[Closed] Anyone use fat 650b monster-gravel type bike?

I have a 650x47 wheel/tyre set for my VN Amazon. Definitely slower going than thinner rubber but it gives me a great option for heading off onto rougher tracks. Very pleased with it.

I bought Horizons but then realised it was really Byways I needed, just for that extra bit of tread when it's a bit more sloppy.

Definitely slower going than thinner rubber

Enough to annoy you?

I'm running the same 650x47 WTB tyres on my Bokeh with no issues at all.

I use it as pretty much my go to bike so it goes out on club rides and I never really have any issues keeping up with everyone. For my commutes it's nice and comfortable but again not obviously slow comapred to other bikes I've used.

My other bike is a singlespeed gravel bike, a Trek Crockett, which is running on 42mm gravel king tyres and again it doesn't feel slow at all and keeps up with mates when I'm out riding with them.

If I was going for a long road tour, guaranteed to be tarmac, then I'd fit skinnier/700c tyres. Most of the time I use the Byways. I have a dynamo wheel set for each and the 650c gets used most of the time. It's just minutes to swap so the fact I rarely bother must mean something (other than just that I'm a lazy bastard).

TBH the most time consuming element of doing the wheel swap is re-aligning the BB7s. I hope to fit hydros soon so that might be even quicker.

a mate just bought one of these, for under 500.

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/marin-pine-mountain-27-5-hardtail-bike-2019/rp-prod186798

Not 'gravel', but a monster

I've got a Whyte Glencoe - bought it 2nd hand and it's ace. Yes slower on road but great for commuting and comfy on the 'roads' in Somerset.

I have G Ones in 650b x 50. Yes, not as fast as 23s etc but different type of bike too. I will happily ride all day and across a variety of surfaces.

I had Byways in 650b x 47 before that on my previous (now stolen) bike and liked them also.

I guess it depends how/where you ride but they sure work for me.

I have 2 gravel bikes, one more road oriented, a Croix De Fer, with carbon fork and 35c tyres, and a Vagabond, with 29x2.1 semi knobblies.

The CDF sees winter road duties and light road and off road touring and is only marginally slower than my carbon Defy on 25 rubber.

The Vagabond is a more relaxed affair, and noticeably slower on tarmac, but as soon as the road runs out it becomes amazing fun and as fast as the CDF on most gravel paths I ride regularly at nearby windfarm.

I've got a set of G-One 650x50 tyres on a 22lb all-road bike at the moment and for solo rides on rougher roads and lanes the bike isn't really slower than my 17lb road bike (23 or 25mms). The road bike picks up speed and climbs a bit easier and would be more reactive in a group ride but it loses out on efficiency whenever the road surfaces are bad (ie most of the lanes around here) and at times I have to slow down to be safe where the 650 bike can stay at speed. All in all I've been suprised how little difference there is in average speed for 3-6hr rides and longer on those roads - maybe 0.5 to 1km/h. On some hillier routes on bad roads the 650 bike is quicker. On smooth roads when I'm feeling good there can be 2-4km/h in it in favour of the road bike.

There's a 6-7hr ride I do fairly regularly, have done over a number of years on many bikes in a wide range of conditions. Bad science I know but my 2 fastest times along it going each way were on a light Alu road bike on 650 x 42mm tyres (Pacenti Pari-Motos, a light Panaracer casing), faster than my Equilibrium or my 'best' road bike. That was the V1 Pyrolite (2014). The Horizons aren't quite as quick (they feel better the more worn down they get ie thinner rubber layer on the central tread area) but in general the bike works the same way - keeps the average speed and efficiency high on UK roads over mid to longer distances. I think there's a lot of sense in the BQ take on tyres. Some of all this might be how the bikes work for/with me, I'd not make a good crit racer at all but I can hold a reasonable pace for a longer distance.

Wtb byways are bloody brilliant.

You're not going to see much, if any difference riding on the road, as confirmed by gcn:

And the advantages on the road outweigh any tiny loss in speed: more grip, no worry about potholes or rough roads, much better comfort.

They're very capable off road too, maybe not in the wet but in the dry you can find yourself going very fast on loose gravel and dirt 😁

I don't do 'proper' road riding on mine but I do commute occasionally, ride gravel, light off road etc. I'm quite happy doing 40-50+ mile gravel rides, comfort not an issue.

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i've got 2.1 thunder hurts on mine. definitely slower than thinner 700c wheels and tyres but a whole lot more fun.

I know this is a bit of a special case, but for long night rides I'd also go with the fatter tyre. It's much more difficult to see and avoid potholes and other bad road surfaces when it's dark.

Going 650b was a relatively cheap experiment for me. Some nice rims from Superstar, a set of Shimano hubs and spokes from Rose got me the wheelset for about £200.

I'm running 700c wheels with 45c WTB Riddlers. Pretty wide tyre and fits in my Arkose fine without the need to go 650b.

^ that's the cross-over size I think - 700x45 has such similar pros and cons as 650x50. A Horizon 47 or G-One 50 has a fair bit more volume than a Riddler 45 but (apart from when you hit a root hard) they feel so close in all-round ability to me. Balance point of volume vs OD/roll-over advantage maybe.

Not quite the same, but I sometimes fit 29*2.35" G Ones to my Wazoo's 29er wheels.

Not as fast as 700*31 on tarmac, but they're very adaptable and roll surprisingly well on tarmac.

Just rubbish in proper wet conditions.

^ Super Moto... those tyres are so much fun. Had them on my Jones for road weekend trips. Used Big Apples on it for road touring and they were fun as well as fast (once moving). The 2.35 G-Ones are even better.

I love the look of Ta11Pau1’s bike. I’m torn because I’d figured what I wanted was a ChiTi custom frame, but seeing his bike and then the forthcoming On-One Free Ranger with the same look but more spacing Is making me question where I’m at. I wonder how they’d work with flat bars... or if Brant will make a ti version himself!

Yep 29x2.8 it's ace ride it all over London!

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Just fitted some G-Ones to some wheels from Farsports they're mental quick!

Yeah...

47mm Vittoria Terreno, road mode.
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47mm Senderos, winter mode.
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50mm RaceKings, summer mode.
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It's excellent setup, and I rarely use my hardtail now. (but I do live in a very flat part of the country)
I swapped my 700c wheels for a mates set of 650b and use 47mm for road now, although my tarmac miles are very few.

What bike is that ^ medlow?

Of course if you want fast and lovely on the road just buy Rene Here tyres, don't mess about with WTB!

https://flic.kr/p/2htXTjs
Have run 2.1 Thunderburts on mine,comfort over speed when bikepacking.

I've been riding with 2.3" Big Apples for years for road and gravel.

Nothing irons out unpleasant roads like a bit of volume in your tyres.

Doubt it would appeal to the "fast" people, but I have no problem on 200km audax style rides in the Highlands.

What bike is that ^ medlow

I can see it's Mason. Not sure what model?

Looks like a Mason Bokeh.

Liking the things being said on this thread. Time to get some 2" rubber on my commuter!!

First ride tomorrow for this, looking forward to it. Lot of bike for £800 🙂

First ride tomorrow for this, looking forward to it. Lot of bike for £800

First ride tomorrow for this, looking forward to it. Lot of bike for £800

You got one too shermer 🙂

Haha whoops! Meant to say it looks very nice lol. Too much copy and pasting going on!

I Do like The WTB Horizons 650 x 47c but tbh for my winter road commute I’m playing with gp5000’s in 32c.

If your playing on gravel and road the horizons are great but I found them soul destroying on just road for the commute whereas the gp500s on road are really good.

The horizons are surprisingly fast thou for the size and you will be surprised and they very comfy and sure footed on rough potholed roads.

On a mixed off road/road Commute they’re fab.

I ride a fake 3t aero gravel bike for commute and a real one for fun.

I know this is a bit of a special case, but for long night rides I’d also go with the fatter tyre. It’s much more difficult to see and avoid potholes and other bad road surfaces when it’s dark.

Yep totally agree with this which is why I tend to go big in the winter months as the skinnies are lethal on the crappening roads.

That Stayer is a lovely bike. A lot of thought in the details. Hope you are coping ok around London on 29 x 2.8 ok though.

Tried 650b x 47 Byways on a longish medeterranian Alpine multi day route with a fair bit of gravel, only benefit over 700c x 45 riddlers used for an equally longish (900km) Scottish gravel/singletrack bimble, was a slightly smaller diameter which made the climbs easier. I have stuck with 700c x 45s as I think it rolls a bit better on everything other than tight singletrack. Think 650b x 47c "road plus" was a compromise for smaller clearance frames. Have tried 2.1 (52) x 650b and that was quite different. More rowdy.

Rowdy is good, right?

@Raouligan That Stayer looks fantastic!

@shermer75 Rowdy is good. 2.1 x 650b is Rowdy. 47 x 650b isnt.

Yeah, It's a very orange Mason Bokeh in size 50cm.

For my very few and very un-competitive road miles the 47mm are fine. No-doubt that a set of 700x35 or less would be faster but I like the visuals of the big tyres and the way it shows i'm not taking stuff to seriously.

I was able to keep up with a mate on a full aero 23mm thing the other night for 40miles so they must be OK. He was tippy toeing around, wheres I was just smashing though stuff not giving a 5h1t.

He was tippy toeing around, wheres I was just smashing though stuff not giving a 5h1t.

That's one thing that I've noticed doing club rides when I'm on my Bokeh with the Horizons on it.

There's quite a few occasions where I just ride over smaller potholes etc without thinking but in doing so I forget to point them out to riders behind me who are on skinny road tyres. As such they end up crashing over the same potholes which isn't ideal for them!

... call that fat?

Can anyone recommend a set of mudguards for bikes like this?  Don't really like the traditional type guards as I find them tricky to fit.  Looking for a set that's easy to fit, easy to remove and provides decent coverage for ~50mm tyres (650B).

TIA 🙂

Think 650b x 47c “road plus” was a compromise for smaller clearance frames.

Yes - was the biggest tyre that would fit most CX/gravel bikes on the market then with road chainsets/chainlines. For mixed rides with a road bias I think it's a good size. G-One 2.35s are great off-road but I'm not sure about on road, they get a bit self-steery on bad tarmac and cornering really lost the 'on an edge' feeling you get on a 25-25mm, it's much more of a side to side roll if that makes sense. You get used to it but it's good to go back to a 50mm tyre. I'm settled on 50mm or so being up to anything a drop-bar, road-ish position bike can handle well, within normal rides, but wouldn't rule out bigger. Pros/cons etc.

The Stayer is great, lots and lots of fun it's just lovely for cruising round Epping Forest and from tap room to tap room! Just got a new pair of wheels with Schwalbe Beach Racing tyres the initial prognosis is they're going to be super quick!

Schwalbe Beach Racing 

What tyres are those?

Can anyone recommend a set of mudguards for bikes like this? Don’t really like the traditional type guards as I find them tricky to fit. Looking for a set that’s easy to fit, easy to remove and provides decent coverage for ~50mm tyres (650B).

I run these on my 650b x 47 Whyte Glencoe. Loads of clearance

https://www.tredz.co.uk/.SKS-Beavertail-XL-26-700C-Mudguard-Set_31818.htm

They're G One Speed in 29x2.35 they're terrifyingly light for such massive tyres