allroad cycling ⁽⁷⁾

In May of this year, I swapped my 700C Nox Composites wheels for 47° Nord hand-built 650B wheels. While I prefer the smaller wheels in combination with wider tires, I put the 700C wheels back on the bike for the fall and winter months. I did so for no practical reason other than that the 650B wheels needed new tires and the fact that I have the 700C wheels hanging in the basement with a few pairs of 700C tires sitting in my bike parts storage cabinet. In particular, I had a set of WTB Nano Race tires, which according to WTB aren’t tubeless compatible. For that reason, I tried to sell them, but I never found any taker. One evening, I got the tires out and tried them tubeless. Despite the manufacturer’s note, they were easy to mount tubeless. Easier, in fact, than some tubeless tires I’ve dealt with. For the next couple of months, I’ll therefore be on those Nanos. I have a pair of 42mm wide Teravail Washburn tires that may be mounted next.

After 217 kilometers my new wheels have proven that 650B is my ideal road and gravel size. I made this discovery with my third Volagi Viaje years ago already. But for the last two years, I rode my latest bike, my Nordest Albarda, on a set of 700C wheels. Such wheels roll well, but they don't like to change direction as quickly as a smaller 650B wheel. I like a bike to be lively and agile. Directional stability can have its advantages, but I generally prefer quick, sharp steering. Switching my Albarda to smaller wheels, instantly gave me that. The bike is so much more fun to ride. Not just when going downhill, but when climbing as well. When riding up a climb out of the saddle, it always seemed like the 700C front wheel was working against me. After putting 650B wheels on the bike, that feeling is gone. The bike now is a better extension of myself when motoring up a climb out of the saddle.

When I built my Nordest Albarda in the fall of 2019, I didn’t spend the money to get all new parts for it. I took the SRAM Red eTap HRD groupset off my Ritte and used the Nox Composites wheels that had been on my red Volagi Viaje, which I had sold. A year later, the bike finally got its own drivetrain components. When I switched to 650B RoadPlus with my third Volagi Viaje, I was immediately sold on the slightly smaller but wider wheels. The Viaje felt way better with 650B wheels. If I weren’t climbing and descending as much, I’d be perfectly happy rolling around on 700C, but in the mountainous Jura, 650B just feels better.

Although the Nordest Albarda sort of was the 50th birthday present to myself, it was built on a tight budget using the wheels I had on my red Volagi Viaje and robbing my Ritte Snob Disc of most of its parts. Building the Albarda was a slow process. An hour one evening, two hours another evening and sometimes more when I lost track of time. Everything got built in stages. One night the BB and crankset. The next night the drivetrain. One night headset and fork. Another for the brakes and one last evening to bleed them. No hiccups nor problems, except that the Chris King headset Nordest sold with the frameset isn't suitable for the fork; at least not in my opinion. So a Cane Creek 110 was installed instead. Fork and DT Swiss Centerlock lock ring didn't have enough clearance for me. Then I remembered that my wife's Alfine hub had an older DT Swiss lock ring with an inner spline. This one would leave a wider gap to the fork leg, so I swapped lock rings since it really doesn't matter what type of lock ring is on my wife's bike.

In early 2019 I wanted to rebuild my Ritte Snob Disc by replacing the mechanical 10 speed SRAM Red groupset and mechanical TRP Spyre brakes with a SRAM Red eTap HRD groupset. Ever since I had to change the lower headset cup after the Enve fork recall, there was a small paint damage at the bottom of the head tube. When I went about to remove the clear protective 3M tape I had applied, the whole paint came with it. The headset removal and new installation must have been enough for the paint to separate from the stainless head tube. No primer had been used under the original paint.