Originally Posted by Sixty Fiver

Older British club and sport bicycles were fitted with a 597mm wheel and a 26 by 1 1/4 tyre... Dunlop was the chief supplier of these and rims were available in chromed steel, stainless, and aluminum (uncommon). Dunlop stopped making tyres in this size after they realized they made more money selling car tyres and for a time it was very hard to get a decent, high performance tyre in this size.

In the early fifties you could buy some English bikes with 27inch wheels although the 26 by 1 1/4 was the most popular and by 1956 - 57 the 27 inch wheel had replaced the 26 by 1 1/4 wheel as standard.

The British also used the 28 inch over sized rim and tyre . . .