Road Bike Tire Sizes Explained
Mountain bike tyre sizes are usually stated in inches.
Road bike tire sizes explained. There are a myriad of wheel sizes for road mtb touring and children s bikes. Adult road bikes come with 700c wheels under the etrto iso this measurement is 622mm. 23c 25c and 28c their width in mm. To confuse matters further all tyres use the european tyre and rim technical organisation etrto system so for a road it would display 622 x nn with the nn value indicating the tyre width which is the same as 700 x nn.
Where you see a block of two or more compatible sizes having the same bead diameter you can assume that intermediate sizes exist that will also fit the same rim. Because of the high pressure and desired low rolling resistance road tires come in narrow widths. It s a holdover from an old french system that designated tire sizes using the letters a b and c. The table below lists most of the sizes of tyre that are likely to be found in the uk.
The second smaller number is the tire s width. So a 29 inch mtb tube will have the same diameter as a 700c road wheel while a 27 5 inch tube will be the same diameter as a 650b road wheel. As the width decreases there is less rolling resistance or friction and therefore is faster. Some older road bikes still have the 27 inch size.
Mtb wheels in particular can be further categorised by 26 inches 27 5 inches and 29 inches. While you can find a variety of bikes with wheel sizes ranging from 16 to 27 5 inches the most common sizes include 26 inches 27 5 inches 29 inches and 700c. So the rim spec will be 622 x then another number this other number will refer to the rim s internal width for a road bike this could be a number from 13mm up to 25mm with most road bike. Road bikes rim sizes.
This is pretty simple. Common road bike widths in millimeters come in sizes ranging from 18 to 23 with a typical road bike tire at 700 x 23. Typical road bike tire. Generally bike tire sizes are indicated with two numbers that correspond roughly to the outside diameter of the tire and the width of the tire.
These would usually be measured in inches 26 27 etc or millimeters 650 700 etc. 700 x 32c indicates a tire that has an outer diameter of 700mm and a width of 32mm. Finding the right inner tube depends on the size of the tires on your bike. Between 18 622 and 25 622 there are tyres of 19 20 22 and 23mm section.