Switching Thick Wheels to Thin...size confusion

pat3067

Hi there,

I've inherited the Giro Infinity 'infinite' road bike. The wheels on them are more like mountain bike wheels than road wheels and I want to switch them to thinner ones (current wheels are the stock wheels).

The wheels say this: 37-590 (26 x 13/8inches) j1000-01
Plugging this into google I got this information:
Rim: 20 x 590
Tyre width: 33
tyre outer diameter 661
max inflate pressure 2.5

People talk about how you need to get bike wheels that fit the frame. Is this referring to the width or the height? The wheels seem super chunky compared to my other fixie bike and I'm worried that I won't be able to thin them down. What size, when people generally refer to the size of wheels, should I be looking at?

Any help would be great. I am light build at roughly 120pounds/54kg.

Wooliferkins

They do seem a bit wide for a road bike and looking at the images on google it appears to be a bit of (forgive me) a BSO (bicycle shaped object). Referring to Sheldon scroll down to "width considerations" a 28mm tyre is the smallest you'll get on a 20mm rim. This is a notional cross sectional diameter of the tyre

ManOfKent

If those are the stock wheels, the frame/forks might not have sufficient clearance for normal-diameter (700c) wheels. Get the tape measure about before buying anything.

barrie h

See if you can borrow a pair of 700c wheels to see if they will fit

Barrie

me-109

It's a cheapie bike running 26" rims and V-brakes ( or cantilevers, I can't find a clear enough photo). 700c rims will not fit. Try and find some narrow slick or semi-slick MTB tyres.

pat3067

Thanks everyone for their answers. So what I'm gathering is that to get the 'thinner' wheels I need to replace the whole wheel set, not just the tyre. And I should definitely measure first to make sure that the standard 700c (rim size) will fit in the forks as it may be too ... tall?

Other than that the wideness of the wheels isn't an issue as such, but finding the wheels with the right height and width may be an issue.

Please correct me if I'm wrong. I think I'm starting to understand this.

Yes it is a super cheap bike, the only part I like about it is the frame and the fact that I didn't pay for it I'm fixing it up to learn how bikes work, and as my first move to a geared bike so I can start doing the big rides (currently own a fixie for exercise, fallen in love with riding etc etc).

desweller

You have two problems.

1/ The diameter of 700c rims is too great; you won't be able to line the brake pads up with the rim.

2/ The width of the rim will make it difficult to use the V-brake. The arms will get very close together before the pad touches the rim. You can mitigate this a little with the spacers on the pads but you won't be able to fully cure it.

If you are dead set on replacing the wheels you would be better off getting some 26" wheels with decent hubs and fitting a narrower slick tyre (e.g. 26" x 1 1/2" Schwalbe City Jet). But if you're after something like a road racing tyre then I think you're asking too much.

ForumNewbie

It looks to be very heavy for a road bike at 16.5kg, and doesn't appear to have a lot of gears so will be difficult on long rides, especially those with hills.

pat3067

ForumNewbie wrote:

It looks to be very heavy for a road bike at 16.5kg, and doesn't appear to have a lot of gears so will be difficult on long rides, especially those with hills.

I know. How good my bike is is not what I was asking, I hope you feel better though for making such an obvious statement and putting down someone else's (free) ride.

I think I'm going to stick with the thicker wheels, and I now understand how all the wheel business works. cheers everyone!

stannie

pat3067 wrote:

ForumNewbie wrote:

It looks to be very heavy for a road bike at 16.5kg, and doesn't appear to have a lot of gears so will be difficult on long rides, especially those with hills.

I know. How good my bike is is not what I was asking, I hope you feel better though for making such an obvious statement and putting down someone else's (free) ride.

I think I'm going to stick with the thicker wheels, and I now understand how all the wheel business works. cheers everyone!

I don't think he was putting down your ride, just trying to help you out. If you did not know that thinner wheels won't easily work, you might not know some of the other limitations of the bike.

Moonbiker

Don't think its worth spending money on the bike would be like putting lipstick on a pig.

ForumNewbie

pat3067 wrote:

ForumNewbie wrote:

It looks to be very heavy for a road bike at 16.5kg, and doesn't appear to have a lot of gears so will be difficult on long rides, especially those with hills.

I know. How good my bike is is not what I was asking, I hope you feel better though for making such an obvious statement and putting down someone else's (free) ride.

I think I'm going to stick with the thicker wheels, and I now understand how all the wheel business works. cheers everyone!

Sorry, but I wasn't putting you or your bike down. It was just that you said you wanted it as your first geared bike to do long rides, and when I googled the bike, the weight surprised me and there only seem to be six cogs at the back and two chain rings at the front, which indicates you are unlikely to have a very low gear. That combined with the weight will mean it will be very difficult to climb hills and I was concerned that you may well get disillusioned quickly, after having spent time doing up the bike.

MichaelW

The 26" rim that you have is an obsolete British 3-speed/roadster style and tyres are not very good quality.
Check if the brake blocks line up with an MTB rim. The next issue is that the axle slots (dropouts) on the frame need to be the correct width for the hub. Most MBT hubs are wider than road hubs. For bolt-on, solid axle hubs, you can play around with the spacing very easily.
With an MTB rim in place you can fit narrow, slick, MTB road-going tyres which come in 1"-1.5" size.

pat3067

ForumNewbie wrote:

pat3067 wrote:

ForumNewbie wrote:

It looks to be very heavy for a road bike at 16.5kg, and doesn't appear to have a lot of gears so will be difficult on long rides, especially those with hills.

I know. How good my bike is is not what I was asking, I hope you feel better though for making such an obvious statement and putting down someone else's (free) ride.

I think I'm going to stick with the thicker wheels, and I now understand how all the wheel business works. cheers everyone!

Sorry, but I wasn't putting you or your bike down. It was just that you said you wanted it as your first geared bike to do long rides, and when I googled the bike, the weight surprised me and there only seem to be six cogs at the back and two chain rings at the front, which indicates you are unlikely to have a very low gear. That combined with the weight will mean it will be very difficult to climb hills and I was concerned that you may well get disillusioned quickly, after having spent time doing up the bike.

point taken, sorry for jumping the gun, but in text you can never tell the tone Yeah I totally agree that it really is a piece of sh**, doing it up is more about learning than anything. I'm still gonna keep an eye on free parts to add to it, but I have decided to just buy a new bike and leave this one for a little garage 'home lesson'. In which case, so far I've learnt a lot!

... and now onto the incredibly difficult part of choosing a bike ...