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The Bikeman Blogs section is our collection of blogs from our Team Bikeman members and friends of Bikeman. Contributions from regular riders and commuters, bike aficionados, and world class racers.
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Howdo. My name is Zach Magoon and I have been commuting year-round by bike for the last 7 years in both Boston, MA and Portland, ME. Because each day brings new challenges, whether it be changing weather conditions, crappy drivers, sore muscles or mechanicals, I think my ramblings will be, at the very least, moderately amusing. | |
Commuter Files Archives. |
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Greetings and salutations. My name is Rick Nelson (no, not that one damnit) and I am a rider for Team Bikeman.com. You can check out my profile in the team rider section. “Racin Rick” covers my trials and tribulations as a mountain bike racer, commuter, new father etc. In truth, its just a way for me to kill time at work and to see pictures of myself on the web. So here are some excerpts from all my blogging, hope you enjoy. | |
Racin Rick Archives. |
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Welcome to Tales From The Soiled Chamois. This is going to be an online journal taking you through my season of training for and racing marathon, 6, 12, and 24 hour solo endurance races all while working a full time job, being married with a two year old son. I'm no pro, even though I do occasionally race against them. I'm just out there having fun pushing myself. | |
The Soiled Chamois Archives. |
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Not to be confused with the time-trial and women's-specific 650C wheel, the 650B wheel is all about comfort, versatility, and speed over varied terrain. The key to this is all in the tires. A 650x38B setup is about the same diameter as a 700C wheel with a 19mm tire... | |
650Blog Archives. |
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650B - Mountain Wheels |
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Written by Wally Wallace
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Saturday, 22 September 2007 |
 | | 650B or 27.5 Mountain Wheels |
In a few days the mountain bike world will be introduced to a new wheel size that cuts the difference between the standard 26" wheels and the new trend of 29" wheels. The 650B wheel will take center stage at Interbike in Las Vegas on several new mountain bikes, including the Carver Killer B. Before most of the world even hears about the new wheelsize, Bikeman has already built and tested a set.
 | | Pacenti Neo-Moto |
Before we begin we must acknowledge that none of this would be possible without a nice set of 650B tires and rims. Credit for this development goes to Kirk Pacenti, without whose efforts to bring a new 650B mtb tire into production we would not be writing this article. Kirk was also instrumental in the creation of the new Velocity Blunt disc-specific rim. Davis Carver and the crew here at Bikeman have been working closely with Kirk, who provided the pre-production and early production tires used in the development and testing of the Carver Killer B, a 650B specific titanium mountain bike. (An article introducing the Killer B will be published tomorrow).
 | | Panaracer Rampage Tread |
Kirk Pacenti's new tire, the Neo-Moto, is the most exciting piece of the puzzle. Knowing that he could only afford to produce one tread pattern in this run of tires, Kirk chose a pattern that resembles the Panaracer Rampage. So it is of no surprise that the tire is made in Japan with the help of Panaracer. If you could only pick one tread to produce this would be Bikeman's choice as well. A great all around tire choice, especially in the 2.3 size. The tire features a kevlar bead and professional graphics on the sidewall. Bikeman was also glad Kirk stuck to the 650B x 2.3 designation. (instead of the popular 27.5 designation) Bikeman has a few tires instock now with more coming soon. Pricing and weights will be up soon.
 | | click to enlarge |
Velocity has been behind the 650B revolution since the beginning with the Synergy rims that you have seen used in Previous 650B builds on our site. For the mountain bike application Velocity has introduced the 650B Blunt rim. The rim is disc brake specific and is available in Black, Silver, and White. The rims are hand rolled in Australia and while they don't have eyelets they built up very well. We have heard that eyelets may be used on future rims. Built around a Shimano Deore XT hubset with double butted spokes and brass nipples, the rims felt stiff and stable on the trail. Time will tell on the durability but the initial test went well.
 | | click to enlarge |
If you have read this far you may be asking why bother with another wheel size.... The 650B mountain wheel affords the smaller rider the opportunity to "RIDE" a bike with larger wheels. I say "RIDE" because when I have tried to mount a 29'er I felt like I was sitting on top of the bike and I couldn't maneuver the bike in tight situations. I am 5'8" and I like the ride of a smaller bike that I can throw around a bit and the 29" wheels would never feel this way for me. That said I believe that anyone over 6'2" or so should be on a 29'er. It makes sense as they will be able to handle the bigger wheels and ride a more natural frame size than they could on a 26 or 650B bike.
The 650B wheel is perfect for the smaller rider looking for big wheel performance while keeping many of the ride characteristics of their 26" mountain bike. I am ready to order my Carver Killer B now! A complete test report on the Carver Killer B and the Pacenti Neo-Moto tires will follow in October. |
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