Tom Ward wrote (snipped) :
>
> 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!
>
>
>
The 28" designation for 700c tubulars is not so old and rare. Pick up most any modern production Continental tubular tyre and it'll have 28" as it's size. I know it's so in Europe and here downunder ... unless the label them differently for the US.
Nomenclature is different but it's the same size as all other 700c tubulars.
ciao,
Ben Kamenjas
Kensington, Australia