650 wheels on a cross bike?

[MartianDestiny]

My custom bike has both 650c wheels and 26" wheels. The 26" wheels are Ultegra road hubs and narrowish mtb rims. I use 26x1.3 slick tires on them, and I love them so much the I rarely switch over to the 650c wheels. The 26x1.3s are perfect for touring and commuting, and road riding over spring potholes. For touring on unpaved trails, I put on 26x1.5 tires. If you're going custom, you want the best fit without compromises, so don't insist on 700c wheels if that alters the optimal design. I'm 5'7" with long legs and short torso, and with my foot size and crank length, I couldn't have used fenders with 700c wheels.

Glad to hear another instance of this being done.

What was your brake solution? Are you using disks or some sort of modifiable canti?

It could very well be possible that I'm happy with road modified 26" wheels given tire options, but I'd really like the option of going up to 650c's in case I don't.

[DebW]

Glad to hear another instance of this being done.

What was your brake solution? Are you using disks or some sort of modifiable canti?

I have longer reach Shimano road brakes. Switching wheels means shifting the pads up or down a couple milimeters and fiddling with the pad angle. Because the 650c and 26" wheels have different rim widths, I also adjust the brake barrel to compensate so I get the same lever travel. The road brake caliper restricts the tire size I can use to 1.5" max. If you might want to run knobby cx tires, you probably don't want caliper brakes, and typical cantis are somewhat difficult to move and center the pads. Definitely pay attention to ease of brake pad adjustment in whatever brakes you get.