650B (Part 2)

All the parts are in!

The parts have actually been in since the middle of last week.  Scheduling, both mine and my bike mechanic/wheel builders, has been a challenge.  Still I believe we will get started on Sunday with the spoke measurements and ordering so hopefully within a week or so I'll be riding on new wheels.

And its not just a change in tire size... oh no, as you can see above I am overhauling the drive train and adding a dyno-hub for battery-less lighting.  It is also very clear from the picture that if I hadn't done so already, I am building a 'FRANKEN-BIKE'...

We start with a nice Reynolds 531 Trek Road/Sport frame from the 1982-83 period and do the following;

-Upside down Nitto Albatross bars, on a Nitto Dirt Drop 110mm stem
-700C to 650B Wheel/Tire conversion (the bike was originally designed to a 27" wheel)
-Front Hub - Generator Shimano
-Rear Hub - Shimano 105 (a 130mm road hub to make for an easier fit in the 126mm spaced rear dropouts)
-Replace the Road Triple Crankset (suigino) with a Velo Orange Polyvalent Double 46/28 (a semi-custom pickup from the VO 'garage sale' back in early Feb)
-Bottom bracket replaced with new sealed bearing Shimano unit
-Headset replaced with new sealed bearing VO Grand Cru Headset
-Pedals replaced with the MKS Grip Kings, popularized over at Rivendell Bike Works
-Rear Derailleur upgraded to the 9 Speed M771 Deore XT, with matching XT 11-32 cassette
-Long reach, custom black alloy sidepull breaks from the VO garage sale
-New Jagwire cables! :)
-VO aluminum zeppelin fenders
-VO front rack
-Topeak MTX modular rear rack with the slide on big bag/pannier combo
-Oh yeah, and the 9 speed Shimano bar-end shifters and break levers

As it turns out, once the wheel conversion is complete this is well and truely going to be a frankenbike.  I'll post some detailed pictures once its all done. Perhaps some sausage making shots as well.  We'll see, I get pretty dirty wrenching on the bike and it isn't as conducive to handling my camera!

After completing my 3rd week of commuting I'm really looking forward to finishing up these last couple projects on the bike.  Of particular, practical and immediately noticeable impact will be the fenders.  And I'm really excited to see how the fat 44mm 650B tires are going to treat me.