700C size rims have been around for much longer than 70 years - it was a size that was also called 28 x 1 5/8in and 28 x 1 3/4in in England. The bead seat diameter of 622mm was normally used with large section tyres - it was also a size common in France, the Benelux countries and Italy. In France it was known as 700C. The Benelux countries normally referred to it as 28 x 1 5/8in. The French system of tyre sizes used the capitalized letters A, B and C to refer to the cross section of the tyre combinmed with the overall diameter in mm. So hence 650A (26 x 1 3/8), 700A 28 x 1 3/8in etc, B was equivalent to 1 1/2in section and C 1 5/8 - 3/4. They also used the size in mm without a letter suffix to indicate 1/4in section. These were the same bead seat diameters as the English equivalents 700 = 28in, 650 = 26in, 600 = 24in etc Later in England and especially in France you could buy oversize and undersize tyres to fit these bead seat diameters - the full balloon and 1/2 Balloon 650Bs were considerably larger than 26in in diameter. The undersize tyres were a later invention generally... But you get the absurdity of the 650C used by triathletes with 20mm section tyres - originally this bead seat diameter was designed for use with 1 3/4in section tyres... The 27 x 1 1/4in size was invented by Dunlop in England and launched in 1935 - it quickly became a new standard but was not linked to any other range of wheel and tyre sizes and was a totally bastard size.
Hilary Stone, Bristol, England
> From: "Martin Walsh" <mowalsh@verizon.net>
> Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 16:35:08 -0400
> To: "CR List" <ClassicRendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Subject: [CR]Wheels sizes 700C,then 27" (clincher) standard size(s)
>
> Hi List,
> I think Russ Fitzgerald, hit the nail on the head with the Raleigh
> Bicycle Company (English speaking countries) connection of inventing the
> "lightweight" 27" inch wheel size for their own bicycles and creating
> another stardard (market) for sport touring and entry level bicycles.
> But many early 1970's French bicycles,Gitane Grand Prix & Gitane
> Hosteler also used the 27" wheelsets (RIGIDA STEEL RIMS) on the entry
> level models. The high end touring model by Gitane the "Gran Tourisme",
> had alloy MAVIC RIMS 27 X 1 1/4" and was a Reynolds 531 model
> frameset,Campagnolo equipped.So here we have a "continental" bicycle
> with 27" wheels.What gives........
> I guess to paraphrase TOM SANDERS INITIAL QUESTION could: WHEN WAS
> THE 27" WHEEL INVENTED.....,if the 700C was around for 80
> years....Nothing in bicycles is new it seems,it's all been done to one
> extent or the other over the years,gets pulled out of the bin and
> reinvented.
> Steven Maasland states the 700C size has been around for eighty
> years....
> I was surprised to find 700C rims on an old,1955 Swiss three speed I
> own,called RENA RAD. It is all original except the tires but sports
> alloy 700C Rims,badged RENA ,along with alloy fenders and chainguard and
> a neat lugged steel,box lined frame set and upright bars.......it is my
> going to the "Metro" (subway) commuter bicycle.
> My 1971 Gitane Interclub came with 700C tubulars and would except only
> one 27 inch wheel so I was glad to see the 700C Weinnman clinchers in
> 1976 and had a set built back then and they are still on my Gitane(s).
> It seems like all Department store bikes had either 27" or 26" wheel
> sizes back in the early 1970's when I worked at E.J. Korvettes and
> Montgomery Wards building bicycles.
> Thank goodness we had a BIG WHEEL BICYCLE store in the Mall to see what
> real Italian racing bicycles looked like!
> There was no comparison between the department store bicycles and even
> the low end Fuji's sold at Big Wheel Bikes back in the early 1970's from
> my experience in Northern Virginia.You got what you paid for and you
> could never make a $69.00 Montgomery Ward bicycle anything more than
> that, a "cheap bike".
> Time to cut the grass!
> Cirque report forthcoming!
> Thanks again to Dale Brown and the Crew (Ken Toda & Scott Ramsay), down
> in Greensboro, for a great time at Cirque 2006 !
> Looking forward already to Cirque X (ten)
> Yours truly,
> Marty Walsh in HUMID, Vienna,Va