m7ickey

Calling it a night, I will follow up on this post with some more details I want to post in case anyone is on a mad internet search like I was along with other random stuff. I will say this, the wheels I bought were these: Velocity Wheels - Hand Made in USA
and the tires are these in the 35c size: https://www.amazon.com/Nokian-Suomi-.../dp/B00AKYGRS0

And here's the facebook post I made about my bike and Velocity wheels:
"Many of you know I have become a "biker" as in bicycle. If you too ride, I'd like to give a shoutout to Velocity Wheels USA.
My bike and accessories have truly become "international". Bike made in Taiwan, pedals from Japan, seat from Italy, gloves from the Netherlands, several parts I'm sure are from China, tires from Finland. HOWEVER, my new wheels are manufactured in the USA! Cool little company in Michigan with about 20 employees who manufacture rims and hand build wheels for a reasonable price (keep in mind any good wheels are not cheap). They deserve our support! Customer service was great and they warranty their wheels for life! Really high quality stuff keeping Americans at work. Super happy I found these guys. Pass it on!

2 more links to the Velocity Wheel Dep't to check out: The Wheel Department
https://www.facebook.com/VelocityUSA/?hc_location=ufi
the build sheet on my wheels, in case your wondering exactly which options I chose, is later in this thread

Mickey

Doctor Morbius

M7ickey, for what it's worth, I agree with you. I recently discovered by accident that my 2010/11 Giant Roam-2 has a 135mm rear dropout spacing. I had mistakenly been using a set of 700C road wheels with a 130mm spacing on that bike. It took me a couple of evenings worth of searching to find a set of 29" MTB wheels with EFFING RIM BRAKES. Seems as everything has gone to disc within the last couple of years, but my Roam has V-brakes.

I ended up getting a set of Sun Ringle Rhyno Lite / Deore 525 29" wheels from Nashbar. The order is still processing but should ship soon.
Sun Ringle Rhyno Lite / Shimano Deore 525 29" Mountain Wheelset - Nashbar

And yes, when I was looking at wheels labeled "700C" all I could find were those with a 130mm spacing or the spacing wasn't listed. I even looked at cyclocross wheels. Nope. No luck.

Not all modern road bikes have a 135mm rear dropout spacing either. My Specialized Secteur measures 130mm.

m7ickey

That's a good deal! I'm glad someone finally chimed in who had my experience. Once you know what you are looking for, there are options out there. Those wheels are likely very similar to what I have. I spent a little more because I wanted an "upgrade" My build is lighter and hand made too. After 30 years of not owning a bike, when I started hearing "hub", "dropout spacing", "622, 29er 700c", etc. I had no clue. From searching forums I learned a ton but that last piece, "135mm" eluded me for a while. BTW, now I'm reading that Hybrids with disc brakes for the most part are now using 130mm spacing in the rear. Not sure if this is the case with Giant. Maybe "Mrapollo" could shed some light on that? He has an 2017 Escape with disc brakes.
Mickey

m7ickey

Need to get these posted, keep in mind I did not use calipers but was very meticulous so I shouldn't be off by more that 1mm, hence the range.

First, what I know for sure (and you won't find anywhere on a Giant Escape spec sheet):

Giant Escape 2016 City & Escape 2 have 622-19 rims (I think all escape models with rim brakes do), with the 19 being the inside width of the rim in millimeters> 19mm and the 622 being the diameter. This number is printed on the rim itself or there will be a sticker with this number on the rim. Rims this size use 700c tires in a variety of widths depending on the width of the rim. For example, I have 700cx32 tires on a 19mm width rim. I CAN use other sizes such as 700x28 or 700x35. The "32" is the width of the tire in millimeters. I'll add a link at the end that has a ton of info and a chart showing recommended tire widths for different rim widths although people do not always follow that chart but it is certainly a good starting point. Also, you may find the rim/wheel listed under several names such as 622, 700c or 29er. They are all the same diameter.
Mickey

My front hub is 100mm, the rear hub is 135mm.

My measurements for Giant's stock rims:

Height of rim: 21-22mm
Outside width of rim: 23-24mm
and again, inside width of rim: 19mm

Knowing this is helpful if you are buying new rims/wheels and want to make sure they fit your frame and how well they will align with you brakes. After measuring mine, I was able to compare them to the Rims I wanted to buy and they are very close so I am confident they will fit my frame and my tires will fit the rims. The below picture shows the measurements of what I bought and should make it clear what I'm talking about.

Here's a link that gives a ton of info and recommended tire sizes for different internal width rims, remember that phrase, "internal width" That number is not always listed if you do an internet search for new wheels or they may give the external width. Tire Sizing Systems

m7ickey

I'll do some more measurements when I disassemble and change my wheels and weigh the Giant stock rims and update this thread. I'll also add some clearance measurements between the tires and the fenders with different sets of tires and wheels. Then I will be done and hopefully help some other poor soul who couldn't find this info.

hokiefyd 

I'm thinking that your front hub is really 100mm, no?

Everything I own has 135mm rear hubs, including inexpensive steel bikes back through the 1990s, but my experience is mostly in mountain biking, and this has been the standard for MTB rear hubs for some time now. With the relatively recent move to even wider freehubs (to fit 8+ speed cassettes), this is likely becoming the standard for more and more bikes. There is a benefit to the wider spacing, even if you are using a slightly narrower 7-speed freehub and cassette (as most of my bikes use): a wider frame spacing means less dishing required for the wheel. The more you have to dish the wheel (which moves the rim further to the chain side of "centered" on the hub itself), the weaker the wheel assembly becomes. I'm sure this can be mitigated in various ways, but that typically makes the wheel heavier, more expensive, or both.

Nice job on the winter setup of your bike. I'm sure you'll enjoy riding it this coming cold season!

m7ickey

Thanks, I just corrected my typo, I did mean 100mm

m7ickey

The build sheet on the Velocity Wheels I bought:

m7ickey

Please note, I did my best to be accurate but its safe to say all the measurements may be off (high or low) by 1mm




Stock Tire & rim Measurements
Tire width: 33mm (they are 32c tires so real close to spec’s)
Tire + Rim height: 51mm (rim only is 21mm)
Tire only height: 30mm
Winter tire measurements from website (the Nokians I posted a link to earlier- w106, 35c)
Tire width: 34mm
Tire + rim height: 50mm (rim is 15.5mm)
Tire only height: 34.5mm
THUS, I need approx. ~5mm of extra clearance to be safe and/or need the ability to move fenders 5mm, maybe less and I do have that ability
Tire to fender current clearance (this is a really rough measurement do to difficulty getting the measurement with the tires on the bike and not having a better ruler or bike stand, so I erred on the side of underestimating the clearance)
Front lowest clearance is: ~5/8” or 15mm (rounded down)
Rear lowest clearance is 3/8” or 9mm (rounded down)

m7ickey

Some Pictures next to get a better view of some of my accessories. First, here's a shot of the handlebars. The bike came with some grips that I liked well enough but in order to mount the bar ends I had to use a razor blade to cut the ends of the grips and slide them over, this was NOT easy, but when all was said and done came out nice. You can see my computer, light, bar ends and mirror in this shot.

m7ickey

here we have: zoomed in on computer and light, lock, mounted pump, new pedal and toe clip & coffee holder (note I needed a spacer to mount the coffee holder but it came with one!)
Just noticed my little hack, I used some bubble wrap and duct tape to make a cushion fir the HEAVY lock, it tends to bounce around a little. Need to figure out a better way to attach it to my bike

m7ickey

Nashbar trunk bag, LOVE that thing, a shot of the end of my hub lock, they each have a unique key, I carry mine on my keychain and also in that shot is my other little hack, glow in the dark reflector stolen from cat's flea collar mounted on the fender wire, not a spoke, my seat!!! Love it!!!, rear derailer and another shot of mirror and bar end

Scooty Puff Jr

Great job, now go and ride already !

m7ickey

All my talk about wheels and tires, well here's some shots of the stock tires that come on the Giant Escape City you won't find on their website!

m7ickey

Wider shots, the last of 'em. You can see my little reflectors I stole from the dogs flea collar that are clipped to the brake cables in one or two of these shots, they are roughly double the size of the other ones I stole from the cat & you can see what happens if a headlight hits them by the results of my flash

m7ickey

hokiefyd 

Love the pics, and the bike! Enjoy it in good health!

m7ickey

Well, I have a cassette, winter tires, tubes and am now am only awaiting the wheels. Then the big swap tires, wheels project begins. I'm going to pull my front wheel myself, remove the tire, and mount a studded tire for practice and to see how well it goes. If It goes well, I'll try the back wheel too. I'll also take a quick trip over to the vet's office to weigh the Giant stock wheel (nice digital scale in the lobby).

My LBS will need to assist with mounting the cassette to the new wheels (I don't have the tool you need to tighten it) and while I'm there might as well let them mount the tires too so I can watch them.

If everything goes well, I'll be able to dismount my current tires, mount the studded tires, then ride to my LBS and have them mess with the new wheels. This also allows me to take a ride on pavement with the studded tires to see how it feels and help "seat" the studs as was recommended.

Wish me luck, should have some updates on how well the winter tires fit sometime next week.

m7ickey

When my studded tires arrived, my first thought was, hmmm, those studs aren't as big or protrude as much as I thought. That's actually not a bad thing for my intended use. I also noticed that you definitely will want to take a easy, even ride on pavement to "seat" all the studs. Anyway, I took a bunch of shots that hopefully give you an idea of how big they are and how far they stick out of the tire since the pic's I saw online were all from the same angle and don't tell the full story. Again, I hope this helps somebody. (oops, forgot I need to resize the pics, next post...)

m7ickey

Da Dum

m7ickey

and done

ShaneC80

Making some tweaks (mostly cosmetic) to my Escape 3 and trying to kit out the wife's Trek, so this thread is a good'un for me.

What hub locks did you get and did they go on easy/stay straight?

How's the battery life on the Lights and how well does the tail light shine? I've got a "Cycle Torch Shark 300" from Amazon (I can't post links yet). The headlight is awesome, but the tail is a bit lacking. Tail is an older style round button running off a watch battery. New one looks potentially better.

How does the Topeak pump mount? Can it be screw mounted with a bottle cage?

Was it worth changing the pedals for the feel? I'm still just running the plastic blocks

What rack did you use for the trunk bag? I'm debating if I want one or not.

m7ickey

The rack came with the bike, google my model and you can see it. Escape city 2016. Also came with fenders and a bell

ShaneC80

Missed the opening where you said yours was a City. I went with the Escape 3, but kinda jealous of the look of the City

m7ickey

I was sooooo close to getting the "3", the LBS convinced me to go with the city. It has some better components as well as the rack,fenders and bell, its actually exactly the same as the "2" with the added commuting stuff. The "3" they had was black and looked SWEET which is the real reason I was leaning that way but common sense won out over asthetic's. Now that I have accessorized, I love the look of my bike. Good luck and safe riding. Glad my post could help.
Mickey