The 28" refers to the tires sizes when the sew up type rims first appeared (before 1900). The tires were typically very large. So the rims have remained about the same in diameter and the tires have shrunk. There were wide rims and heavier tires but narrow wood rims and silk tires were also available way back.
Joe Bender-Zanoni
Whitneyville, CT
It would seem that 700c 'wired-on' tyres a.k.a. clinchers have "always" been with us (in theory if not in practice)--via 'the Continent'--but became progressively less exotic (in anglo-american terms) over the decades. You see them (or the bards sing of them, almost) on vintage constructeur randonnee-type machines, and truly old 700c clincher rims (a la Mavic, and vintage '40s/ '50s) DO surface at auction from time to time (and proceed to sell for A LOT of money). Just to say that a 700c timeline is subject to Relativity.
When still new on the list here, I brought up the subject of the (old and rare) 28" designation for 700c tubulars. I had a pair that were marked that way, and it had puzzled me. It seems, then, to have "legitimately" existed, but to have been a redundant (and misleading) terminology that mercifully fell by the wayside after failing to make a deep impression. The term referred to the nominal outside diameter of the wheel when equipped with such tires. Mine were Czech tubulars, predecessors of what are now branded as Tufo, from the 1970s and marked as <28">. I had been confused by them--especially as they seemed to have shrunk to something like 650c.... List-members at the time, including the late Sheldon Brown, cleared this picture up for me. It appears the designation was always a slightly unusual--and now very obsolete--way to name what are more properly called 700c tubs (tubulars). Let's be careful not to go back to using it, but I thought I'd add this back into the record as an aid to clarity around a gray area (if I haven't simply made it worse). Especially as I also believe I've seen the 28" designation (for 700c) in some old catalogues like Holdsworthy Aids (where did my copy go?). Right back in the face of some historical precedents, the term was (and remains) far too liable to cause confusion with 28" roadster tyres. Bead seat diameter (BSD), as so firmly propounded by Mr. Brown in his most-useful website, is the most precise descriptive available to us. But it's a bit harder to remember! 622mm, 559mm ad infinitum. However, It Can Be Done, and one day I will!
Back to 700c--700c clinchers, that is: they were extant in the world, but the format might be said to have remained largely unsupported until pretty deep into our era of classic lightweights--unless you were in France or nearby, where the mode originated. The frontiers were permeable, but not so much as might have been, had it not been for--well, all the factors of culture, trade, language, etcetera.
Regarding 36x36 spoking in England, I note that the aforementioned catalogs demonstrate that it was indeed a /supported/ format--rims and hubs could be had--but the weight of custom was upon 32x40. 36x36 would have been a taste that needed to be sought out (and paid for); not served on a platter.
Of course I know none of this from firsthand experience. But I submit it to you as a student of it all. I hope I haven't fallen too far short of the mark.
Among other fun things to contemplate, not least might be the two different common sizes of 26" rims in British club bikes, touring machines, and roadsters. That will get you into BSD in a hurry.
Tom Ward Bonita, CA les Etats-Unis
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