Originally Posted by
Dakota82
What is the difference between 700c vs 26 inch tires? What performance would you get out of each?
The other day I saw a bike at local coop that had some thin tires on it. I looked at the tires and it said like 700c X 25. Could you put that on a LHT and would that ever be a good idea?
I road my room mate's bike over my wrong-buy hybrid bike to tour 60 miles and, I like it so much better. It is an older model Raleigh road bike. Tires fairly thin. It runs pretty fast. Too bad it is too big for me, single speed, and the drop down handle bars are not so great but, it rides much better than my hybrid.
Since then, I've had this feeling that a thin frame and thin tires is the way for me to go with a road bike. I am concerned that a LHT or Cross Check's frame might be too beefy for my taste but, then again, I have never test rode it so, I wont know till I try.
Here's the link explaining everything about rim and tire sizes:
http://sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html
26" are standard mountain bike size. 700C is road bike standard. 700"s come in a better selection of sizes, from 20mm for racing bikes up to 40 something for cyclocross. The determining factor is the bike design and whether it can accept larger tires. Road racing bikes with dual pivot brakes and tighter wheelbases can sometimes only take up to a 25mm tire, where as a bike like the Surly LHT or some similar frame designed for loaded/self supported touring, can take up in the high 30mm's. The design of the LHT uses V or cantilever brakes as well as having clearance under the fork and between the chainstays's for the larger tire as well as fenders, which are required on self supported tours, IMO.
So if you are doing loaded/self supported touring, a bike that handles wider tires will ride more comfortably and provide a more stable ride. Experienced tourers prefer 32-36mm tires as example.
If you only want to do credit card touring, no sleeping bag/tent/stove/pots-pans, etc... then a Soma Smoothie ES, or Gunnar Sport is a better choice, as this kind of "sport touring" bike is usually lighter and a bit faster, better climbing bike, etc...
I have road bikes that run the gamut - carbon road with 23mm's, sport touring with 27's and tourer with 32's. I have done supported tours with the heavier tourer running 25mm tires and found it to be a fine all-around choice of bike.