26 to 700 Conversion
 

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

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

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?

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.

The question remains WHY?

Tim