 or 2.1") will be pretty much the same rolling diameter as a large (2.35 or 2.4") 26". Only a few mm in it.

29er is much bigger.

Suppose the big question is which of the two do you like the best ?

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It's a good question that I can't answer easily.

The 650b is a large frame with 120mm forks, the 29er is a medium with 100mm forks. They have the same bars/stems/grips/saddles & pedals. 29er has a layback post.

The distance from saddle to bars is identical as is saddle height from the centre of the cranks. The 29er is more comfortable despite me being 6ft and Orange saying I need the larger frame.

The 650b has Nobby NICs and the 29er Continental X-King, I seem to prefer the Contis - or am I prefering the bigger wheels?

Can't fully get my head around the preference for the 29er, plus I wanted to prefer the 650b as it is a more complete build.

I plan to keep riding them both till the 29er build is finished, better forks/cranks/headset. Then rebuild the favourite with the XTR M9000 parts I am accumulating. I expect that decision in the summer.

Thanks it's nice to see the 2 bikes compared like that be interesting to see which ends up being your favourite later in the year I suppose it also depends on the type of riding you do

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davidj":2945s73c said:

as is saddle height from the centre of the cranks. The 29er is more comfortable despite me being 6ft and Orange saying I need the larger frame.

Click to expand...

Do you have the same set back from the bottom bracket to saddle? That's going to make a massive difference to comfort. (If things like bar height, crank length etc are the same)

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Yesterday really was the first time they were both out together and I have a lot more measurements to make.

The 29er with shorter travel forks sits higher at the front despite the frame being 1 size smaller. The layback on the 29er post will almost certainly sit me further back than the crank spindle. The 29er must have longer chainstays, the 650b more take - or is that just the longer fork and will balance out when sag is allowed for?

To what amount the above differ I don't yet know. If the weather is still fine when I finish this set of night shifts I will try to identify the differences.

Don't get me wrong the 650b isn't bad, just the 29er feels better for me somehow. If I didn't have the 29er I would have been 100% happy with the 650b.

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Still struggling to decide which is best, which is my ONE bike...

To make it easier to decide I have bought another Clockwork (man logic), but this time it is a 29er in large. I am not daft though, it is a different colour to the other two