greggski

Hey All,
Please forgive me in advance but what really is the tire vs wheel size difference between a 27in vs 700c vs 29er? Can a 700c tire be mounted on a 27in? I've been able to mount a 29er on a 700c and the bead fits great on the rim (25mm rim) so why is it called a 29er? Again sorry for all the questions, I'm just a bit confused....( which is how i normally go through life it seems)

HMF

700c is the same as 29er in terms of diameter, "29ers" are wider. 27in is about 8mm bigger in diameter than either 700c or a 29er.

A 700c tire probably won't fit on a 27in rim. It'd be really really tight if it did.

I have no idea what measurement "29er" refers too, but it's just a marketing term.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html

greggski

Thabk you for your quick reply.. I'm building up a winter beater/trainer and it has 27in rims and i have a nice set of schwable Snow studs i wanted to use (700c) thanks again.. Gregg

Bob Dopolina 

If you look on the rim you will find ETRTO numbers somewhere. The same for the tires.

A '700c' rim will be 622xXX. The 622 refers to the place where the tire hooks onto the rim. A 29er has the same ETRO dimensions of 622xXX. The difference is the second number - here the 'XX' - which refers to the width of the rim. A rode bike rim will be narrower than a 29er because they are designed for narrower tire. Although you can get a road tire on a 29er rim it is not advisable to do so because the 29er rim is most likely too wide to hold the road bike tire securely.

To be sure click on the link the Sheldon Brown's website posted above.

A 27" wheel is 630xXX. Clearly too large for either road tires or tire designed for 29ers.

Hope that clears things up a bit for you.

halfspeed

It's weird, but 700C, 28" and 29" tires all fit the same 622mm diameter rims and 27" tires fit rims that are larger in diameter (630mm). The ETRTO sizes are much more useful than the common nomenclature which persists due to familiarity.

Bob Dopolina 

Yup.