700 vs. 28 (tyre sizes)

souter

Opening myself to ridicule here, but is there a difference between these tyre sizes, other than imperial vs. metric? (700C if I recall correctly).

Ghost Rider

There's a difference but it's qualitative, not quantitative: 700C is the wheel size, whereas 28mm is the tyre width.

souter wrote: »

Opening myself to ridicule here, but is there a difference between these tyre sizes, other than imperial vs. metric? (700C if I recall correctly).

Morgan

Sheldonbrown goes into great details here:

http://sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html

Basically, 700C is the same as 28 x 1 5/8 x 1 1/4

souter

Hi, I skimmed the Sheldon article, I'm amazed I've ever managed to buy tyres!

What prompted the question was I'd always bought tyres by showing the shoppy the bike, and tubes based on 28 * (fractiona I can't remember) * (fraction I can't remember) written on the side of said tyre (or asking for racing tubes).
Then I bought some tyres from a well known Irish web site as 700c. They were _way_ easier to fit than my previous tyres so I wondered if there was a tiny difference in (wheel) diameter. I guess any difference was due to product variability rather than systematic.

Chips Lovell

souter wrote: »

I guess any difference was due to product variability rather than systematic.

Yes, some brands tend to go on easier than others. Also can depend on the rim as well. Some seem marginally tighter than others.