[Closed] 650b Spicy - conclusively faster says Nico

Fact is that they aren't holding a gun to your head forcing you to buy the new stuff. If people don't want them, they won't buy them.

Heckler
orange 5
Turner 5 spot

etc

they are forcing me especially that bit where they are not making them anymore

FWIW I accept a 29 er can help you munch miles if that is what you want to do but 650 b is nothing and has no real demand

If you're seriously into racing people from the internet then I reckon it's worth the upgrade.

what i said, but this bike is aimed at us, most pro riders already have a ride.

Does that mean he gets slower as the tyres wear?

I'm still thinking that what we really need is a wheel size in between 26" and 650B which combines the positive attributes of both.

Bit like the scientific races they have on Top Gear.

We may all be riding 650b one day very soon, but I'm unsure that "performance" is really the reason why.

Junkyard - lazarus

FWIW I accept a 29 er can help you munch miles if that is what you want to do but 650 b is nothing and has no real demand

If you accept that 29ers have a real benefit, then you have to accept that 650b delivers some of the same benefit. Whether that justifies buying a new bike/frame/forks/wheels/whatever (it didn't for me) is your own decision.

The demand is real - Americans are going 650 crazy, and this time the small manufacturers are getting on board because a lot of them lost sales by not being ready for the 29er explosion in XC bikes.

you have to accept that 650b delivers some of the same benefit.

I dont actually given the thread tells us it may be one second for a pro rider over 3 minutes with poor [experimental]control and we assume times crossing over each other.

So no I dont

The demand is real

well it will be if it is all you sell

Heckler
orange 5
Turner 5 spot

and this time the small manufacturers are getting on board because a lot of them lost sales by not being ready for the 29er explosion in XC bikes.

Eh? The Sultan has been around for a loooong time, and the tallboy was hardly behind the curve either.

I wasn't talking about Turner or SC, someone else was.

honourablegeorge - Member

The demand is real - Americans are going 650 crazy

Yep. No question IMO that there's a real demand. Not an informed demand, mind, but still.

It's basically a marketing dream... It's a change, requiring new hardware, which is Exciting! New things! But it's basically the smallest possible change that could require it, which stops it from being Scary, like 29ers. In the cold light of day it's ridiculous but it's easy to see why it's so appealing.

All my bikes are from people who made the bike they want to, and made it the best they could. I wonder how true that is of the 650b bandwagoneers. Santa Cruz broke the rules by admitting they were making bikes purely to sell to an uninformed demand, rather than because they're better bikes. Nobody else dares admit that but does anyone believe they're alone?

In the cold light of day it's ridiculous but it's easy to see why it's so appealing.

Money you mean? I don't see why it's appealing. I find myself thinking that anyone who buys into it is simply gullible and, dare I say it, stupid. People who bought into 29er were at least choosing something that clearly was different in performance terms, but the whole 650B thing is like something dreamt up by the Onion.

It's mental and all about selling more stuff when as a world, we should be trying to produce less things and preserve resources not churn out more and more and more things.

It would be silly to think you can police change or demand but it does still cause a bit of sand in my fanny (american for bottom, not a rude word).

I built an enduro in 2007. Since building it and riding it tons it has gone through one set of cogs, one shifter and a chainstay which has been replaced (tyres and tubes as well). I still think 650 is overhyped marketing for little change but can understand why manufacturers would do it. I would if I were them and they sold.

It is a shame that we lower economies of scale on new 26" parts with a new standard.

What would you like them to do? Sit on these marginal improvements because they don't think people will really notice?

What improvement? 1 second is well within the margin of error. This is Emperor's new clothes.

What happens in another few years when a second or two is gleened from another "new thing" ? That could be say a 3 second advantage over winning or losing, one things for sure if the riders train as they do throughout the winter for the start of the race season and are putting in their all I for one would want to see them pushing the boundaries even if it was a second !

This is not 'a second or two'. 0.35% is around 60 yards over 10 miles, that's a pretty conclusive win.

Oh as little as that 😳

ah well, my new Nomad's due in the next few weeks 26" to boot, I'm not convinced by the new hype, obviously........

DoctorRad - Member

This is not 'a second or two'

It is, though.

i bet the frame still cracks on it

From this

Apparently the new bike is one second faster over a 2min 50sec run. Which I work out as around 0.35%.

This is not 'a second or two'. 0.35% is around 60 yards over 10 miles, that's a pretty conclusive win.

Nico will tell you whatever the folk who provide his free bikes tell him to tell you.

The size of yer wheel means nothing.

this fellow springs to mind.

So a little bird tells me that the spicy will be available in 27.5 and 26, with the zesty being available in 29 and 26. What make the hive of this?

meltdown

So a little bird tells me that the spicy will be available in 27.5 and 26, with the zesty being available in 29 and 26. What make the hive of this?

Arsed

mildred - Member

Nico will tell you whatever the folk who provide his free bikes tell him to tell you.

I doubt that- considering that he's variously championed developments that they've never made, criticised bikes they do, declared their production frames to be too stiff and lacking in grip, etc. Lapierre cherrypick his opinions for the ones that match what they want to sell though.

For those worried about forks... you'll fit a 26" wheel in a 650b fork no problem... if they ever do stop making 26" forks.

For those worried about forks... you'll fit a 26" wheel in a 650b fork no problem... if they ever do stop making 26" forks.

My next fork will be a 650b even if I'm on 26" wheels - proper mud clearance for big tyres!