Forums

Bicycle Mechanics - 26 to 700 Conversion

Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.

PDA

View Full Version : 26 to 700 Conversion

mich100

09-13-05, 04:19 AM

Hello,
Is it possible to convert a bike with 26 inch wheels to use 700 wheels? I need to replace my rims and would like to use the 700s. The bike is a Raleigh F500 Police model. I currently run 1.1 slicks on the 26 mountain bike rims for commutes. Any ideas are appreciated.

Mich100

Erik

09-13-05, 05:31 AM

If you have disc brakes you could just lace 700c rims to your hubs and be done with it. With narrow tires there are no fit problems. If you have rim brakes you will need an adapter that will allow you to mount your brakes a bit higher to deal with the bigger wheel diameter, like these

genericbikedude

09-13-05, 05:40 AM

It'll also throw your geometry of a bit. The bike may seem a little more sluggish with the 700's. Why not get some skinny 26" wheels or 650C's? Or a new bike?

Michel Gagnon

09-13-05, 07:08 PM

How much space do you have right now? If it's a mountain bike, you might be able to replace your 26" wheels with 700c wheels, but otherwise, I doubt it.

A 26" is ISO 559 mm whereas a 700c wheel is ISO 622 mm. If you want to use 700x28 tires, it means you need clearance for a radius of (622 mm / 2) + 28 mm = 339 mm... which is equivalent to the overall radius that you would get with 60 mm tires on ISO 559 wheels.

And it would look strange : lots of space on each side of the fork and stays, and barely a mm on the top.

cs1

09-14-05, 07:37 AM