650b tires for 47 cm Roadini

[Jim S.]

I see Riv sells the Continental basketball tire at 650b x 32, and that tire is surely a good one, but I wonder if there are any other roadish tires availble in 650b x 32 - 35 range for that small Roadini.

Panaraer Nifty Swifty's would be perfect, but they don't seem to be available anymore.

I know this is a first-world problem, but tan sidewalls look a little nicer to me than the all-black basketball tires. 

[Matt Dreher]

The Brits have a few left, and for cheap: https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYPANS/nifty-swifty-wire-tyre

But otherwise 38's the smallest they come in tanwall. You might also find some Grand Bois'es left over someplace.

[Eric G@rs]

I actually just went through trying to find 35mm tires for my gf’s Roadini. Ended up bumping up to 38mm because they were much more readily available. I believe Grand Bois Cypres are 32mm, but I couldn’t find those anywhere except Japan. Others may be in the know on better options though...

[Jim S.]

Eric, did her 47 Roadini have clearance for a 38? I must have read somewhere that 35 is max. If it fits 38, there are a few more options for sure.

[Eric G@rs]

The clearance according to Vince is 43mm. 38s have plenty of room. I don’t know why the geometry charts say otherwise.

[Joe Bernard]

Eric, does 650B have much larger clearances than the 700C Roadinis? The 50cm listed for sale elsewhere on this forum shows Jack Brown 33s without a whole lotta room left over, certainly not for 43. I used that same tire on my 53cm frame and remember not having a ton of clearance left, either. Side-to-side maybe, but not upwards to a Tektro caliper brake.

[Fullylugged]

The Continental Contact Speed is available as 650B x 32. Blackwall only. (English supply) Hutchison Confriere is also 650B x 32 and has a gray sidewall (French sellers). Grand Bois Cypres 650B x 32 is available with a tan wall. (from Japan or from Berthoud). You can also ask on the 650B list and hunt Craigs or Ebay lists.

Soma B-Line (or Express if you find some around) all are listed as 38 but run 36 on my bike. Instead of Nifty Swifty, which has wire bead, you might see if you can get Maxy Fasty with fevlar. It's 33.4 mmm Tan sidewalls.

Bruce (26" & 650B only!)in Alabama

[Erik Wright]

I seem to remember reading that the 47 Roadini was designed with bigger clearances in mind because tire availability in 650x32-35 is pretty slim, whereas 650x38-42 is much easier to find.

[Jim S.]

Thanks all for all this information. This board is great.

[Paul Brodek]

I've been nosing around 650b alternatives and thought I'd mention a couple of sorta off-topic newer tires here, just to have the info all in once place. And I've been messing around these past couple of days with a couple of the tires mentioned, so I have some observations and data.

As for tires that have already been mentioned, I haven't found any seemingly easy/reliable non-French sources for the Confriere. XXCycle is usually the first to pop up on google, I've bought from them before in pre-covid times. Not sure what air mail from France is like these days. The tires are pretty affordable at around $25ea at today's conversion rates, not sure what shipping costs. I thought I had a pair on hand, bought 10yrs+ ago, could only find one yesterday.

The Confriere is lighter than my equally-aged Grand Bois Cypres standard, 280g vs 311g actual. Current spec is 267g for the Confriere and 320g/260g for the Grand Bois std/EL. Both tires are spec'd 32-584, while the Confriere measures a little bit wider, 33mm vs 32mm on Velocity Aerohead rims. But the Confriere has a tread overhand on the side of the tire, meaning the tread wraps around the side of the tire and sits above the casing, like the Vittoria Corsa tires, so the actual casing width is the same. At least on the ones I played with yesterday. The Confriere was probably never mounted/inflated, so it might  expand some. The GBs were well-used, so they've stretched about all they will.

The GB Cypres are readily available out of Japan, as long as retailers have stock and covid doesn't interfere with air shipments. Ordering direct from i's Bicycles in Kyoto, or Blue Lug in Tokyo, is pretty straightforward. Blue Lug I think will allow you to check out directly online with paypal, i's will send you a paypal invoice including air shipping costs after you order.

Scott Davis also imports GB tires, and is their official US distributor, and he usually has listings on ebay. He had red-tread 32s on ebay yesterday, nothing with black tread. I think I saw him post elsewhere that he wasn't likely to get another shipment of anything till mid-May, due to covid impact on, I guess, everything. Japan domestic production/shipping, Japan retailer operations, US>Japan shipping.

There are a couple/few alternatives that are narrower than 32mm, again sorta off-topic, but interesting.

Schwalbe makes the G-One stubbly tire in a 30-584, but not in the highest-zoot Race spec. I think it's their second-tier spec, Performance or something.

Continental makes the GP5000 in a 28-584. I'd get real fired up if they moved that up into the 32mm+ range.

Both of those are relatively recent tires, but I also just saw that Ritchey makes the Tom Slick in a 28-584. The Tom Slick has been around for a long time, though there might have been changed/improvements over the years.

As to why these narrower 584s exist, I think it's probably a Euro thing, with a lot of vintage especially French rando bikes designed around 23-32mm 650b tires. They also might be just the ticket if you had some weird aero-schmaero track time trial frame designed around 700x21c tires. 28mm 650b tires would get you more cush, and you'd probably still have decent ground clearance.

Paul Brodek
Hillsdale, NJ USA  

[Eric G@rs]

Joe, the 650b Roadini does indeed have larger clearances relative to the 700c. I have attached a picture to demonstrate. The tire is 38mm Gravel King. Looks to be quite a bit of room left over.

[Joe Bernard]

Wow. Yup, dats alotta clearance!