Rebuilding 26" wheels with 650b rims?

[Globalti]

In the 4 years since I went over to road cycling my poor old much-loved Global titanium mountain bike has been neglected and crying quietly to itself in the garage. It already has a rigid carbon fork so it's quite a fast XC build and it's very comfortable to ride. I've decided to use it for the C2C because I don't want to be throwing my best carbon bike in the trailer behind the school minibus where it will certainly get damaged.

So I fitted some Fatboy tyres in 26" x 1.25" and they perform well. But the bike looks naff and badly under-wheeled with the small tyres, especially in those spacious forks.

So as an experiment I fitted the 700c disc wheels off my Tricross and the Global looked great; there was plenty of clearance in the roomy fork but only about 7mm clearance at the bridges, which is a little too small.

So that got me thinking: what about fitting some 650b rims to my existing very good Hope hubs? I can get Mavic rims for £30 online and building costs are about £40 per rim. I could never sell the Global and this would give the poor old friend a new lease of life as an all-purpose road/tourer/off road bike.

Any thoughts/observations/suggestions?

Here's the bike with some MTB tyres on it:

 

[fossyant]

Looks fine as it it. I shall look after it for you !

 

[raleighnut]

As long as the spoke count is the same any rims can be built onto any hubs. but for touring Schwalbe Marathons (or M+) will go on nicely and not look lost in the forks.

 

[dan_bo]

Sell me the global.

 

[Globalti]

Oooh no, after all we've been through together that would be like selling my own son; I've done Polaris events and countless mountain trips and night rides on that bike.

It was bad enough when we had to sell our Land Rover.

 

[fossyant]

Give it to me !

 

[dan_bo]

Just get rid. Hand it over.

 

[I like Skol]

Don't mess a round with girly little 1.25 tyres. 2.1 slicks are the way forward. This size gives the best of both worlds. pumped up to 60+psi they roll just the same as the skinnier tyres but have the volume needed for comfort and hammering over the rough stuff like a maniac

No need to rebuild your wheels, just get the right tyres. I run a set of continental city contacts that I think might be unavailable now but there are 26x2.0 offerings from Schwalbe (Kojak and Big Apple).

 

[Globalti]

Yes, 2.1 slicks would at least allow me to use standard MTB inner tubes.