AtNjineer

Please anyone with a 22” and a 20” handy can you measure the diameter height of them both. Maybe please share a side by side photo. I’m trying to see if I have room for a 22” in the rear of my bike. Thanks in advance
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veganbikes

Why would you run a tire size that is basically non-existent? I would have to build and buy new wheels that are an extremely uncommon size which would mean sticking with potentially lower quality stuff or at least stuff with fewer options. I will have to run narrower tires and if I do run a brake then I would probably have issues there. Then if I have a need for a new tube or tire most shops aren't going to carry it and they would be hard to order. It all seems like downsides to me. If I wanted a bigger BMX bike I would go with a proper 24" which is a more common size but honestly I would probably stick with 20" like all the other BMX bikes.

All the adults I know who ride BMX ride 20" or I have seen people build up 26" and 29er stuff for cruising and such.

Duragrouch

By 22", do you mean 451 bead seat diameter, or a different one?

20" is typically 406mm, so that's almost 2" difference, but 451 is also typically called 20". Also, 451 tires tend to be skinner and high pressure, as 451 is typically used for fast road riding, so the actual outside diameter is closer to 406-44 than the difference in bead seat diameter would indicate.

Viich

So - picking up on Duragrouch - The 451 size has been picked back up in racing as the "OS20" size, some people refer to it as "cheater size" as the wheel is bigger than the 20" classes allowed until this new name happened. There are a few good race tires and rims out there for it for sure. It's going to raise your bottom bracket and mess around with your geometry a little.

osiris419

22" BMX is pretty common and tires and tubes are readily available. If not in stock at your LBS they can order them very easily. S&M, Fit, Subrosa, and Stolen just to name a few brads have 22" bikes or frames. The frames are closer to the geometry of a 20" than the companies can get with larger wheeled bikes.

osiris419

Yes OS20 and 22" are the same rim diameter. It's like 700c and 29" same size rim just wider. OS20 uses 20x 13/8" tires and 22" uses 2.1-2.4" tires. One is for racing and one is for street/ park/ trails.

veganbikes

I know you can get them but I wouldn't say readily available. None of the shops I have worked for stocked tubes for it aside from one where towards the end we stocked them for the rad power crap coming in.

From one of the largest distributors QBP which does a lot of BMX stuff you have one tube option in a normal butyl tube and some Tubolito tubes and a single rim strip was well as one front and one rear wheel. No rims and no tires at all. Eastern which does nothing but BMX has zero stuff from what I saw (not saying they make good or bad stuff just commenting on a BMX only company). I get it does exist but not super common in the regular world.

Viich

Not quite - 20x 1 3/8 is expert size. Uses the same size wheels as mini BMX racing. I know it's should be the same, but the manufacturers claim that it isn't compatible. I haven't tested whether it is or not. They're labeling the tires as 20x2.1" but marking it OS20. This is because if they call it 22" then it can't be used in BMX class racing, only cruiser.

Duragrouch

"Oh great oracle of Sheldon Brown, lend us your wisdom."

Viich

So what I'm trying to convey is that 451 is now labeled as, in addition to 20" with fractional sizing, 20" with decimal sizing but branding on the tire of OS20.

Because bike manufacturers hate us they also claim that, for no reason they've disclosed, OS20 at 451mm is not compatible with the fractional sizing 451mm.

Back to the original question, 22" for freestyle BMX is 457 BSD.

You're likely to be able to fit a 22", but you may be restricted to narrower tires.

Duragrouch

457!! OK, that was not understood, that gives a much better understanding of things. I thought you were talking purely about 451 vs 406. So are you trying to fit 457 tires on 451 rims, or 451 tires on 457 rims?

Viich

I'm not the OP. @AtNjineer is trying to fit 457 tires and rims on a frame intended for 406.

Duragrouch

Sorry, thanks. Ah, well, depends on how tall the section height. I wish the tire charts on sheldonbrown had either that or the outside diameter for each tire size. They do list the bead seat diameter and/or radius. I would take that for 457, add the same section height for the 406 tires he prefers, and that would give them the diameter they seek.

tds101 

AtNjineer was banned, and the forum was better off for it.