Road Bicycle Tire Sizes

Note that the c does not stand for centimeters.

Road bicycle tire sizes.

Tyre size typically varies from 25mm to 42mm and some heavier duty touring bikes use 26 inch mountain bike wheels with even bigger volume tyres. As the width increases the tire will have more contact surface with the road making it more stable and comfortable. Especially any 700 tire nowadays is similar to the size of old 700c tire. You see 650b that is same of today s 27 5 inch mountain bike tire and 650c that is little smaller inner diameter instead of the 560b tire and easily got into a few road bikes.

But you also need to consider other factors such as tire sizes. Nowadays bike tires are typically marked according to iso standard a system originally developed by etrto european tire and rim technical organization but older english and french tire size dimensions are still used as well use the data from the following tables to determine interchangeability and convert between iso etrto english. 700 x 32c indicates a tire that has an outer diameter of 700mm and a width of 32mm. As the width decreases there is less rolling resistance or friction and therefore is faster.

Typical road bike tire. The second smaller number is the tire s width. Size used on some high performance road and triathlon bikes especially those. Common road bike widths in millimeters come in sizes ranging from 18 to 23 with a typical road bike tire at 700 x 23.

The first thing to know is that mountain bike tires are usually sized in inches and road bike tires except for those on some very old road bikes are sized metrically. As the only contact point between you and the road your tyres are one of the most important components on your bicycle. A 32c is a good. Road bike tires generally come in three widths.

When shopping for road tires you ll look for 700c x your preferred width 23mm being the slimmest option and going up to 36mm. It s a holdover from an old french system that designated tire sizes using the letters a b and c. Some older road bikes still have the 27 inch size. Because of the high pressure and desired low rolling resistance road tires come in narrow widths.

The 700c is an ideal wheel size as it is the standard wheel size for most road bikes. Remember the bigger the wheel the smoother the ride. Touring bikes come in many shapes and sizes depending on the intended usage from light and fast tourers based loosely on regular road bikes to round the world heavy duty models. Road tire sizes 700c.

Sometimes these letters seem to come in tire sizes. A bike with an 18 frame is your sweet spot. Conversion tables for common bicycle tire sizes. For example a common mountain bike tire size is 29 x 2 25 meaning that the outer diameter of the tire is 29 inches and the width of the tire is 2 25 inches.

Mountain bike wheel sizes. 26in 650b and 29in explained.