Why 27" / 630 mm wheels?
What is the story of 27 inch wheels?
There where already several common sizes near 630 (622 and 635 mm). Was 27" just an effort to create a new fad and make more money? Or is 27" much older? I usually get annoyed by them. Though I have one bike with 27" and it's fully ok, just a bit difficult to get new tires (at least in the shops around here). The good thing is that frames made for 27" usually have bit more room and of you convert to 622, you can run wider tires. |
"I just love standards, because there are so many to choose from."
It would have been nice if 630mm rims had never been invented, just as it would have been nice if the U.S. had followed Ben Franklin's recommendation to make the American Revolution complete by adopting the French metric system and overthrowing Imperial weights and measures. I remember the early 1970s, when 700C/622mm was the hard tire size to find. |
I think they did it just to keep you awake at night.
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It was a proprietary size introduced by Dunlop, who made both the rims and the tires. I'm not sure exactly when this was; late 1930's I guess. The idea was to corner the market. It worked for a while.
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I think it's interesting that even as late as 1991 touring bikes were made with 27" wheels with the theory that in the middle of the sticks, it'll be easier to find 27" tires. The dominance of 700C is a relatively recent thing.
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Originally Posted by The Golden Boy
(Post 16928242)
I think it's interesting that even as late as 1991 touring bikes were made with 27" wheels with the theory that in the middle of the sticks, it'll be easier to find 27" tires. The dominance of 700C is a relatively recent thing.
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Originally Posted by The Golden Boy
(Post 16928242)
The dominance of 700C is a relatively recent thing.
When I started riding again in 2008 after 20+ years away from cycling, I had never even heard of 700C tire sizes. If you scoured my early BF posts you'll probably find a few from me asking what the heck a 700 tire is and how it compares with 27". To make it more confusing for me, I also acquired an old Raleigh DL-1 around that time that has 700B tires (aka 28 x 1-1/2). See also. |
Good answers. Thanks.
For me it's fully enough with 349 mm (Brompton etc), 650B and 700C. Here is a list that is larger than Sheldons tire size list: A guide to tyre sizes |
Originally Posted by Doohickie
(Post 16928282)
This.
When I started riding again in 2008 after 20+ years away from cycling, I had never even heard of 700C tire sizes. If you scoured my early BF posts you'll probably find a few from me asking what the heck a 700 tire is and how it compares with 27". To make it more confusing for me, I also acquired an old Raleigh DL-1 around that time that has 700B tires (aka 28 x 1-1/2). See also. I have an almost antique bike, with the largest tire size ever made for safety bikes. 642 mm, a total nightmare to get a new pair. They are probably still made in China. I've seen them in one online shop in Australia. |
Originally Posted by John E
(Post 16928158)
"I just love standards, because there are so many to choose from."
SP OC, OR |
And mountain bikers are making it even stupider
29er = 700c, so why did they need a new term? and worse again are the new 27.5" wheels (what we know as 650b). So a 29er is smaller than a 27" tire and a 27.5" is smaller than not only a 27" tire, but also a 700c |
Originally Posted by Ex Pres
(Post 16928435)
And mountain bikers are making it even stupider
29er = 700c, so why did they need a new term? and worse again are the new 27.5" wheels (what we know as 650b). So a 29er is smaller than a 27" tire and a 27.5" is smaller than not only a 27" tire, but also a 700c But I guess marketing are trying to make more catchy phrases. What rim diameter are those moonlander fat bikes using? I can add them to my list as well. Looks like a total dream to ride of road. |
Originally Posted by rando_couche
(Post 16928349)
Or to put it another way, the bike industry loves standards - that's why everybody has their own.
SP OC, OR |
Originally Posted by Wogster
(Post 16928454)
I think you will find that the standards have changed over time, it seems that there are so many standards in cycling, because bicycles can last many decades. Unlike many other technologies where items themselves only last a decade or so, look at computers. Try finding an 8" floppy for example.
I would like to see a computer calculated best size, inertia, wheel and bike weight, rim diameter, tire width, tire pressure, etc. Very interesting to read Bicycle Quarterly about 650B x 42. It's almost as if narrow tires = high speeds is a myth. |
More to the point; why isn't everyone using ETRTO designations? In automobiles, trucks, motor vehicles - just about everywhere else, tires are designated by the bead seat diameter (BSD). It would a great deal less confusing for everyone if bicycling followed the same standard.
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Originally Posted by nfmisso
(Post 16928704)
More to the point; why isn't everyone using ETRTO designations? In automobiles, trucks, motor vehicles - just about everywhere else, tires are designated by the bead seat diameter (BSD). It would a great deal less confusing for everyone if bicycling followed the same standard.
349, 559, 584 and 622 mm will do it for me. But 650B looks amd sounds better and is easier to remember than 584 mm. And that's probably why it lives on. |
Originally Posted by 1987
(Post 16928475)
I would like to see a computer calculated best size, inertia, wheel and bike weight, rim diameter, tire width, tire pressure, etc.
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Originally Posted by Sir_Name
(Post 16928783)
I think there are far too many variables for a "one size fits all" best size. Best for what?
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There used to be a bewildering variety of tire sizes but they seem to have sorted themselves out into more or less five categories:
406 mm for folders, mini velo and bmx bikes, 559 mm for cruisers and standard mountain bikes, 584 mm for mid size mountain bikes and older French touring/city bikes, 622 mm for road bikes and 29er mountain bikes and 635 mm for path bikes and roadsters. |
Originally Posted by 1987
(Post 16928333)
Interesting that 27 was so wide spread in US. 700B = 635 is the classic size for utility bikes in Scandinavia. The size is obsolete, so no new bikes are made in that size. But it's still very easy to get new 635 tires here.
I have an almost antique bike, with the largest tire size ever made for safety bikes. 642 mm, a total nightmare to get a new pair. They are probably still made in China. I've seen them in one online shop in Australia. I also bought a Finnish city bike that was probably 20 years old or so, with a plastic cantilever brake and lever to complement the rear hub's coaster brake, after I got here and before my stuff arrived. It came with really nice, single-walled Belgian rims in great shape, both 700c! I'm still beating the tar out of the rear rim and haven't had to get out the spoke wrench once despite the brutal flogging it takes. Go figure! |
Originally Posted by 1987
(Post 16928448)
What rim diameter are those moonlander fat bikes using? I can add them to my list as well. Looks like a total dream to ride of road.
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Originally Posted by NormanF
(Post 16928815)
There used to be a bewildering variety of tire sizes but they seem to have sorted themselves out into more or less five categories:
406 mm for folders, mini velo and bmx bikes, 559 mm for cruisers and standard mountain bikes, 584 mm for mid size mountain bikes and older French touring/city bikes, 622 mm for road bikes and 29er mountain bikes and 635 mm for path bikes and roadsters. nterestingly, the outer diameter of the tire for both 507mm and 571mm are very close. I converted a 24" mtb frame into a road bike for my daughter by switching it to 650c wheels and fork and drilling the frame bridge for a road brake on the rear tire. |
I had in mind commonly accepted sizes for adult riders. As you mentioned, there are sizes for children and smaller riders as well.
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Originally Posted by GrayJay
(Post 16929014)
Fat bikes use standard 559mm (26" mtb tire size) rims that are really wide (65-100mm width) combined with a huge tire to achieve tire outside diameter that is very close to a 29'er mtb tire. While they are cushy, fat tires/wheels are really heavy, feel slow on the road and they have some weird self-steering characteristics when used on hard surfaces.
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Originally Posted by NormanF
(Post 16928815)
There used to be a bewildering variety of tire sizes but they seem to have sorted themselves out into more or less five categories:
406 mm for folders, mini velo and bmx bikes, 559 mm for cruisers and standard mountain bikes, 584 mm for mid size mountain bikes and older French touring/city bikes, 622 mm for road bikes and 29er mountain bikes and 635 mm for path bikes and roadsters. |
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