Originally Posted by
cranky velocist
Are 29er's [I]Really[I] the same as 700cc's?
A programmer friend of mine looked it up one day, broke down the math and somewhat obscure cc measurement, and claimed that a 700cc wheel wasn't 29 inches.
The 28" conti's I put on 700 cc wheels seem to agree with him.
Not sure what unit of measurement "c" is. Perhaps it is the same as mm? A 700c
tire maybe roughly 700mm (~27.5") in diameter and a 29"
tire maybe roughly 29" (~736mm) in diameter. They both fit on a 622mm (~24.5") rim as badger1 pointed out.
29in tires are fatter than 700c tires, and they share the same bead size (inner diameter), so the outer diameter of a 29" tire will be bigger than that of a 700c.
26" rims are 559mm in diameter which is about 22". Add a couple inches of rubber to get to the nominal 26" diameter tire size.