My guess is...
Lower effective gear.
Accerelation
Lower weight.
Aerodynamics.
Proper fit which is very important but only for very short people.

Maybe its all psychological ?

Who knows...

Sean Yates... I rather see Chris Boardman riding the tour , makes my bladder loose seeing him flying on ITT.

Boardman shmordman he was only ever good at ITT and track. never much cop as a roadie especially in a race like TDF. But Yates he rocked, a fab domestique good TTer decent climber could sprint and pull like a frickin diesel for miles and miles. Still rides sub hour 25mile TT's and he is mid 40's

I remember Yates doing awesome on classics. His kinda like Jalabert, climb, sprint and TT; gifted in all 3 discipline.

I gotta admit thou Boardman was my favorite rider back in the days when i was young kid. TT looked so cool back then

this forum isnt the place for joking around!

superlite, in all your years ov cycling have you ever ridden 650's?

& as for you getting tired... find another forum

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My Place

Yes actually I have ridden 650c wheels on a track bike. But thats track, they were the best fit for my size at the time, I was 12.

I think I'll stay right here. To everyone, Happy Thanksgiving!

Just don't eat too much, otherwise there will be no point to shave weight off you bike, you'll need to shave it off yourself!

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MAMA SAID KNOCK YOU OUT! HUH!

Happy Thanksgiving Weight Weenies.. Take it easy on the gravy.

I'm starting to think that 650 is the way to go for me. I typically ride a 49-50cm frame, so 26" wheels aren't going to look too fugly.

Someone said something about gearing. If I did my math right, I could use a standard ring size (52x38) and approximate a compact crankset. In order to compensate for the decreased radius I would have to add 2 teeth. But compact cranks are fine with me, since my idea here is to increase my explosiveness on the hills. So on the gearing vantage point, it's a win win situation.

I think the main concern at this point is frames. As noted, Beloki had a custom job made. I'm not sure about JaJa, but I'm sure it wasn't standard. All the big boys, Trek, Giant, Cannondale don't sell 26" wheels except on specific TT frames. Which brings one to the conclusion that the majority of 26" wheeled frames have bad geometries, e.g. TT specific. So far I've found the following frames that have potential for a 650c racer.

- Serotta (Custom)
- Cervelo P2k, P3 (75 deg seat tube)
- Litespeed (Custom)
- Spicer (Custom)
- Aegis Swift / Independent Fabrications (only very small sizes)
- Calfee (Custom)

I guess any TT frame would work, but you'd have to get a custom seatpost made to bring the seat back to a 'normal' riding position. And that might be a little weird.

Anybody know of any light weight 650 bikes with 'normal' geometries?

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Toys-R-Us

cannondale do a frame up to 47 that uses 650's ....

http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/04/ce/model-4RW1T.html
not sure about the colour tho

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My Place

this is my fav colour

http://www.airborne.net/eready/janette/ ... ometry.asp

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My Place

My girlfriend has just got one of these 650c cannondales. the black one with pink flames on it. one of the best paint themes i've seen. will post pic as soon as i get a digi camera. here's the spec anyway, don't have scales but would love to here what anyone thinks of it and estimated weight.
cannondale frame 47cm. with alloy steerer si slice fork
full 04 record group with the carbon cranks 170mm, 11-23, campag cables
deda newton stem 100m deda 215 bars 42cm
use alien post 270mm
look jaja pedals
exustar carbon cage
deda tape
campag hiddenset..not the carbon top cap one
wheels are just velocity training ones
waiting to get either zipp 303's or about to bid on some 650c ada's on ebay.
also 650c wheels are actually less aerodynamic than 700c wheels. quoted from john cobb. aero guru. stiffer lighter and xlr8 better though and make for a much better handling bike for small sizes