DebW in the 21st century?

[DebW]

Deb, I am surprised a frame your size required SO MUCH dissasembly. From what I've read I thought you could get away with less. Do you think if you had more time you could have taken less stuff off, or were you being extra cautious?

You are probably right. Though it wasn't easy to fit it in the case even with all the disassembly I did. I'll try with less disassembly next time. My builder thought I should have been able to leave at least part of the crank on. But it seemed that my small frame size made the fit harder because part of the rear triangle ended up near the middle of the case where it almost interfered with the front hub. I had to call my builder to get advise on reattaching the crank arms to the Octalink bottom bracket. It would have been MUCH easier if I'd left the left crank arm attached.

[mimitabby]

a few pages back you wrote that you were anxious to compare the 650 wheel set to what you used to have. what do you think about it now?

[DebW]

a few pages back you wrote that you were anxious to compare the 650 wheel set to what you used to have. what do you think about it now?

I rode the 650c wheelset on a 25 mile club ride here in Maryland last night. Very different feel from the 26" wheels with mtb slicks. With the 26x1.3" tires the bike felt totally stable and bombproof over rough roads at any speed. The ride was never jarring even on major potholes. With the 650c x 23mm tires, the ride is definitely stiffer. I was using Michelin Pro Race 2 tires inflated to about 100 psi, and the tires were not remaining in contact with the road on chipseal at high speed - definitely a less than bombproof feel. Hopefully that will improve if I run at lower pressure. My intention for building 28 spoke 2-cross wheels was that the wheels would soften the ride enough to avoid this. However, I ended up using fairly stiff rims (Mavic CXP-33) with a v-section because a rim like the Open Pro wasn't available in 650c 28 hole. These wheels feel noticeably stiffer than the 700c sewup wheels (non-v rims, 36 hole, 3-cross) on my old bike, but that frame is stiffer and I got jarred badly on potholed. The sewup wheels never felt like they were losing contact with the road at high speed.

To do: (1) Try the Michelin Pro Race tires at lower pressure. (2) Put on a cyclocomputer (just bought a Strada wireless), calibrate both wheelsets, and see if the wheels make much difference in my riding speed. If they don't, then I'll probably ride the 26" wider tires all the time because the ride is more comfortable and more stable and I can commute with weight on the bike (ie. laptop).

[mudmucker]

To do: (1) Try the Michelin Pro Race tires at lower pressure. (2) Put on a cyclocomputer (just bought a Strada wireless), calibrate both wheelsets, and see if the wheels make much difference in my riding speed. If they don't, then I'll probably ride the 26" wider tires all the time because the ride is more comfortable and more stable and I can commute with weight on the bike (ie. laptop).

Deb, did you do this and what did you think?

[DebW]

Deb, did you do this and what did you think?

I do ride the 26x1.3" tires most all the time. I think the difference in average speed between these wheels and the 650x23 is 0.25-0.5 mph, but I haven't put much effort into validating this. My bike has a 39" wheelbase, as opposed to a LHT with a 42" wheelbase. The Surly Cross Check has a 39.9" wheelbase and might be a good choice for touring plus faster rides plus cyclecross. You can even get the Cross Check now with S&S couplers (the Traveler's Check). I think that the longer wheelbase and slacker frame angles of the LHT become more necessary with heavier touring loads. I keep my load under 25 lb, as I told my framebuilder, and his design works great for me.