Originally Posted by
ironwood
One of the reasons a 603mm diameter rim might be useful is that it would allow a wider tire and a fender to be used on many existing frames. Some of us have come to appreciate the comfort of wider tires and fenders. It might not be a wacky idea at all, but since the rim and tire combination doesn't exist we won't know.
Not a wacky idea at all... designing bikes would be super easy if we had an infinite number of wheel sizes... just like we have an infinite number of rider sizes. It just doesn't make practical sense to break iit down into infintessimally small steps and would make virtually no difference in performance.
Existing wheel sizes have steps less than 1" apart between 500 and 635mm bead seat diameter, and the actual performance advantage of any one size over another is really only on paper - if three riders are racing on well set up high quality bikes, one with 700C/29", one on 6500b, and one on 26", the
stronger rider will win the race - not the rider on the 'better wheel size.'
Side note: I just looked at the Gary Fisher bikes website and they are booasting that
for the first time ever, a rider on a 29" (700C) wheeled mountain bike is leading the world cup standings... since these bikes have been available for years, if they actually gave you an advantage then this wouuld have happened before now. Such is the nature of elite cycling - the best riders are fairly well matched in competition, so any advantage will make itself known very quickly. I could bewrong, but this is how it seems to me.